Information service of the Pontifical Mission Societies since 1927
FDB
Bangalore (Agenzia Fides) - Although the government has provided a fixed rent and food subsidy to the people seriously affected on July 29 by the landslides that devastated the Wayanad district in Kerala, the population is still facing many challenges.
Among the many initiatives, Don Bosco College in Sulthan Bathery and BREADS, the Planning and Development Office of the Salesian Province of India-Bangalore (INK), have welcomed about 200 survivors of the disaster at the Onam celebrations, the state festival of harvest, prosperity, harmony and unity, held recently.
"This meeting was a moment of joy, which motivated me and my friends to move forward, facing all the trials that come our way," said one of the survivors of the disaster on behalf of everyone.
According to Salesian missionaries working in the area, people from Wayabad who were doing odd jobs in resorts or on farms are now unemployed. Craftsmen have lost their work tools and their employees and are struggling to get by. Many unemployed young people are being trained to find new employment. During the meeting, teachers and students organized games and sang songs. After a month and a half of facing the disaster alone, they were finally able to share their joy at being alive and the pain of their current situation, they said.
Most of the victims of the disaster in which hundreds of people lost their lives were working on plantations and sleeping in their makeshift tents when the landslides occurred.
The main areas of intervention of BREADS include professional psychological support for children and adults; monitoring of rights; alternative care for orphaned/abandoned children; and developing the capacity of teachers to prepare them for disasters. (AP) (Agenzia Fides, 19/9/2024)
