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Floods and drought setting back India’s fight against poverty “by years,” says aid director


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World Vision warns malnourished families being pushed to the very edge

Chennai, India, October 7, 2009—Massive food shortages resulting from flooding and drought are now impacting hundreds of millions of Indians and setting back ongoing humanitarian work by years, warns World Vision.

The failure of the monsoon in the north, northeast and some parts of western India, has resulted in 22 percent less rain than normal. Now, flooding in southern India has left 1.5 million people homeless, 200 people dead, and more than 200,000 homes destroyed. As a result, millions of farmers are suffering from failed harvests or crops destroyed by floodwaters.

“India is now entering a period of severe food vulnerability,” said Jayakumar Christian, World Vision's national director in India. “We are seeing our development work set back by years.”

Christian said 350 million Indians are drought affected – including in 52 of World Vision’s 135 project areas. Additionally, Christian said the floods in southern India had caught people and the government by surprise.

“The sudden floods came as a real shock to people living in Karnataka, Andhra Pradesh and Maharashtra because the region has not experienced anything like this in more than 100 years. These are not disaster prone areas,” Christian said.

“Rates of malnourishment are already extremely high in India," Christian continued. "Almost half of all under-fives are malnourished and these droughts and floods are pushing families to the very edge. What is needed is a massive, coordinated response involving the federal and central governments, and local and international NGOs to make sure food aid gets through.”

Without assistance, Christian warned that crop failures and losses would lead to:

  • Mass migration from rural areas to the cities
  • Increased indebtedness among farmers
  • Parents pulling children out of school to work instead
  • Increased vulnerabilities for children, including the risk of children being trafficked into labor or sexual exploitation

    World Vision is now appealing for $2 million to meet the immediate needs of 100,000 flood survivors who have been driven from their homes into relief camps. The floods have destroyed crops and impacted some 20 million people, with scores of villages cut off.

    The agency’s relief workers have been providing cooked food, household items, mosquito nets, cooking utensils and clothing to thousands of survivors in relief camps in the states of Andhra Pradesh and Karnataka as part of an initial $200,000 response.


    World Vision is a Christian relief and development organization dedicated to helping children and their communities worldwide reach their full potential by tackling the causes of poverty. We serve the world’s poor — regardless of a person’s religion, race, ethnicity, or gender. For more information, please visit www.worldvision.org/press.

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