Jewish Community In India Mostly Unaffected By Deadly Floods
Aerial view of floods in India Image by Getty Images
(JTA) — The Jewish community in Kerala has largely escaped harm from the deadly floods in the southern Indian state, one member of the community told JTA.
More than 350 people have been killed and over 1 million have been displaced by the floods, which started in June and are the worst the state has experienced in a century. But the small Jewish community is mostly unaffected, said Ofera Elias, who lives in the city of Ernakulam.
The community has about 26 members, most of whom reside in areas that were not flooded, Elias, 56, told JTA on Tuesday. Two members’ houses were flooded; the families found shelter elsewhere.
However, Elias said he was not sure of the fate of the one functioning synagogues because the floods had prevented her and her husband from going there. She said three synagogues that are no longer used by the community for religious services have experienced flooding.
Kerala is home to a historic Jewish community, but most members left for Israel starting in the early 1950s.
On Tuesday, IsrAID dispatched a three-person relief team to the state. The group, assembled from the organization’s team stationed in Nepal since the 2015 earthquake, includes an engineer, project manager and relief specialist, co-CEO Yotam Polizer told JTA.
When the team arrives on Wednesday, it will assess the situation and focus on distributing non-food relief items, including blankets and tents, Polizer said. IsrAID will send additional people later this week and is planning a long-term operation in Kerala to deal with the floods’ aftermath.
Alyssa Fisher is a news writer at the Forward. Email her at fisher@forward.com, or follow her on Twitter at @alyssalfisher
I hope you appreciated this article. Before you go, I’d like to ask you to please support the Forward’s award-winning, nonprofit journalism during this critical time.
Now more than ever, American Jews need independent news they can trust, with reporting driven by truth, not ideology. We serve you, not any ideological agenda.
At a time when other newsrooms are closing or cutting back, the Forward has removed its paywall and invested additional resources to report on the ground from Israel and around the U.S. on the impact of the war, rising antisemitism and the protests on college campuses.
Readers like you make it all possible. Support our work by becoming a Forward Member and connect with our journalism and your community.
Make a gift of any size and become a Forward member today. You’ll support our mission to tell the American Jewish story fully and fairly.
— Rachel Fishman Feddersen, Publisher and CEO
Join our mission to tell the Jewish story fully and fairly.
