British Sikh Charity Leads Flood Rescue Efforts

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Floods In Britain: Rescue workers walk down a flooded street in Egham on Tuesday. Driven by the wettest winter since 1766, the floods first hit England about seven weeks ago. British PM David Cameron cancelled a planned visit to Israel next week to deal with floods.

LONDON – A British Sikh charityset up to help victims in foreign disasterzones has become one of thefirst NGOs to despatch humanitarianaid to people affected by floodsin southwestern England.Khalsa Aid rushed a team to floodaffectedregions of Somerset andBurrowbridge to help distributesand bags, warm clothing, antisepticfluid, bottled water, food andother essentials. “I think people area bit amazed to see us with turbansand flowing beards, but at the endof the day what they see is ahuman being and we see our fellowcountrymen suffering,” saidKhalsa Aid director RavinderSingh. The charity, launched in southeastEngland in 1999, has coordinated reliefefforts during disasters and emergenciesin several parts of the world, includingthe Philippines, Haiti, Kosovo,Afghanistan, Syria and the Indian statesof Gujarat, Odisha and Punjab. Referring to calls for the BritishGovernment to re-direct foreign aid tocountries such as India to tackle the ongoingfloods, Singh said the issue makes one“wonder on moral grounds why don’t theygive half of that 250 million pounds tothese people who need it”.He added: “The people in the country whomake that foreign aid possible are suffering.”More wet weather is affecting floodstrickenparts of the UK, with flood warningsin place along the Thames river.