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I have lived in South Asia for fifteen years, the last five of them in India.

What's happening here right now is worse than anything I've ever experienced.

That is more terrible than the aftermath of the tsunami or the civil war in Sri Lanka, which I also experienced up close.

People are dying and I feel helpless.

Many are looking for oxygen, a hospital bed, plasma donation, or medication on social media.

Others ask for a hot meal because the lockdown forces them to stay home.

Here in Delhi, where I live with my family, there are long queues in front of the pharmacies and hospitals that hardly admit anyone.

The state hardly helps at all.

Most families care for the infected at home.

Private initiatives distribute food and medicines.

In my neighborhood, families cook for other households.

There are private companies around here that transport the sick or distribute oxygen bottles.

My son has online classes.

The teachers are often absent because they have to take care of sick relatives.

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I was in Germany for six months last year.

When I returned to India at the beginning of the year, I was shocked to see how few people were still wearing masks compared to 2020.

Restaurants, hairdressers, fitness studios and cinemas were open.

There were huge events because local elections are taking place in several states in India.

At religious festivals over a million people celebrated together without masks.

Although new mutations were known to be spreading.

Indian Prime Minister Modi has already declared the pandemic over.

Few people in Delhi even get a hospital bed

Source: REUTERS

So far, the infection process has been concentrated in the mega-cities such as Mumbai and Delhi, but now it has also reached rural regions and villages.

More and more people are dying there from the virus.

Many villages no longer let anyone in, not even returning residents.

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To ensure the food supply, we work with farmers and teach people to grow their own vegetables, fruits and herbs in order to ensure a balanced diet. The pandemic has shown how fragile supply chains are. Now we hope that there will be no drought this year or a plague of locusts like last year. It was a huge disaster.

The planes landing here from the EU, including Germany, are welcome. But that's just a drop in the bucket. Almost 1.4 billion people live in India. Aid from abroad is currently going to the hospitals in major cities. Delhi has very good private hospitals. But they are now completely overloaded. There are hardly any clinics in the country, only health centers that are poorly supplied. Now schools are to be converted into quarantine centers and health workers trained.

There was time to prepare for the second wave.

Everyone knew she was coming.

Just a few days ago, the Minister of Health claimed that the hospitals had enough oxygen.

I am concerned that the situation in India will spill over to the neighboring countries of Nepal and Bangladesh, which are extremely densely populated.

Many Germans have left the country.

But it is getting more and more complicated to get out of the country or in.

My family and I want to stay here for the time being and help.

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Philippe Dresruesse works for Deutsche Welthungerhilfe in India's capital Delhi.

Recorded by Christina zur Nedden.