An Appeal

SURFEIT OF WATER

TRAGEDY UNIMAGINABLE: DIRE NEED FOR HELP!

Nature gives and nature takes away. The same clouds that bring drops of life giving liquid choose to come down in excess and cause chaos. The same rivers that have sustained lives for centuries, albeit with occasional problems, turn into a roaring torrent and sweep ALL LIFE away! When this happens because some of our own power structure failed to properly maintain a dam upstream the onus is upon all of us because we were not vigilant enough to ensure that the required job was being done.

However, this is not the moment to try and assign blame rather it is THE MOMENT for each one of us to come forward to alleviate the untold suffering of over 2 million members of our Bihari FAMILY. By all counts, the magnitude of the tragedy is GREATER than the Tsunami of 2004 and so the requirements are also manifold.

What is needed? LITERALLY EVERYTHING: potable water, food, shelter, clothing, medicine .....

Why? Hundreds of villages have been swept OUT of existence. The river has changed course in a major way and there is no WAY to go back.

When? RIGHT AWAY!

The Govts have responded but as always the reponse is far from adequate. Several of our volunteers (Kamayani, Ashish, Balaji) and close collaborators (Dharmendar, Vivek ) are right in the middle of the formidable sheets of water trying to bring hope to the hopeless and help to the helpless. However, they need supplies in unimagined quantities. Supplies, which must be procured asap and shipped to the relevant sites as fast as possible.

In the past it has been our great fortune that the community has come forward and contributed the funds that permitted us to deliver much needed help in Orissa, Gujarat, Tamil Nadu and Kashmir to name a few.

We appeal to you again to please use the immense generosity in your kind hearts to support our efforts.

God Bless you! God Bless Bihar! God Bless India!

~Mohan