Cyclone Amphan Relief in Sundarbans, West Bengal

On May 20, 2020, Cyclone Amphan, the most powerful cyclone ever recorded in the Bay of Bengal, made landfall in the Sundarbans delta of West Bengal, India before continuing its path of destruction through the state capital of Kolkata and Bangladesh. 

The Sundarbans was already suffering from the fallout of India's Covid-19 lockdown, as migrant workers returned home under conditions of extreme hardship. Now, the embankments around these low-lying islands have been breached, villages and fields flooded, and many homes destroyed. The delta faces a long recovery, as groundwater aquifers and agricultural land have been inundated with salt water. 

I am a PhD student in anthropology at Boston University  and am currently based in Boston, MA. I have been conducting research in the West Bengal, India Sundarbans since 2016. In that time I have developed personal relationships of trust with two grassroots organizations, founded and led by locals in Basanti block, South 24 Parganas, West Bengal. The first is the Mahespur Rakhal Chandra Sebashram (a service ashram) and the second is Joygopalpur Gram Bikash Kendra (a village-based development organization). Both have been conducting Covid-19 relief distributions prior to Cyclone Amphan and are redoubling their efforts in the wake of the cyclone. As these are  local organizations in a remote area of the Sundarbans, they do not have online donation facilities at this time. I am collecting on their behalf and will send the funds in early June to support their distribution of food items (rice, lentils, oil, etc.) and essential supplies such as tarpaulins. I will wire the funds directly to the institutional account, which is already approved for international donations and holds an active Foreign Contribution Regulation Act license from the government of India  I will provide updates to this page once the transfer is complete.

More information on Joygopalpur Gram Bikash Kendra .

In 2017, I was part of a collaborative art project at the Mahespur Rakhal Chandra Sebashram. The outcome of the project was a book about the Sundarbans featuring local children's artwork. I will send copies of the book as a thank you to the first  50 contributors of $20 or more (unfortunately this is limited to the US). The book teaches children about the rich biodiversity of the Sundarbans, the livelihoods of those who live there, and the importance of combatting global climate change, which causes cyclones like Amphan to increase in frequency and intensity. (See PDF here: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1CNb_fKhbAIXVE_GbNhWk41b-WnZl3L5M/view)

Thank you so much for supporting these relief efforts. 


Media coverage of Cyclone Amphan's effects:

The Wire: https://thewire.in/environment/cyclone-amphan-kolkata-odisha-bangladesh-damage

BBC News: https://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-india-5274993

Down to Earth: https://www.downtoearth.org.in/news/wildlife-biodiversity/cyclone-amphan-s-damage-to-sundarbans-wildlife-not-known-yet-71310

Edexlive: https://www.edexlive.com/news/2020/may/21/amphan-blew-away-what-covid-didnt-villagers-in-sundarbans-stare-at-a-bleak-future-after-super-stor-12165.html

Al Jazeera: https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2020/05/cyclone-amphan-leaves-trail-destruction-bangladesh-india-200521035745307.html