Kairali Restaurant, Royal Oaks, Auckland on Thursday, September 27, 2018
Fundraising dinner for Kerala flood victims
Venkat Raman
Auckland, September 25, 2018
A three-course dinner will be held at Kairali Kerala Restaurant on Thursday, September 27, 2018 to collect funds for the victims of devastating floods in the South Indian State of Kerala.
The event is being organised by ‘KindNZ,’ an initiative run by a group of ‘socially responsible
Auckland volunteers promoting kindness in every possible way in their daily lives.’
Event Coordinator Soby Bernard Thomas said that the dinner would feature an authentic Kerala dinner with a set menu offering Vegetarian and Non-Vegetarian food.
Tables seating four persons at $200 per table and tables seating six persons at $300 per table are available. For further details, please contact Soby on (09) 4866493 or 021-1214148.
Booking can also be made directly at Kairali Restaurant on (09) 6245859 or 022-6461856.
Rebuilding begins in Kerala
Kerala Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan said that the torrential rains and the consequent floods last month destroyed public and private property and claimed hundreds of lives.
But he said that rescue operations have ended, rehabilitation is underway and what is left is rebuilding of the State.
He said that his government would offer Rs 10,000 to each family staying in refuge camps.
“While undertaking reconstruction, bear in mind the environmental impact,” he said.
At the one-day Special Assembly session on Thursday for discussing the Kerala deluge and the relief and rehabilitation measures that are being conducted to aid the affected people, Mr Vijayan said that 483 people had died in flood-related incidents and 14 are still missing.
Funding crucial
According to a News Minute report, Vijayan said that going forward, the most crucial factor was finding the funds. “We saw a huge response for the suggestion that people donate a month’s salary to the distress relief fund,” he said.
Mr Vijayan deferred his scheduled trip to the US for medical treatment to lead the rehabilitation exercise.
He said total estimated loss due to the disaster has surpassed Kerala’s annual plan outlay – Rs 26,500 crore for 2017-18 fiscal year – with a large number of small and medium-scale enterprises seriously affected. The state’s agricultural production has also suffered with 57,000 hectares of crops being destroyed, he said.
United Nations warns
UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres cited the Kerala floods and last year’s hurricane in Puerto Rico as he issued a grave warning about consequences of inaction over climate change and called for more leadership and greater ambition for climate action.
“Climate change is the defining issue of our time and we are at a defining moment. We face a direct existential threat. Climate change is moving faster than we are and its speed has provoked a sonic boom SOS across our world,” he said in a landmark speech on climate action here on Monday.
Climate Crisis
Mr Guterres highlighted the urgency of the climate crisis and the need to step up efforts to reverse course on climate change.
“Extreme heatwaves, wildfires, storms and floods are leaving a trail of death and devastation. Last month the state of Kerala in India suffered its worst monsoon flooding in recent history, killing 400 people and driving one million more from their homes,” he said.
He also referred to hurricane Maria that killed almost 3000 people in Puerto Rico last year, making it one of the deadliest extreme weather disasters in the US history.
“Let there be no doubt about the urgency of the crisis. We are experiencing record breaking temperatures around the world,” he said, adding that according to the World Meteorological Organisation, the past two decades included 18 of the warmest years since 1850, when records began.
