ASIA/INDIA - For the Indian Church Christmas in solidarity with flood victims in Tamil Nadu

Chennai (Agenzia Fides) - Churches in South India will experience a Christmas of solidarity and humanitarian aid, to help the victims of the flooding that occurred in recent days in the area of Chennai, in the state of Tamil Nadu. As Fides learns, the effort of the Churches will involve all the faithful at a volunteering level but also economically: parishes, priests, religious communities, associations, lay people and families will donate money they would have spent on the celebrations Christmas in charity initiatives for families affected by the flood, estimated as "the worst in a hundred years".
Thousands of people were left homeless (at least 7,000 displaced families) and about 270 people died in Chennai, the fifth most crowded city in India, in an emergency that the Minister of Environment, Prakash Javadekar, linked to climate change taking place in the world.
Fr. Antonysamy, Vicar General of the Archdiocese of Madras-Mylapore, which covers the territory of Chennai, has launched an appeal to all the sister Churches in the country. "The suffering of the people is immense", he said. The Bishops' Conference of India has mobilized. In a message sent out to all the Churches and sent to Fides, Cardinal Baselios Cleemis Thottunkal, major Archbishop of the Syro-Malankara Church and current President of the Indian Bishops' Conference, said: "We are called to express solidarity with the families affected by the flood contributing to their relief and rehabilitation". (PA) (Agenzia Fides 17/12/2015)

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