TIRUPATI: In a major initiative to resurrect devastated lives, the Tirupati unit of International Society of Krsna Consciousness (ISKCON) has announced to meet the basic needs of 1,000 families in the flood-ravaged Kurnool district.

Unprecedented floods in the Krishna river basin in Andhra Pradesh, India on Friday heaped misery on thousands of people in Kurnool and Mahabubnagar districts forcing the government to seek the help of the Army, Navy and from other charitable organizations.

Kurnool, a city with a population of nearly five hundred thousand, bore the brunt of the flood fury as water reached the first storey of several buildings. There were heart-rending scenes of people frantically seeking assistance to rescue them, but the government did not have sufficient number of boats or men to help them. It is estimated that about 40,000 people had taken shelter on the rooftops.

The ISKCON administrators dispatched a 1,000 sets of essentials in a truck at their Lotus temple headquarters on Thursday.

The goods worth Rs. 1,000 per family were neatly packed.

The consignment included rice, groceries, vegetables, bed sheets, clothes, notebooks, school stationery, worth in all Rs.1,000,000.

ISKCON head Revati Raman Dasa flagged off the truck carrying the relief material.