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GOONJ's partnered with Adhikar
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The flood of 2008 in Orissa will
be memorable for its devastation as the State has faced the unfolding disaster
in 15 districts which have crossed all the previous record. According to State
Revenue and Disaster Management (RDM) department, 5, 70,000 people in 1,849
villages were marooned owing to floods in Mahanadi and many of its branch
rivers. The flood water created 78 breaches in river Mahanadi & its
branches. The affected people took shelter on river banks, high rise buildings,
schools and cyclone shelters as their houses and other belongings were
destroyed by the floodwaters. The entire crop was destroyed as the flood water
was covered week together. Officially the death toll was 17 excluding the post
flood death.
Flood has cruelly broken the socio
economic backbone of the affected people in Orissa. They have lost their
habitations, livelihoods, livestock, properties, agricultures and most
tragically lives of their family members. Some areas, where flood was ruling
for a fortnight, look like fields of cremation. Still people are engaged in
restructuring their damaged dwellings. The flood came
and went, leaving behind lakhs of people in uncertainty, penury and agony. It was
more than a week since the flood water started receding but multiple sufferings
magnified the misery of victims.
Pipli Block had an unprecedented flood in the
current year. This block normally remains out of flood problems because of its
geographical location in the delta system. “We have never seen such a flood in
our life time” this was the version of
age old people of the Pipil locality. In Pipil region this was the first
time breach near Phulapal village having the wide of 800 meter in river Daya.
As they were not acquainted & prepared to face the flood the entire house hold assets were washed
out. The crop which was ready for harvesting was entirely destroyed. Not only
was that thousand of hectors filled by the sand.The similar situation was with the Banki Block where river
Mahanadi was wash out a bridge & affected two lakhs people.
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Immediate respond of Adhikar for
flood victims:
To respond such a severe devastation Adhikar had no resource
base except volunteers. The staffs of Adhikar come forward &decided to start relief operation in its operational area of providing
the relief materials. To generate
initial fund for relief operation all Staff contributed one day salary to carry
out relief operation. Many of the operational areas were marooned with the
flood water. The staffs those were in approachable area informed to purchase
the dry food & emergency equipments like the candles matchbox etc, from the
local market. With the local boat the staff with the local volunteers addressed
the flood victims of Banki & Pipili area. From the head office a central
level team was taking the stock of the issue. Particularly in Banki block of Cuttack district &
Pipili Block of Puri district baby food, Biscuits, Chuda Guda. Chatua &
Polythene were distributed to 3000 flood affected families. Taking similar help
from Adhikar promoted cooperative Adhikar could reached to the unreached
people.
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Post flood
measures by Adhikar with the support of Action Aid & Goonj
To support the flood affected people the
sympathetic institution like Action Aid & Goonj came forward & join the
hand with the Adhikar. The pilot team of Action Aid visited the Banki flood
affected area & decided to support 200 sanitary kits including one steel
tray along with the support of one KG of chhatua
from Adhikar. But the huge support of
Goonj, New Delhi encouraged us to start the relief operation in massive way to
cater the flood affected people of Pipil & Sakhigopal Block. Really the
cooperation & support of Goonj give a smile in the flood affected people.
We have received 1691 Bags of ration ( rice, dal, oil,
Atta. sugar, Milk powder, Soap, Spices, Chuda), Dry food ( Biscuits, Mixture, noodles), Foot wear, clothes, utensil,(
old, new),Toy, Tiffin box Medicine, Cotton carpet, Sanitary Napkin,
Woolens (old, new), Blanket (old, new) School bags, Old cloth, Baby food, Polythene
Sarees (old, new), Sleeper, candles, matchbox & Shoes relief Materials from Goonj, New Delhi.
Although the support reached the people just after the flood but this was a
timely intervention. During the flood many agencies including the Government
were supported to the victims. But just after the flood the stock with the
people was finished & the affected mass was in empty hand. The support of
Goonj was reached the needy people in need period.
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The
materials were reached to us with the proper package. The clothes were packed segregate
according to the age group. But in many food packs several items were packed in
a singly packets. We had to repack the items separately and again made a family
pack of rice, dal, biscuit, baby food & other materials calculating the
cost with family size. The distribution was made in village level to the
affected families involving the elected representatives, women groups &
with the available Govt. employees. In distribution work two selected NGOs were
involved in distribution of old clothes.
They are: Seva Deep, Bikash Sadan.
Subsequently
to address the victims of Kandhamal communal riot one truck load item was send
to distribute in Raikia Relief Camp. After a formal discussion with the
Collector of Kandhamal the materials like blanket, mosquito net & carpet
was send to distribute with the affected people. With the direct supervision of
the Block Development Officer the material was distributed & the rest of
the items were handover to the delegate officer for further distribution.
The
Uniqueness of the Goonj is identified from its collection and the contributor.
The general feeling is the relief means the food & cloth materials. Both
the things are essential commodity. But the incident like flood the affected
families loose several items which are difficult to address. But the collection
of the Goonj not only addressing multiple requirement rather different age
groups and the gender base. Collection from the school children is another
chapter which is a new thing for us. The collection of items like education kit
and toys can encourage the school going children for going to the school. The
making of cotton carpets using the old clothes is also a new dimension of
resource management.
After
all the prospective of the Goonj in context of sustainability of the programme
as well as relation between the institutions is different from other agencies. In case of relief support most of cases
donors limited with the materials support & the report against that. But
the involvement of the Goonj was not only physically rather mentally also. The
involvement of the senior management was boosting the staffs and
volunteers. The sharing of the Ansuji
& Ajayaji has opened up various dimensions of relief material collection
& its distribution.
In that
context a planning has been made to replicate some of the programmes like
School to school & summer camp involving both rural & urban students. The
discussion was to strengthen the livelihood of farmer of Ranpur Block of
Nayagarh district in a collaborative effort.
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Relief Distribution at Riot affected
District Kandhamal
The communal violence in Kandhamal
district of Orissa has displaced thousands of families of the district &
its adjourning district. The affected
peoples are staying in several camps of the district. The affected people have lost
everything in riot. To support the victims a plan was emerged from the
discussion during the visit of Ansu. Accordingly the process was initiated with
the district administration. After due discussion with the district
administration it was decided to support the affected people of Raikia Block
under the supervision of the block officials. Accordingly the materials
transported and with the support of the block staff and the volunteers of
Adhikar blankets, mosquito net & cotton carpet was distributed to 36
families. Rest of the materials for 200 families was handed over to the Block
Development Officer for further distribution in relief camp. |
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