India's Torrential Flooding Batters Previously Devastated Populace
by Allie Martin
January 17, 2006
(AgapePress) - - The president of Gospel for Asia (GFA) says due to another force of nature many residents of the southern coast of India are facing desperate times more than a year after the deadly tsunami of December 2004. Recently, the world marked the one-year anniversary of the Indian Ocean earthquake and tsunami that caused widespread devastation in India and other parts of southern Asia. But this year, only days after that anniversary, the heaviest rains in half a century forced hundreds of thousands of people in the region out of their homes.
K.P. Yohannan heads GFA, a ministry to the people of Asia, which has reached out to thousands of tsunami survivors. He says the flooding as a result of the monsoon rains has opened many of the emotional wounds caused by the destructive Asian tsunami.
Yohannan finds the distress and desperation of the flood victims easily understandable. "People are just beating upon their chests and saying, 'Why is God so angry with us like this? What have we done that we should suffer like this?' You can imagine, for people who do not know the Lord, that's all they can think about," he says.
"But thank God," the ministry founder and president says, "that even during this time of monsoon and people's lives being destabilized and hurt once again, our people are out there trying to share with them about the Lord and give them help, doing whatever we can do." He notes that some of the GFA-affiliated Believers Churches have been swamped by rising waters, but others have been able to serve as shelters in local communities.
"When people's lives are so devastated," Yohannan says, "what we all can do is simply open up our church buildings and schools and everything we have for people to come and find some shelter. Of course, along with that, our people are cooking meals, bringing food and stuff like that."
The GFA spokesman notes that the current downpour is virtually unprecedented and that Chennai, the capital of India's southernmost state of Tamil Nadu, received nine inches of rain in one night. "There's not supposed to be this kind of rain, nonstop rain," he says, "but it just kept on coming. In Chennai, where we have a Bible college, the whole place is completely flooded."
Yohannan describes the floods as a "huge tragedy of unbelievable magnitude," which has resulted in more than 16,000 villages being hit and some 283,000 homes being destroyed. Meanwhile, Mumbai (Bombay) and other parts of western India have experienced flooding that has killed at least 1,500 people, and the latest forecasts indicate the rains will continue. Government authorities in Mumbai have warned residents not to venture out of their homes for the next 24 hours because of the predicted additional rain.
"In the name of Jesus, we simply must respond," Yohannan urges. The greatest immediate need in all the flooded areas, he adds, is for food, relief supplies, and shelter. The ministry projects that it will cost at least $500,000 for GFA Compassion Services to meet the immediate needs of those whose lives have been turned upside down by the floodwaters.
Allie Martin, a regular contributor to AgapePress, is a reporter for American Family Radio News, which can be heard online.
