Breaking news: heavy rain alert in 21 states

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New Delhi: Gujarat, Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra, Punjab  and Rajasthan have been alerted in 21 states due to heavy rains. About 100 teams of about 4500 personnel of Disaster Response Force (NDRF) have been deployed to tackle flood and heavy rains across 71 locations across the country. In all the battalions of NDRF, additional teams are placed in the ready position and they will be sent as per demand. An official of the Home Ministry said that NDRF has deployed 97 teams for rescue and relief of flood affected people in 71 locations in at least 14 states across the country. There are 45 personnel in a team of NDRF.

 Partly cloudy in Delhi this morning The Meteorological Department has forecast rain in different parts of the city late evening in the national capital.

Due to southwest monsoon, there is torrential rains in large parts of Karnataka . This has affected people's life and many rivers are running on the boom. Officials said that there is a flood in Cauvery, Tunga, Bhadravati river and Krishna and their tributaries.

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The Meteorological Department has expressed apprehensions of heavy rain in 42 districts of Madhya Pradesh during the next 48 hours. More than 80 houses have been damaged by floods in a village in Burhanpur. According to the information, during the next 48 hours, in the Gwalior, Rewa, Satna, Sidhi, Panna, Chhattarpur, Tikamgarh, Umaria, Alirajpur, Anuppur, Balaghat, Badwani, Betul, Bhopal, Burhanpur, Chhindwara, Damoh, Deewas, Dhar Ej Thunder in many places in Dindori, Harda, Hoshangabad, Indore, Jabalpur, Katni, Khandwa, Khargone, Mandla, Mandasar, Narsinghpur, Raisen, Rajgarh, Ratlam, Sagar, Damoh, Sehore, Seoni, Shajapur, Ujjain, Umaria  and  Vidisha is expected to shower and heavy rain

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 Due to heavy rainfall in many residential and low areas of Navsari and Valsad districts of Gujarat , water was flooded and people had to face problems. According to the State Emergency Control Room, there are many areas of Saurashtra region. Due to torrential rain, water is flooded on the roads and the rivers are running on the boom. About 900 people have been safe places in the state, especially in the areas of Central Gujarat.

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The rainy season is continuing in most parts of Uttarakhand including Dehradun

UAE help Rs 700 crore for Kerala's help

For the first time in this century of the most catastrophic floods of Kerala, there has been a lot of help from the nation and abroad. 

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Now United Arab Emirates (UAE) has proposed to provide 700 crores for the help of Kerala. On Tuesday, Kerala Chief Minister Pinarai Vijayan gave this information. Let us know that before this, on 18 August, the UAE had announced the help of Kerala.

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On August 18, Sheikh Khalifa of United Arab Emirates (UAE) had instructed to set up a National Emergency Committee. He had said that this committee provided necessary help to flood-affected areas and flood victims in Kerala.

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The central government had also given Rs 100 crore assistance to Kerala first. After this, PM Modi visited Kerala's flood-affected areas last week. PM Modi has announced a grant of Rs 500 crore for immediate financial assistance to Kerala, who is facing floods. PM Modi has announced compensation of Rs two lakh to the kin of the people killed in the floods and rains in Kerala and Rs 50 lakh for the seriously injured. This compensation will be given from the Prime Minister's National Disaster Relief Fund.

Facebook donates Rs 1.75 crore for Kerala flood victims

Facebook Logo. (File Photo: IANS)

New Delhi, Aug 20 (IANS) Social networking giant Facebook is donating $250,000 (nearly Rs 1.75 crore) for relief work in Kerala, which has been battered by torrential rains, floods and landslides, leaving over 300 dead amid massive destruction, the company said on Monday.
Facebook will donate the money through the Community Resilience Fund for GOONJ -- a Delhi-based non-profit organisation that is leading the relief and recovery efforts in the impacted localities.
"In the last few days, Facebook along with the power of the community, has helped reach out to people through features such as Live, creating Page, joining community and raising funds," a Facebook spokesperson told IANS.
"The smallest of all things we have done is that our global community has contributed $250,000 for Goonj fund," she added.
Kerala has seen unabated rains since August 8, causing one of the worst floods in its history that has until now claimed over 300 lives and rendered thousands homeless.
People across Facebook have created "Groups", "Live Videos" and "Pages" to raise funds to mobilise support and help the worst affected.
The groups created include those facilitating communication and relief to victims, such as coordinating transportation and medical attention; IT professionals gathering information about people who need to be rescued and sharing it with emergency officials and doctors who are offering medical tips to those affected by the floods.
On August 9, the Facebook community activated its feature "Safety Check", allowing people to let their friends and family know that they were safe.
The "Help and the Crisis Donate Button" on the platform has garnered more than 1,300 posts from the affected areas. The posts were asking for help and also for offering things like shelter, food, water, transportation and volunteer work.
So far, nearly 500 people have donated using the Crisis Donate Button.
Importantly, several people who were left stranded used Facebook Live to ask for rescue after being unable to reach authorities.
More than 1,200 people have used Facebook's "Community Help" to ask for and request help, including food, water, transportation and shelter.
The disaster maps on Facebook have helped National Disaster Management Authority (NDMA) and relevant NGOs to mobilise rescue and support efforts.
These Maps track people's movement and demarcate between the affected (flood-hit) and safe zones. This has also helped the government to identify places, where rescue and relief is required.
"Facebook is the largest community of volunteers, donors, and activists coming together to make the world a better place. We will continue to monitor and assess needs in the region. Together, the Facebook community is championing humanity and helping those in distress," the networking giant said in a statement.
--IANS
rt/na/bg