As monsoon clouds threatened still more rain, the Indian Red Cross Society geared up to respond to floods that killed more than 200 people and affected some 10 million others. More than 40 million hectares of land in the country is prone to flooding, with an average of 18.6 million hectares of land flooded each year. “As well as assessing what people need, our trained volunteers are in action distributing emergency supplies of tarpaulins, blankets and other aid,” said S.P. Agarwal, secretary general of the Indian Red Cross. In response, the IFRC allocated US$ 355,000 from its Disaster Relief Emergency Fund to support Indian Red Cross efforts to help 80,000 people.
