HIMALAYAN TRAGEDY: VOICE OF CHILDREN NGOs RELIEF EFFORTS

As mentioned in the September newsletter, here is Raghu Tewari’s description of the relief efforts carried out with the TRAS funds.

Operation Relief

Aman as an organization humbly appealed to the benefactor organizations volunteers to join the relief operation to reach out to the survived souls, most needy and vulnerable. We are eternally grateful to everyone who has supported us, especially the TRANS HIMALAYAN AID SOCIETY. Without their support we couldn’t have accomplished our relief operation. With the support of TRAS we have distributed immediate relief material to 163 families and 40 Children. We provided support to reconstruction one disaster affected school.

Friends we are happy to share the report of our “Operation Relief”.

Our Team

We have formed three groups of volunteers one is advance group comprising with the trained mountaineers from Neharu Institute of Mountaineering second is base group comprised with most experienced volunteers such as dedicated scout teachers, social workers with the expertise in packaging and distribution and third is support group comprised with the expertise in dealing with marketing and purchasing. The advance group was tasked with to reach out to the vulnerable and trapped people in inaccessible areas and make the list of the requirements and need of the hour. Our advanced group reached out to the worst affected areas of Rudraprayag, Chamoli and Pithoragarh district with the first aid kits and efficiently took stock of the situation and informed the base team about the requirement and the base team and support team have done the purchasing and packaging job with perfect synergy without losing any time and set out to reach out to the worst affected areas of the calamity.

Bhaishiyachhana (Almora)

Bhaishiyachana development block of Almora district is one of the worst affected area of the Almora district where the villages namely Budhadhar, khairkhet, Kotgara, Kanchula, Kasan Band, Baburiya nayal,Ramtola and Dyari are at the receiving end. The communities from these villages are mostly marginalized, downtrodden and deprived sections of society. The villagers of the Khairkhet were displaced by the district authority and shifted them in a school. This village is completely ravaged by the landslides triggered by the heavy rain; they have lost their habitats and cultivating land.

On July 17th our relief team reached out to these affected families in their makeshift shelters with the relief package consisted of food, clothes, bedding, utensils, tent material, and other Hygiene and sanitation stuff.

Food Package consisted of 10kg flour, 8kg rice, 2kg lentil 1 kg, salt, 2kg sugar, 1/2 kg tealeaves, 1kg milk powder, 1kg semolina, 2 liter oil 4 packet biscuits.
Clothing package consisted of 1 trouser 1 T-shirt, 1 umbrella, and 1 lady sweater.
Bedding package consisted of 2 blankets, 1 bed sheet, and 1 mat.
Utensil package consisted of 1 cauldron, 2 plates, 3 glasses, 1 presser cooker, and 1 bucket.
Hygiene and sanitation package consisted of 1 bathing soap, 1 washing cake , 1 cleaning cake, 1 packet matchbox and 1 packet candles.
Tent package consisted of 1tarpaulin, and strings.
We have supported 48 families in Bhaishiyachhana development block.

Dumak (Chamoli)

Dumak village is situated along with China border in Chamoli district of Uttarakhand State. This village is 14 km far off the road. Flash floods and torrential rain on 16th and 17th June triggered massive landslides which has claimed 3 lives and destroyed their crops in the fields. All the trails and paths and bridges have washed away. The whole village was cut off from rest of the world. The whole village was marooned in the isolation and the community spent their nights in the open air braving the heavy downpour. Our advance team volunteers were the first to reach out to this village on July 25th, the most challenging parts of the worst affected area of the Chamoli district and consoled the traumatized community and assured them for relief. In this village 75 families were affected and we provided relief material and learning material to 40 school going kids from this village who were psychologically traumatized to see the devastation. 18 out of 40 students who have come to Dumk for their education from nearby villages received the food package also. This village has the only high school in that area. All the volunteers along with the villagers who are young enough to carry the relief material from 14 km at the road head came down to the relief center where our base team and support group were ready with the required complete relief package consisted of food, clothes, bedding, utensils, tent material, and other Hygiene and sanitation.

Family –food pack ( for 75 families)

Food Package consisted of 15kg rice, 2 kg pulses, 1 kg salt, 2kg sugar, 1/2 kg tealeaves, 4 packet biscuits, 1 packet match box

Hygiene and sanitation package consisted of 2 bathing soap, 1 kg washing powder

Children food pack (for 18 children who live in the village from surrounding villages)

Food Package consisted of 5 kg wheat flour, 5 kg rice, 2 kg pulses, 1 kg cooking oil, 2kg sugar,

Hygiene and sanitation package consisted of 2 bathing soap, 1 kg washing powder

Learning material, biscuits & Clothing for 40 children.

Elderly, aged and ailing people who were unable to transport on their own, have arranged the mules to transport relief material for them. We have supported 75 families and 40 children who were affected with the calamity in Dumak.

Restoration of the community school

A model school in Ason Mallakot in Bageshwar district which was established by a national awardee retired teacher with the help of the community dedicated to the neediest, deprived and marginalized sections of society was hit by the calamity and badly damaged. Community started the restoration of the school building with the active help of many friends and requested us for the active help. We have supported the restoration of the school building by contributing sixty bags of the cement. This contribution was instrumental in restoring the school building.

Sonali and Jaiti (Chamoli)

Sonali and Jaiti village of Karnaprayag development block in Chamoli district of the Uttarakhand have witnessed the fury of nature in the forms of the unprecedented torrential rains, flash floods and cloudburst which triggered heavy landslides and all the agricultural land of these villages swept away and their homesteads and cowsheds destroyed badly. Some families took refuge in the school building and eight families are living in tents. And even some families have left the village to safer places. Around 80 families badly affected by the calamity. We have supported all the affected families. We have supported the neediest 40 families.

Our relief team reached out to the affected families on August 5 with relief package consisted of food, clothes, bedding, utensils, tent material, and hygiene and sanitation package.

Food Package consisted of 10kg flour, 8kg rice, 2kg lentil 1 kg, salt, 2kg sugar, 1/2 kg tealeaves, 2 liter oil 4 packet biscuits.

Hygiene and sanitation package consisted of 1 bathing soap, 1 washing powder.

VOICE OF CHILDREN NGOs RELIEF EFFORTS