As the month long cold wave that is sweeping
across Northern India claims more victims each day, World Vision India
is responding by providing blankets, food through soup kitchens and firewood
for more than 100,000 people in the villages of Uttar Pradesh, a northern
state in India.
Said to be the coldest spell in centuries,
the wave that is spreading across Nepal and Bangladesh has already claimed
more than 1,400 lives in the last month. Of this 572 people are from the
state of Uttar Pradesh.
Hovering around one degree Celsius, this phenomenon is reported to be caused by "Siberian winds" blowing down from the Himalayan ranges and is affecting people in villages where the situation is complicated by rudimentary access to heating and electricity. Crop damage is also likely as the high level of humidity is affecting the growth.
World Vision, working with partner agencies Emmanuel Health Association and Uttar Pradesh Mission will be distributing blankets and firewood to more than 20,000 most-affected families in Mirzapur, Sonebhadra, Fatehpur, Ballia, Varanasi, Ghazipur, Allahabad and Kausambhi districts of Uttar Pradesh. Soup kitchens will also be set up to provide nourishing food to the affected peoples.
World Vision works in Uttar Pradesh in the Ballia Area Development Programme situated close to the holy town of Varanasi.