flood relief

Food for Life Responds to Floods in Chennai with hot meals

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Chennai has been declared as a national disaster zone and is witnessing its worst crisis in more than 100 years. With a population of 4.6 million affected due to floods caused by heavy rainfall, the city of Chennai, the capital of Tamil Nadu is in chaos. With no power or easy access to food and water, life in Chennai is harsh. This is the first time in hundred years that Chennai is facing such heavy rainfall. The death toll is approximately 260 with more being discovered daily. The Indian Army has been deployed to rescue people and supply necessities. The flooding has caused enormous financial losses, estimated to be above 2.2 billion dollars. The Hare Krishna temple in Chennai, where Food for Life is based, has suffered immensely as well. Most of the volunteer monks have been shifted out of the temple. The situation is dire and more rainfall could make the situation worse! Jayapataka Swami, the Krishna leader for Chennai and who oversees the Food for Life project in many parts of India, has requested people to pray for Chennai. Despite the massive challenge, Food for Life Chennai is currently supplying daily meals to more 1500 flood-displaced families sheltered in government schools. “We aim to expand the food distribution to more areas in Chennai, along with supplying water and bedsheets,” said local director, Sumithra Krishna. Food for Life Chennai were the first responder to the great Asian tsunami of 2004, providing hot meals the same afternoon the tides crushed over 200,000 people. Eventually, the main relief efforts focused on Sri Lanka. “Food for Life Global has already committed $1000 and we hope to raise more over the next few weeks,” said, director, Paul Rodney Turner. Donate to support Food for Life Chennai Note: Please mark the donation for FFL in […]

Food for Life Nepal reaching remote villages in need

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Since no other relief agencies are reaching these areas, the people are highly appreciative of our efforts May 10, 2015, Kathmandu — Food for Life Global affiliate, Food for Life Nepal has been non-stop in the kitchen and on the streets of Kathmandu, Bhaktipur and many remote villages affected by the massive earthquake that struck on April 25. “Today we went to Dulal Village (20km away from our kitchen) to distribute food and relief materials received from Sahid Bhagavat Singh Comrade organization. The bad weather, prevented us visiting other places today,” explained Visvajit Vrajesa Das, director of the program. Volunteers provided 100 blankets to the residents of Dulal village at 3 different spots, along with 250 kgs of rice, 50 large bags of flour, and 300 packets of biscuits to the village children. Remote areas being served, where no other NGOs go To date, more than 90,000 people have been provided hot meals by Food for Life Nepal, while 400 families also received relief supplies. FFL Volunteers packed 2400 kgs of rice, dhal, blankets and clothing in flatbed trucks and drove to remote villages over damaged roads.  “Many of the families were in critical condition. Most of the houses were destroyed and people were starving,” reported Das. “We gave them blankets and then cooked them a delicious dinner on the spot. Volunteers are visiting remote villages like Majuwa, Ramkot, Tudikhel and Salyantar where often the roads are not paved and survivors are looking for grains in the rubble of the quake.  FFL Nepal is serving hot meals to the affected victims, especially to the children. They also sent a ton of food grains to the Dhading area and two tons of food grains to Gorkha. Food For Life Nepal also served hot meals to earthquake victims at the Thapapati VDC hospital wards, #1 and […]

Feeding the survivors of Nepal – people and animals

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Bhaktipur, Nepal — ISKCON FOOD FOR LIFE Nepal distributed over 2,500 hot kichadi (bean, rice, vegetable stew) to children and adult survivors of the massive earthquake that hit the area on April 25th.  The places included Bolachenn, Golmadhi, Bhimsensthan, Saraswati School, Kamal Vinayak, Byasi, Jhaukhel and Bhaktapur Bus Park. Food for Life Global has also donated to Animal Nepal and Tree of Compassion to help them continue their work of rescuing and feeding animals.  The Krishna monks also organized a condolence program at Bhaktapur Durbar Square in the evening for the people who lost their life in Bhaktapur. About 30 members of ISKCON lit candles and sang kirtan for the departed souls. See entire photo album Thank you to everyone praying and supporting this effort with donations.

FFL teams respond to tsunami-like floods in Bosnia and Serbia

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sarajevo_Flood

Dozens of people are feared dead in Bosnia-Hercegovina and Serbia after the worst floods in 120 years. Tens of thousands fled their homes as heavy rain fell creating tsunami-like flooding and causing rivers to burst their banks. In the higher lands, the torrential downpour caused landslides that buried houses. In the Bosnian town of Doboj, the mayor reported that more than 20 bodies had been taken to the mortuary. The republic’s police chief, Gojko Vasic, said, “the flood waters acted like a tsunami, reaching three to four metres high. No-one could resist it.” Observed from the air, almost a third of Bosnia, resembled a massive muddy lake, with houses, roads and rail lines submerged, the Associated Press reports. According to a spokesman for Bosnia’s Security Ministry, about a million people – more than a quarter of the country’s population – live in the affected area. Food for Life’s Response Citizens of the country ​are​ now mobilized to help those affected with drinking water, food supplies, clothes and anything else needed. Food for Life Sarajevo plans to offer hot meals. Food for Life Sarajevo is one of the oldest Food for Life projects, having started during the Bosnian conflict on the early 90s. Volunteers at that time were challenged to the limits and were only able to offer freshly baked bread and cookies in a city besieged by conflict, harsh winters and no available fruits and vegetables. Emergency coordinator, Dhira Prasanta said that many people have literally lost everything. “They are being accommodated in schools, gyms and anywhere they can have a roof over their heads in the coming days,” he explained. “Our volunteers are now preparing to cook, transport and serve prasadam (sanctified plant based meals) to the most affected people. However, Bosnia​ and Herzegovina is a poor country, so we are humbly asking for as much help […]

Flood Survivors Scramble for Meals

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October 2 — Food for Life Global affiliate, SKBP team visited the Hyderabad district and set up an outdoor kitchen at one of the many refugee camps. Relief Spokesperson, Vanamali das said, “We made many types of vegan meals, including basmati rice, vegetable curry and biryani, and served 500 to 600 woman and children. Our main challenge at this time is a reliable vehicle to transport the meals and supplies. We are urgently appealing to Food for Life Donors to continue supporting our efforts and specifically to help us obtain a reliable van or truck.” Please continue supporting this effort. PAKISTAN FFL SITE DONATE NOW

SKBP starts relief services

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September 26 – Food for Life affiliate SKBP sent a team to Thatta and Makli to provide meals to flood survivors. The team noticed that the areas around Thatta and Makli already contained many Relief Camps where Flood victims were receiving food, cloths and water from numerous NGOs. After further investigation, however, the FFL teams were able to identify areas where relief services were not reaching survivors and so they focused their attention on these underserved places. Hot potato biryani is currently being served to at least 150 families, many of whom came from Sajawal. Relief spokesperson, Vanamali das, commented: “The next morning the SKBP team went to another area of Makl. The land had dried and so the villagers immediately came to us when they saw our relief team.” The FFL cooks began preparing the meals while many of the local Makli people assisted. Because gas is not available the meals had to cooked in the open air on fire wood. “The meals were very well received as the villages smiled and praised the cooks and called out to their friends to join,” explained Das. After providing meals in Thatta and Makli the SKBP team returned to Karachi to make plans to visit Hyderabad where there was an overwhelming number of refugees now living in relief camps. Photos of relief in Makli and Thata DONATE NOW

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