Volunteers float relief supplies on Styrofoam to stranded flood victims near Bangkok. Photo by Elizabeth Tromans/CRS

By Elizabeth Tromans

Filling the lobby of Caritas Thailand’s central office in Bangkok is a mountain of donated food and cases upon cases of bottled water. The Royal Thai Army quickly loads the food and water onto a military truck. In the lobby I find a group of ladies from various church groups bustling about, loading a few last items into the truck and taking turns snapping photos of each other. We boost each other up into the back of the truck. Amidst laughter and heaps of food we manage to find the last bits of open floor space, lay a piece of cardboard and settle in together in a pile bound for flooded neighborhoods on the outskirts of Bangkok.

Since July, Thailand has been suffering from the worst monsoon flooding in more than 50 years. At its height, floodwaters covered one-third of the country and affected an estimated 13.5 million people. The flooding made its way slowly south to Bangkok and surrounding areas. The crisis is taking a huge toll on the poor, particularly on the estimated 2.2 million undocumented migrant workers who have no access to government services.
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Father June in the hospitality house, where he has been assisting migrants to recover from recent floods in Thailand. Photo Elizabeth Tromans/CRS

By Elizabeth Tromans

At the foot of an overpass about 40 km northeast of central Bangkok, Father Ongart Kaesue, known as Father June, pulls over his truck and announces, “This is where the flood begins.” A volunteer wearing a bright orange vest asks drivers their destination in order to arrange rides for the dozens of people standing on a nearby platform. “Saphan Mai,” says Father June, and the volunteer shouts the location into the megaphone. A few people with bags of groceries climb into the back of the truck and we cautiously continue into standing water.

Father June didn’t realize the calamity ahead of him when he began working with the National Catholic Commission on Migration (NCCM), a part of Caritas Thailand, four months ago; he had only just been ordained as a priest in the Missionary Oblates of Mary Immaculate.
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Balaneeshta, a widow, stands in the doorway of her new home. With funding from Caritas partners, CRS constructed warm, insulated shelters that could stand up to the mountain region’s winter cold. Photo by Laura Sheahen/CRS

“I was milking a cow when I heard about the flood,” says Balaneeshta, an elderly widow living in mountainous northern Pakistan. “People from far away were whistling loudly to us and saying ‘run!’”

As the rains of summer 2010 poured down and the river near their homes surged higher, Balaneeshta and her neighbors ran up the mountains to safety. “Because of the mud, it was hard to climb,” she says. “Our feet sank deep. Trees and rocks were sliding down.” Nearby, her relative Nizamullah carried his disabled mother up the hill.

Balaneeshta, her neighbors, and her many children and grandchildren escaped. But the flood days were only the beginning of their problems. With homes completely washed away, villagers slept outside for days. They received tents, but not always enough of them.
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CRS is responding to July flooding in Pakistan with kits containing jerry cans, water purification tablets, soap, detergent, towels and cookware. Photo by CRS staff

“I was offered a glass of the brown river water yesterday,” says Lisa Beyl, a Catholic Relief Services program manager in flood-stricken northern Pakistan. “It literally looks like mud. It is the dirtiest water I have ever seen in my life.

“I can’t believe that people are drinking it, but they are, out of necessity.”
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As CRS Pakistan teams hike through dangerous terrain to reach survivors of massive flooding, staffers are also coping with their own losses.

Sultan Ahmad, who has worked as a security guard for CRS in northern Pakistan since last December, lives 100 feet from the Indus River. His 18 family members, including his siblings, their children, and his elderly parents, live together in their six-room house. The house is new, and a labor of love—Sultan and his brother helped build it with their own hands last year.

When water levels started rising last week, Sultan and his family rushed to grab the children, including two babies, and flee to higher ground. In fifteen minutes the floods had taken over. Sultan and his family were alive–but their house and everything in it was lost.
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In late July, heavy rains poured down on urban and rural areas of Mongolia. The severe flooding that resulted killed dozens of people, washed away 2,000 homes, and damaged or destroyed water systems.

“Up to 20,000 people are now exposed to harsh weather conditions, unclean water and poor sanitation,” says Father Pierrot Kasemuana, Executive Director of Caritas Mongolia. “Most of these people have lost everything they had.”
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A bicyclist slogs through food waters following rains that displaced more than 400,000 in northern Brazil. Photo courtesy of Caritas Brazil

The northern Brazil town of Codó was recently inundated with torrential rains and severe flooding. Catholic Relief Services is providing at least 4,000 families with essential hygiene supplies.
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The flood waters in the city of Codó washed out entire homes and left more than 3,000 residents in this town homeless. Photo courtesy of Caritas Brazil

Fr. José Wasensteiner of the parish of Sao Raimundo, City of Codó, state of Maranhão, reports on flooding in and around his parish.

Flooded parts of northeast Brazil, especially in our city of Codó, are in chaos. While some of the water has receded, many streets are impassable and thousands of people are homeless. In Codó, about 3,206 people have been displaced. Of these, 58 families, almost 300 people, are housed in day-care centers and in the São Raimundo parish.

The floodwaters, propelled by two months of incessant rain, have submerged entire houses in communities near the Itapecuru river. The first flood occurred between the 21st and 24th of April, following heavy rain that began early in the month. The water rose very high and flooded houses in the Saint Antonio quarter of the city, but the situation was relatively controlled. But as the rain persisted the river overflowed its banks, causing severe flooding the nights of May 3 and 4.
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The rubble of a destroyed house is seen after a dam burst on the outskirts of Jakarta. A burst dam unleashed a wall of water on the outskirts of the Indonesian capital. Photo by Reuters/Dadang Tri, courtesy www.alertnet.org

With help from CRS, Jakarta residents whose homes were washed away when a dam burst are getting blankets, clothes, and tarps. On Thursday March 26, heavy rains hit the Indonesian capital of Jakarta and surrounding areas. A major dam burst, and the resulting flood claimed the lives of over 80 people; over one hundred more people are still reported missing. Hundreds of houses have been destroyed or flooded, and families are living in temporary shelters.

CRS’ local partners are distributing aid to affected families. “CRS had already prepositioned items like blankets and tarps for emergency responses,” says Richard Balmadier, Country Representative for CRS Indonesia. “So our partners have been able to swing into action quickly.” CRS partner Yayasan Ibu (“Mothers’ Foundation”) has given out 200 sarongs, 270 blankets and 20 tarps. The sarongs are used as clothing, and the tarps are used to create makeshift tents. CRS has also provided the diocese of Jakarta with 270 sarongs and 200 blankets to support their response.

CRS information officer Laura Sheahen sent this report.

Richard Hoffman, Country Representative for Brazil, reports on recent flooding that sent tens of thousands fleeing their homes.

In less than a week, an equivalent of four months of heavy rain saturated eastern coastal and northern sections of the southern Brazilian state of Santa Catarina. Rivers swelled above their banks and resulting mudslides caused several fatalities as well as damaging homes and property.

About 119 flood-related deaths have been reported. We have tallies of 45,000 people displaced from their homes, of which 28,000 have suffered a total loss of residence. Authorities calculate that one quarter of the state’s population was affected one way or the other by the severe flooding.
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