23rd August 2018
Responding to the devastating floods in southern India, an initial consignment of 240 Family Filters and 10 Community Filters left the Aquabox depot on 23rd August bound for Bangalore by air freight to help meet the urgent need for clean drinking water.
This was followed by a shipment of 250 Aquaboxes on 3rd September by sea freight to Cochin in Kerala, with a second air freight to Trivandrum of 480 Family Filters and 10 Community Filters leaving on 17th September.
The floods in Kerala and the surrounding area are some of the worst in India’s history. More than 400 people have been killed, many more are missing and over 1 million have been displaced from their homes. There are fears of disease spreading from polluted flood waters.
At Aquabox we pride ourselves on finding secure, rapid logistics solutions and overcoming local difficulties in order to deliver much needed aid, and we are extremely grateful to our Rotary colleagues in southern India for their invaluable assistance with this.
Helpfully also, the Indian Government Ministry of Finance has issued a notification, that subject to very tight conditions, humanitarian aid for the flood affected areas will not be subject to import tax. This will remain in place until December 2018 and is an assurance against abuse of the aid being donated.
Our work in providing this emergency aid places enormous demand on our funds. We rely totally on donations to allow our work to continue. Please help us to help those in need.