The Adventist Development and Relief Agency (ADRA) has mobilized emergency response teams to assist populations in India’s Southern Coast region, which, in December 2023, was ravaged by Cyclone Michaung and subsequent heavy rains and flooding.

Cyclone Michaung struck Andhra Pradesh on December 5, affecting approximately 4 million people, destroying homes and flooding dozens of villages. Hundreds were relocated to relief camps, and the entire fishing community has lost its livelihood, with over 1,200 boats destroyed or missing, according to local authorities.

The storm, unceasing downpours, and flooding limited access to food and shelter, impacted basic services like electricity and sanitation, and polluted water sources. ADRA’s rapid assessment specialists are on the ground monitoring the situations, delivering aid to the most vulnerable communities.

“ADRA teams are working closely with the local government, Adventist Church volunteers, and other partner organizations to coordinate [a] response strategy. We are providing household items, multipurpose cash transfers, hygiene kits, dry food rations, and clearing debris from relief camps where many displaced families are still sheltering,” says Elizabeth Tomenko, ADRA International’s senior emergency program manager. “We are grateful for the church donations that are helping ADRA to serve the neediest communities in this region. Please continue to keep them in your prayers.”

Since 1987, ADRA’s country office in India has supported the region’s inhabitants by carrying out over 130 emergency response and development projects that have improved livelihoods, education, safety, hygiene, and disaster preparedness.

ADRA relies on community and faith-based supporters, as well as contributions from independent donors, to meet the humanitarian needs caused by natural disasters around the world. Aid must reach crisis-affected communities, and ADRA’s emergency relief operations require essential support. 

Visit ADRA.org and become an ADRA Angel in 2024. Contribute to ADRA’s global disaster fund to assist families in need in India and around the world. 

Journalists can request interviews for this story by emailing press@ADRA.org or contacting Iris Argueta at (301) 332-3880.

The original version of this story was posted on the ADRA website.