In India, Christ’s love and a 100-year flood

CHENNAI, India — Flooding during the monsoons is part of life in southern India. But this year’s rains in the Bay of Bengal have produced a hundred-year flood in India’s Tamil Nadu state, according to news reports.  

“Chennai city and the suburban areas have lost more than 500 lives, and 150,000 small houses were washed away in the flood,” said Peter Solomon of the National Bible College in the Chennai area.

Nineteen families from the East Annanagar Church of Christ lost their homes and 21 church buildings were destroyed in the flood, said Paul Renganathan, a church leader and Bible college administrator in Chennai. 

Church members and Bible college students are distributing rice, cooking meals for the displaced and hosting medical camps for the victims, Renganathan said. Many people lost most of their clothing, and the college has distributed three-fourths of its stored clothing to help, he added.

David Martin, an evangelist in Chennai, hopes to provide about 2,000 families in need in Tamil Nadu with rice, cooking oil, dhal (beans) and sugar.

Healing Hands International, a relief and development nonprofit supported by Churches of Christ, sent funds to church members in the cities of Chennai, Nellore and Tirupati to assist in recovery.

TO CONTRIBUTE to relief, see www.hhi.org/indiacrisis or call (615) 832-2000.