LWSI meets urgent needs of cyclone-affected families

The Lutheran World Service India (LWSI) will provide staple food packets consisting of 14 kg rice, 2 kg lentils, and 1 litre of edible oil to thousands of cyclone-affected families in West Bengal.

Working with partners on the ground, the Christian group proposes to meet the urgent needs, which are "immediate food for sustenance, drinking water, sanitation and shelter."

The church-based group is initially targeting "3,000 affected families in West Bengal."

One HDPE Polythene sheet per family will also be provided for temporary shelter and a pack of 200 water purification tablets will be provided to ensure safe drinking water, LWSI said.

Another aid group, Church's Auxiliary for Social Action (CASA), said "4000 families in the affected area of West Bengal, will be provided with ready to eat food i.e. 1 Kg Jaggery (molasses) and 5 Kg flattened rice, as an immediate response."

Priority will be given to the most vulnerable sections of the affected people such as the marginalised communities, excluded communities, widows, physically challenged, single female headed families and children, says CASA.

The cyclone hit parts of coastal Bangladesh and eastern India on 25 May, triggering tidal surges and floods and destroying hundreds of thousands of homes.

Officials say the death toll has risen to at least 191, even as millions continue to remain stranded in flooded villages.