Hurricane Irma: As Florida residents escape, Indians in Atlanta offer resources to help them
Indian-Americans in Atlanta pooled in their resources to help several million people from Florida who were affected by hurricane Irma that plummeted parts of the US coastal State with wind speed of more than 193 km per hours.
Hurricane Irma made landfall on Florida’s southern islands yesterday and claimed four lives as millions of people, including thousands of Indian-Americans, evacuated the state.
About 120,000 Indian-Americans live in Florida, thousands of them residing in the now-dangerous zones of Miami, Fort Laura deal and even Tampa, according to 2010 census.
While a large number of Indian-Americans stayed inside Florida, several thousands drove out of the state and reached out to their community members in nearby Atlanta.
Given that Florida has a significant Indian-American population and a favourite destination of Indian tourists because of Disneyland, the Indian Ambassador to the US, Navtej Sarna, rushed his New York Consul General to Atlanta to oversee the relief operation and coordinate with the local community leaders.
Led by New York Consul General Sandeep Chakravorty, Atlanta consulate officials visited several evacuee shelters housing people mainly from Tampa, Florida to ascertain their welfare and wellbeing.
With the help of local residents, Sewa International has created a pool of houses where evacuee can stay till …read more
