Overnight on July 30, 2024, rural communities in the western Indian state of Kerala faced the worst flooding they had ever seen. These communities are prone to increasingly frequent and intense storms, but the landslides that followed devastated villages throughout the area and disrupted the delivery of basic health care.

One of Direct Relief’s longstanding partners in the country, Amrita Institute of Medical Sciences and Research Center, operates a hospital near the affected communities. Within a week, its Disaster Management Medical Unit had provided more than 1,200 survivors of the landslides with free access to care; Amrita had deployed a bus for medical outreach in affected areas; and Direct Relief had rapidly mobilized additional deliveries of medical aid to bolster their inventory. These deliveries included vital medicines, gloves, masks, and protective face shields, which were crucial for supporting the ongoing relief efforts.

Direct Relief remains committed to supporting partners serving communities affected by disasters long after the initial events occur and the headlines fade. The organization continued to meet significant requests for medicines and supplies for Amrita in the months after the landslides, totaling $7.2 million in medical aid provided in 14 shipments.

Later in the year, as landslide victims and other vulnerable populations in Kerala continued to need support from Amrita, Direct Relief turned to FedEx to ensure that deliveries continued into the area. The largest shipment of sustained medical aid to Amrita in the months after the landslide, providing needed medicines and supplies to treat a range of acute and chronic conditions, was delivered by FedEx.

This collaboration between Direct Relief and FedEx underscores the importance of strong partnerships in times of crisis. By combining Direct Relief’s ability to mobilize resources with FedEx’s expertise in shipping and the expertise and connection to community of healthcare providers on the ground, effective emergency response ensures support for communities affected by the most devastating natural disasters and helps these populations stay on the long road to recovery.

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