Preliminary Appeal

India

Tamil Nadu Floods - IND095

Appeal Target: US$ 575,748

Geneva, 16 November 2009

Since the beginning of November, heavy rains and subsequent flooding and landslides have created damage and displacement rendering thousands of people homeless in the state of Tamil Nadu. Seven districts of Tamil Nadu have been worst affected by the floods. Landslides in hilly Theni district resulted in 45 deaths. Nilgiris was also badly affected as it received very heavy rainfall of 951mm for a prolonged period of 12 days starting from 1st November 2009. The death toll related to the floods stands at 60 as of November 16th 2009 (as per ACT member reports).

Most seriously affected are poor slum dwellers in Chennai city as well as labourers and marginal farmers in rural areas. Women and children as well as elderly people are the worst affected in this situation. Houses have been severely damaged, particularly the low cost houses of poor slum dwellers in low lying areas, and thatched houses in rural areas. There has been substantial loss of crops due to the waters breaching banks and raised areas. Damages to roads and railways have disrupted access to the affected areas.

The ACT Coordinating Office circulated an Alert on 6 November 2009. Since then, further information has been received from the two requesting ACT members, the Church's Auxiliary for Social Action (CASA) and the United Evangelical Lutheran Churches in India (UELCI).

This Preliminary Appeal includes proposed relief and early recovery assistance (food aid, basic non-food relief items and temporary shelter or basic repair to huts over a one to three month period. CASA is implementing along with the local dioceses of the Church of South India, and UELCI with a number of the local Lutheran churches which it represents. ACT member Lutheran World Service is not requesting a separate appeal but is also on standby to provide additional personnel or logistical assistance to support UELCI's operations if required from their team in Tamil Nadu.

This Preliminary Appeal will shortly be followed by a full version of the appeal, once results of the detailed needs assessment are known.

Project Completion Date:

CASA - 15 December 2009 (one-month implementation)

UELCI - 15 February 2010 (three-month implementation)

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FOR THE FULL APPEAL (PDF FILE), KINDLY VISIT THE ACT SITE. THANK YOU. ________________________________________________________________________________

Reporting schedule:

Please kindly send your contributions to either of the following ACT bank accounts:

US dollar

Account Number - 240-432629.60A

IBAN No: CH46 0024 0240 4326 2960A

Euro

Euro Bank Account Number - 240-432629.50Z

IBAN No: CH84 0024 0240 4326 2950Z

Account Name: ACT - Action by Churches Together

UBS AG

8, rue du Rhône

P.O. Box 2600

1211 Geneva 4, SWITZERLAND

Swift address: UBSWCHZH80A

Please also inform the Finance Officer Jessie Kgoroeadira (jkg@act-intl.org) and the Programme Officer, Yonetani (myo@act-intl.org) of all pledges/contributions and transfers, including funds sent direct to the implementers.

We would appreciate being informed of any intent to submit applications for EU, USAID and/or other back donor funding and the subsequent results. We thank you in advance for your kind cooperation.

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ACT is a global alliance of churches and related agencies working to save lives and support communities in emergencies worldwide. The ACT Coordinating Office is based with the World Council of Churches (WCC) and The Lutheran World Federation (LWF) in Switzerland.