UAE’s Aster completes 255-home project for Keralite families hit by 2018 floods in India
Healthcare group had led support programme for people affected by the natural disaster
Dubai: UAE-based Aster DM Healthcare has completed providing 255 homes to the victims of Kerala floods who lost everything to the natural disaster in 2018 in the southern Indian state.
Built by Aster Volunteers with support from philanthropists, partners and employees of Aster, these 255 ‘Aster Homes’ are spread across Kerala and reiterates the commitment that was made by the organisation to the Chief Minister of Kerala Shri Pinarayi Vijayan in 2018 to standby his resolve to ‘Re-build Kerala’.
At a ceremony held in Thiruvananthapuram, Kerala, keys to the beneficiaries were handed over by Governor of Kerala, Shri Arif Mohammad Khan, in the presence of other dignitaries, including Dr Azad Moopen, Founder Chairman and Managing Director of Aster DM Healthcare. On the occasion, a new website for Aster Homes, geotagged with the details of the 255 beneficiaries, the individuals, NGOs and associations who supported Aster in this mission, was also launched.
New homes have been built for people who have lost their houses and own a land, for whom individual sustainable housing designs have been considered. Cluster homes were built for a group of people on the land provided free of cost by philanthropists and retro-fitting of partially damaged homes was accomplished.
Dr Moopen said: “Our volunteers were on the ground for weeks providing medical assistance to help people in need [during the 2018 floods in Kerala]. Later, to rehabilitate the people who lost everything including their homes, we made a promise to the Honourable Chief Minister of Kerala Shri Pinarayi Vijayan on September 30, 2018 at Trivandrum to build 250 Aster Homes. This was a mammoth task which was accomplished through perseverance and hard work of the Aster Volunteers, with support from like-minded organisations and people."
He added: "We feel accomplished that today, that promise has been fulfilled with dedication of the last batch of the 255 houses to the beneficiaries by the Honourable Governor, Shri Arif Mohamad Kha,n here in Trivandrum itself. We are happy that together we could walk the talk and deliver the promise.”