“It is very difficult for us, but with God’s will and with the help of ADRA and those around us, we hope to get over it” – Viorica, ADRA beneficiary “Hope above the waters”

Update by ADRA Romania, 7th October 2024: “Cyclone Boris hit Galati County with devastating force, causing massive floods that left behind a real disaster. The waters destroyed homes, roads and land, leaving hundreds of people homeless. For many of them, their lives changed radically in an instant, losing everything they had built over the years.

Ioana* and Viorica* are just two of the many victims of Cyclone Boris, which mercilessly hit Galati County, causing devastating floods. Ioana tells us how, after coming back from the night shift, she found her house underwater: “I stayed under a bridge for a few hours because I couldn’t cross. When I got home, the fences were torn down, and water was everywhere in the house. Not a single room was left untouched. The flood took everything from me: furniture, refrigerators, clothes, everything I had.” The impact was indescribable, leaving Ioana without the goods she depended on daily.

Viorica also had a terrifying experience, being caught, together with her husband, by the waters in their own house: “The rain with lightning and thunder scared me terribly, and the water penetrated the whole house. The attic of the house was the only place where we could take shelter, but we had no ladder or other means of climbing. In desperation, we improvised “a ladder” from a wall of the recamier and, with the help of my husband, we managed to save ourselves. We stayed there all night, and in the morning we found the yard under 2 meters of water, with dead animals and birds. It is very difficult for us, but with God’s will and with the help of ADRA and those around us, we hope to get over it.”

In the midst of this chaos, ADRA Romania came to the aid of those affected, offering humanitarian aid and moral support. The damage is immense, but the solidarity and involvement of the community give people the strength to look towards a better future, and their stories are testimonies of suffering, but also of the courage to start over.

“Going to the field on many occasions and talking to people affected by the floods, I realized that for many of them, the deep pain comes not only from material losses, but also from the feeling of helplessness that weighs on them, especially since they have faced such problems before, but on a smaller magnitude. It’s overwhelming to see your home, your life’s work destroyed over and over again, and not knowing how to rebuild your life. Within the ADRA interventions, we tried to offer them both material support and psychological first aid, listening to their stories and encouraging them to express their emotions, validating their suffering. At the same time, we were amazed and deeply impressed by the kindness of the people – volunteers, donors and supporters – who jumped to help either through physical work or through products or financial donations. This is a lesson in empathy and altruism that inspires us and that we need further, as we enter the support stage for home restoration. Their solidarity and generosity show us that, although the suffering is great, there is also a light given by the community that unites in the face of trouble”, said Alina Bordas-Mohorea, ADRA Romania Psychologist.

Through the “Hope Above Waters” project, ADRA aims to improve the housing space, in partnership with local municipalities, for hard-pressed families. The project supports flood victims by building or rebuilding affected houses.

Those who want to get involved can do so in the following ways:

• volunteerism;
• material donations (both food, hygiene and cleaning products, but also construction materials);
• financial donations to ADRA accounts (with the specification “Hope above waters”));
• donating directly on the adra.ro/doneaza website for the project “Hope above water”;
• donating 2 Euros by SMS to the number 8845 with the text “ADRA”.

Link to the original article: Hope Above Water: Stories of Survival in the Face of Disaster after Cyclone Boris / ADRA Romania