Since June, massive flooding throughout the coastal regions of India has wreaked destruction worse than the country has seen in 100 years.
Express News reported:
“Dozens of people are missing, hundreds are dead and more than a million displaced in the worst flooding to hit the southern Indian state Kerala in a century.”
The monsoon season in India begins in June and lasts through September. This year it has been exceptionally torrential with the region receiving 40% more rain than normal, according to Express.
On top of the massive rainfall, Indian officials have been forced to release water from dams to prevent them from bursting.
Sadly this has resulted in overflowing rivers and landslides, which is where most of the death toll is coming from.
But in the midst of tragedy, Christians are honoring their convictions to the Word of God in a compassionate and heroic way.
Gospel For Asia (GFA) is a Christian Organization founded by Dr. K.P. Yohannan in 1979 out of Wills Point, Texas that focuses on helping the poor and needy in Asia and India.
Kerala, India on the coast of the Arabian Sea has been hit the hardest. Dr. Daniel Johnson with GFA lives and works there, and has never seen “anything like this devastating flood”, according to CBN News.
“I have never seen rain like this in my life”, the GFA founder quoted himself about the conditions in India.
There is water everywhere in the streets, homes, and shops of towns all over. People were forced to leave their homes with nothing but the clothes on their backs to escape the wrath of the unforgiving waters.
The floods have been classified as a “calamity of severe nature” by the local government, according to Express News, but they have been reluctant to call it a national disaster.
The problem is that much of the aide from outside sources cannot step in until it becomes a national disaster.
But that has not stopped Christians in the area from giving all they can day in and day out to support and save the local residents who are experiencing traumatic grief and desolation.
CBN News reported on Yohannan’s support of the Indian people and his call to action for others:
“We are doing all we can to help those in immediate need, and we are asking people everywhere to stand with us through prayers and giving so that we can do more to bring comfort and care in the name of Jesus.”
Dr. Johnson, Director of Medical Missions at Believers Church, told CBN News how when the flood was at its worst, people were forced to swim to get food and water for survival.
However, Johnson also saw the good in the situation in that all the people were working together as a community to help one another.
Residents acted selflessly as they worried about the well-being of their neighbors.
Johnson added:
“They would actually tell us ‘Now, we’ve got some help go beyond us. There are people beyond us we know are there. Please go find them out. Give them the help you were gonna give to us.’ So there’s so much of thinking about others.”
Urgent assistance is still needed, Yohannan pleaded on Thursday during a news release.
With up to a million men, women, and children who can’t return home yet in relief camps, Yohannan is working on bringing supplies and “a loving smile” to the downtrodden, according to CBN News.
Yohannan reminds those who will listen that Jesus said, “When you do this, you do it for Me.”
Despite his own perilous condition in this region he calls home, Yohannan feels it is a “privilege to be used by God to care for the poor and wipe their tears.”
It is a beautiful thing to see people helping one another, stranger reaching out to stranger to show the love of Christ.
It will be some time before India has restored the broken homes and infrastructure that has fallen because of the flooding, but by helping one another they will get there.
Don’t forget to offer a helping hand to your neighbors in need. Life may be busy, but it should never over shadow the needs of those around us.
Please let us know in the comments section what you think about those helping one another in India and how you see the country restructuring in the near future.
