One person was killed and over 15,000 houses, including churches, were destroyed after a hailstorm struck strife-torn Manipur state in northeast India on May 5. Initial reports reveal a man had died and 15,425 houses were destroyed, said state Chief Minister N Biren Singh. The state government has sanctioned a financial package to arrange relief materials, he told reporters on May 6. The government has opened 42 relief camps to accommodate the people whose houses were damaged. At least six churches were damaged in the hilly areas after their roofs flew away in the storm, said a Church official who did not want to be named. “We are now taking stock,” he said and added that the situation was not conducive to undertaking relief works. “We will, however, try our best to help our people who already lost everything in the ethnic violence,” the Church official told on May 7. The worst-hit places are Imphal West and Imphal East districts in the valley where up to 11,000 houses were damaged, the chief minister noted. Valleys in the state are inhabited by the majority Meitei community while indigenous Kuki-Zo Christians live in the hilly districts. In Churachandpur, a tribal stronghold and the nerve center of sectarian strife, 540 houses perished in the hailstorm.