 Indians die in flood relief crush: BBC Dear Friends, AID TN recently had a volunteers conference at Vembakkam where we are working on an integrated program in 41 villages. At the conference we also inaugurated a science van that will go to village schools and demonstrate science experiments. A bunch of school kids who are part of our science clubs also presented what they had learnt to the audience. A report of the conference and some of our work in Vembakkam appeared in the Hindu front page today. Below is a link to the article.
FUTURE SCIENTISTS? Students performing a demonstration at Vembakkam in Tiruvannamalai district.
The best part of the conference was the large number of village volunteers (more than 200) who had come from various villages to present their one year work to the group. For many of the volunteers (mostly young women who had themselves dropped out after 8th or 10th std) this was the first time they were climbing a stage to speak! These were volunteers from very poor families who had voluntarily spent 1-2 hours every day over the last 10-12 months working to improve the quality of education and health in their villages. Their motivation and the grassroots perspective they came inspired all the conference participants. The conference also gave their work a recognition and helped shape their identity.
A report of the conference and some of our work in Vembakkam appeared in the Hindu front page today. Below is a link to the article.
http://www.hindu.com/2005/10/31/stories/2005103106910100.htm
For the last few days, we have been actively involved in the rain relief efforts in Chennai and other villages. In Chennai on the 27th, even as it was raining heavily, our volunteers helped shift people into 4 relief camps. We supplied the people with food and provided children with blankets. Because there was a rush for blankets, we made sure people went to sleep and after that our volunteers went from person to person, identified kids and women who needed the blankets most and covered them with it even as they were sleeping. We also collcted a lot of children's clothes and provided them to various families. We also organized medical camps in a couple of centers - particularly for the children (many of whom were having fever). By the next day in many of the places the water had drained away and we got people to go back to their homes.
In Kallukuttai where there is still neck deep, we are continuing our efforts. We organized a health camp there. To travel into the habitation (which was fully flooded), volunteers and the doctor had to travel by a thermacole raft! We have been providing food and some clothes in this area - particularly for children. Our volunteers in Sulagiri, Vembakkam and Koovathur did surveys to identify the poorest people whose homes (mud and thatch) were damaged and we are now working on plans to help them reconstruct these. Basically the idea is to supply basic materials and the people there can repair the damages themselves.
I thank all the volunteers who have been helping with the relief efforts and also all the people who donated clothes, food and other relief materials and funds for the rain relief efforts.
Wishing you all a Happy Diwali.
Balaji Sampath
AID JeevanSaathi
Sent on 28/10/05: 8.30 AM Indian Standard Time:
Hi everyone,
Here's a report of our work yesterday (27/10):
(i) In the morning, Damu, Senthil, Ali, Dhananjay and a few other volunteers assessed affected areas in Velacherry, Madipakkam and Pallikaranai (all in south madras). Water-level was worse than other
areas and waist-high in some places, but many of the people had moved to relatives' houses. There were several migrant construction workers who were stuck and were'nt able to get back to their native houses.
Our volunteers provided transportation assistance to help them get them back.
(ii) Gomathi, who co-ordinates our area learning centers, was leading efforts in triplicane and chintadaripet, where over 800 people were staying in a corporation school. Many of them had not eaten in the
afternoon and she arranged for food supplies. Balaji and a few others who had collected some clothes, bedsheets and blankets distributed these in some affected areas of North chennai, as well as Triplicane
and chintadripet.
(iii) Gnanaprakasam, Mani, Rajapandian and other volunteers were co-ordinating efforts in Saidapet model higher secondary school. Over 1000 people are stationed there, with no power. Gnanam and team arranged first for candles, torchlights and later food in the evening.
Many were shivering and we arranged to buy and distribute about 200 blankets. Since the number we had was too small, we did'nt want to do an overall distribution, which would have led to a lot of chaos. We
waited till everyone wanted to go to sleep, and then found out which families needed blankets most and just gave to them. In some cases, we just simply put it on women and children.
(iv) Ramki and Verghese, a friend of one of our volunteers, is co-ordinating in Choolaimedu, where about 80 people are put up.
(v) In sulagiri of krishnagiri district, our volunteer Smitha assessed the problem yesterday - about 200 houses have been blown off there and she's trying to provide relief.
Food is not a problem now since by now the corporation has arranged for it.
But the health situtation is grave - a number of children were suffering from fever yesterday in saidapet. One old lady DIED last night. Most people have been wading through water and are at severe risk of leptospirosis. There's not enough stoves to boil water to drink, so people are at great risk of water-borne diseases. We are planning to do a health camp first thing this morning.
We need the following:
(i) Stoves - for boiling water
(ii) Blankets, sweaters, bedsheets, sarees and children's clothes -
PLEASE DONATE IN OUR OFFICE since water clogging near the office is not as much of a problem today.
Address:
Old 20, New 34, Ratheenam St
Gopalapuram
Chennai-86
Ph: 28350403, 52106493
Mobiles:
Damu: 94442 41918
Gnanaprakasam: 9840264616
Balaji: 94440 61033 (also 93810 41615)
Ravishankar: 94440 84910
-Ravishankar
Hi all,
Heavy rains have been lashing chennai+other areas in TN, neighboring states for the past few days. Balaji was in Nagai yesterday and has visited many of the affected coastal areas on the way back to Chennai.
There are different categories of affected people:
(i) People facing difficulty in getting to work, accessing amenities, people who might lose their business, or worse their entire crop
(ii) Water entering people's houses and their having to evacuate to friends' houses
(iii) People living in thatched houses losing their homes and possessions
As of now, AID-TN is trying to work with the third category of people - they are among the poorest and most in need of help. The chennai corporation has arranged for some of them to be shifted to nearby schools. In other areas of TN too, a lot of work is required in this regard. We are planning to concentrate out work in the following areas where we are working already (both coastal and otherwise):
Vembakkam (Tiruvannamalai district)
Sulagiri (krishnagiri)
Bhuvanagiri (Cuddalore)
Koovathur (tsunami affected cluster, Kanchipuram) and
Chennai.
Most of us are staying home and co-ordinating over the phone. A team of volunteers from the AID Chennai office, headed by Damu, is already traveling (through some of the safer roads by four-wheeler) and assessing the damage in some of the slums in Chennai, inspite of the heavy rains outside! We plan to focus on the following:
(i) Immediate housing needs
(ii) Basic relief - food and water
(ii) Clothing requirements -
- Sweaters, jackets, blankets, bedsheets
- Children's clothes, both boys and girls
- Sarees, since they can be used for multiple purposes in such
situations (for ex: as screens for women in make-shift camps)
We request people to drop off sweaters, blankets and bedsheets and ONLY THE ABOVE CATEGORY OF CLOTHES at the AID office, when possible. We will also be collecting donations for providing relief supplies and housing assistance.
We will keep you updated.
Ph numbers to contact:
AID Chennai office: 044-28350403,
Damodharan: 94442 41918
Balaji Sampath: 94440 61033
Chandra: 93823 30752
Ravishankar: 94440 84910
Thanks.
-Ravishankar
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