Sikh charity leads flood rescue efforts
Wednesday, 12/02/2014
http://www.tribuneindia.com/2014/20140212/punjab.htm#22
London : A British Sikh charity set up to help victims in foreign disaster zones has become one of the first NGOs to despatch humanitarian aid to people affected by floods in southwestern England.
Khalsa Aid rushed a team to flood-affected regions of Somerset and Burrowbridge to help distribute sand bags, warm clothing, antiseptic fluid, bottled water, food and other essentials.
“I think people are a bit amazed to see us with turbans and flowing beards, but at the end of the day what they see is a human being and we see our fellow countrymen suffering,” said Khalsa Aid director Ravinder Singh. The charity, launched in southeast England in 1999, has coordinated relief efforts during disasters and emergencies in several parts of the world, including the Philippines, Haiti, Kosovo, Afghanistan, Syria and the Indian states of Gujarat, Odisha and Punjab.
Referring to calls for the British Government to re-direct foreign aid to countries such as India to tackle the ongoing floods, Singh said the issue makes one “wonder on moral grounds why don’t they give half of that 250 million pounds to these people who need it”.
He added: “The people in the country who make that foreign aid possible are suffering.” More wet weather is affecting flood-stricken parts of the UK, with flood warnings in place along the Thames river.
