KOCHI: Many students in the Department of Renewable Energy at St Albert's College in Kochi experienced last year's flood firsthand. Despite most of the past weekdays being holidays in the aftermath of the recent floods and landslides in north Kerala, the second and third-year Bachelor of Vocation students came to the college to assemble emergency lamps for flood-affected people in Wayanad.
The department had received a request from the Information & Public Relations Department to assemble power banks or emergency lamps. "Using such power banks are known to cause permanent damage to the phone. Our help should not cause people more trouble. Moreover, electricity connections have been disrupted in many places and power outages are common in others. In such a situation, an emergency lamp is a necessity," says Antony Raju, a faculty member of the department.
And so, on August 12 which was a public holiday for Bakrid, 26 students got together to assemble the lamps. "The students were divided into groups to arrange the circuit, solder the switch, glue and waterproof," says Antony. Around 50 lamps were assembled. "Our target was to assemble 100 lamps. But unavailability of materials was an issue," he says.
The LED lamps with batteries last up to three days.