CHENNAI : To aid Kerala in battling one of the worst floods it has witnessed in nearly a century, Chennaiites have stepped up in large numbers to mobilise relief material to help flood-affected victims in the neighbouring state. “When half of Chennai city was submerged in water in 2015, we received nearly nine tonnes of relief material from Kerala. Now, it is our turn to reciprocate,” said Vikaash Srivatsav, managing trustee of Path, a city-based NGO that has set up collection points in different places, including Naturals Lounge in T Nagar, C2 Mallika Ceebros in Pycrofts Road, Nungambakkam, Sunnyvale Apartments at Konnur High Road in Aynavaram, and Spectrum mall at Perambur.
Talking about the tremendous response from locals, he said, “Right from the beginning, materials have been pouring in. From homemakers to businessmen, everybody made it a point to donate something. The first consignment including medicines, baby food, sanitary items, water bottles (1,100 kg) and ready-to-eat food was sent on Sunday night.”
The volunteers said they are in constant touch with the Collectorate in Wayanad who is diverting the materials to different parts of the state. Priyanka Krishna, a volunteer with the Chennai rescue team said the Collectorate informed that they are currently not in need of clothes, but in need of footwear, carpets, mats, and provisions. Kalpana Ramakrishnan, one of the donors at Spectrum mall, said, “We have collected relief materials from eight apartments in our area. Likewise, people are gathering in all the areas.”
While materials are being collected quickly, transportation has become one of the major issues as most of the drivers are hesitant to drive to the flood-hit state. Addressing this, Fahd Khaleel Wallajah and Mohamed Asif from the city have started a crowd-funding campaign on GiveAway India that uses online and mobile interface to connect donors to beneficiaries and anyone from across the globe will be able to donate a range of products. “Willing donors can visit giveawayindia.org and can pay for water bottles, biscuits, rice, flour, milk powder, and other essentials. Once the crowdsourcing is done, our corporate partners from Kerala will directly provide the material to the relief areas.
This will save a lot of time,” said Fahd, adding that the model was useful in the 2015 Chennai floods as well.Bindu Satyajit from Do For Others foundation, who has been receiving the relief material at Kerala, said, while the essentials for the public is almost taken care of, the cattle are starving. She urged Chennaiites to also provide cattle feed, hay and mineral mixture.