- RDT is actively supporting the government teams and civil society in assisting people affected by the Telangana floods
- The RDT team is providing essential supplies and medical assistance. Relief packages have reached 8,000 people.
Lakshmi and her husband show the pole they clung to for hours as floodwaters washed out their house and all their belongings before their eyes. “It only took four hours to destroy what we took a lifetime to build“, he regrets. A blue doorframe is the only thing left of their home. The story of Lakshmi is one of the hundreds of families that lost everything due to the relentless rains in the last two days. RDT is actively supporting the government teams and civil society in assisting people affected by the floods in Telangana’s Bhupalapally, Mulugu, and Warangal districts. Emergency response teams are working to ensure food, water, clothing, bedding, personal hygiene products, and medical assistance for the affected people. 
Rameswari, RDT Regional Director for Adoni, dispatched to the area, said, “We are supporting the government teams to reach as many people as possible, it has been challenging to access some affected areas, especially in deep forests, but we have been able to aid them with necessities like food, water, clothes, mat etc. To witness this, in reality, is disheartening, but at the same time, I’m grateful that I could work as part of RDT to help.” Relief packages to around 8,000 people were distributed. RDT has additionally set up an ambulance service to transfer critical patients to higher institutions. Most people are affected by respiratory infections, diarrhoea and mild skin diseases. 
“We have been providing assistance here for the past three days along with the government teams, trying to distribute relief packages and medical assistance to people. Most of them are still in shock, and some are affected by mild fever, infections, and diarrhoea. An ambulance service has also been set up to transfer patients who need higher medical assistance.“, explains Dr Sayfulla, Director of RDT Rural Hospital, Mannanur, who has been dispatched to the area. “Nothing I say will make any difference. We have lost everything“, states Nagalakshmi, one of the thousands affected by the floods. An estimated 41 people have lost their lives, and more than 10,000 have been evacuated due to heavy rains in what is known to be the most severe flood in this part of Telangana in the past 30 years.
Image Credits : Ernest Abhishek Paul
