By Andrea Christensen
Since a devastating 7.9-magnitude earthquake hit India on Friday, Jan. 26, 39 non-governmental organizations in the United States, in addition to the U.S. Agency for International Development, have provided aid to India”s victims.
USAID announced Sunday, Jan. 28, it would provide $5 million to assist India in its time of crisis. In addition, a seven-person USAID Disaster Assistance Response Team arrived in India Monday, Jan. 29, to begin assessing earthquake damage and helping with relief efforts.
According to the Office of U.S. Foreign Disaster Assistance, unofficial estimates indicate up to 100,000 people have been killed and 200,000 injured since Friday”s quake.
Government officials in India report that 125,000 people are still missing with many of those still trapped in buildings, according to a USAID report.
A report by the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs estimated that the original quake and its 77 confirmed aftershocks have completely destroyed up to 50 percent of the buildings in India”s Kutch district and made 95 percent uninhabitable.
Thirty-nine non-governmental organizations in the United States, including the American Red Cross, Operation USA, United Way International and Latter-day Saints Charities, are working to improve these conditions by providing relief assistance to the victims in India.
The Red Cross, according to the official Red Cross Web site, sent $25,000 to India for initial relief operations, with an additional $20,000 donated for the purchase of sheeting and blankets.
CARE, working with USAID, began distributing 100 metric tons of ready-to-eat food Saturday, according to a USAID press release. The food is projected to meet half of the daily food requirements for 4,000 families for up to 20 days.
The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, in a Sunday news release, announced that it would provide more than 600,000 pounds of food to areas most affected by the disaster. The church also sent emergency funding to local Indian relief agencies, with $25,000 donated to the Prime Minister of India”s relief fund.
“One of the nice things about the church”s welfare system is that we do have a supply of these commodities already available because of the generosity of the members of the church,” said Kent Hinckley, a member of the LDS Church Emergency Response Committee.
“We help because there is a need … we have the resources, we have the goods and commodities and we help because there are people hurting,” Hinckley said.
Other countries providing financial or organizational assistance to India include Britain, Italy, Norway, Russia, Netherlands, Kuwait, Greece, Israel and China, according to a USAID report.
To find out what you can do to help, see the list of non-governmental organizations providing assistance at www.interaction.org.
