India’s ace sprinter Hima Das, who is a native of the northeast state of Assam, has come forward to donate half of her monthly salary in the crisis for relief efforts. The situation in Assam is indeed heartbreaking.
An official of the Assam State Disaster Management Authority mentioned that 4,175 villages with 46.28 lakh people have been badly affected due to the flash floods as of Monday afternoon, close to 90,000 hectare of agricultural land is flooded.
Reports claim that more than 45 lakh people have been affected in 4,620 villages, with 1,01,085 people taking shelter in 226 relief camps. As many as 562 distribution centres have been established to provide relief to the less unfortunate ones and over 10 lakh animals have also been affected.
Almost 90% of the Kaziranga National Park has been submerged by now, and authorities are taking several measures, including speed restrictions on National Highway 37 which touches the park, to rescue animals as they head to higher grounds.
While 15 people died in floods and landslides and over 46 lakh have been badly affected in Assam, 24 deaths have also been reported from north Bihar, which is also experiencing a serious flood situation, with water levels of rivers in the area continuing to rise.
Hima Das shared a post from her official Twitter account on July 16 to draw the media’s attention towards the dreadful situation and to urge netizens to contribute towards relief funds to help the lakhs of displaced victims.
The sprinter is currently in Europe and is busy in training camps and other competitive events. India’s golden girl donated to the Assam Chief Minister’s Relief Fund on July 16. Hima Das works as an HR person at the Indian Oil Corporation.
She tweeted: “I have contributed my bit and requesting others also to please help people of Assam. #AssamFloods”
In another tweet, she said: “Flood situation in our state Assam is very critical, 30 out of 33 districts are currently affected. So, I would like to request big corporates and individuals to kindly come forward and help our state in this difficult situation.”