In May 2015, a heat wave that swept across the central-eastern states of India, tested the country’s poor beyond all imaginations. It took 2500 lives and put several thousand more daily wage labourers out of work, for days on end. Media reports suggest that it was the worst of its kind in India, since 1995.

Bhadrachalam in Telangana, Puri in Odisha and Bundelkhand region that spreads across the states of Uttar Pradesh and Madhya Pradesh were among the several regions severely affected by the sweltering waves. These are regions that also host some of India’s poorest, socially excluded and landless Dalit and Tribal communities.

A disaster of such massive scale threw life out of gear for a population that was already bearing the brunt of exclusion and social injustice.

ACTIONAID INDIA, WITH HELP FROM MASTERCARD IS RESPONDING IN 5 AFFECTED STATES HELPING PEOPLE RECOVER AND REBUILD THEIR LIVES.