Kerala Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan announced on Tuesday that the United Arab Emirates (UAE) has offered financial assistance of Rs 700 crore to rebuild the flood-hit state.
The UAE has been one of the first countries to offer aid to Kerala. “The people of Kerala have always been and are still part of our success story in the UAE. We have a special responsibility to help and support those affected, especially during this holy and blessed days,” UAE’s Vice President Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum had tweeted recently.
According to estimates, the Indian community in the UAE, numbering 2.6 million, constitutes 30 per cent of the total population. It is the largest expatriate community in the country.
The Centre has declared the floods in Kerala a "calamity of severe nature" as the state braced for the gigantic task of reconstruction of destroyed infrastructure and rehabilitation lakhs of people rendered homeless.
Keeping in view the intensity and magnitude of the floods and landslides in Kerala, this is a calamity of a severe nature for all practical purposes," a home ministry official said on Monday.
An estimated 223 people have lost their lives since August 8 in Kerala's worst floods in decades that has caused damage worth more than Rs 20,000 crore. About 10.78 lakh people, including 2.12 lakh women and one lakh children under 12, have been sheltered in 3,200 relief camps.
(With inputs from agencies)
