Sunday, September 7, 2008

Second Team of DSW on their way to Saharsa

Second Batch of Volunteers led by Mr. Farrukh Faheem, faculty, Ambedkar College, University of Delhi, along with six students, one non-teaching staff, five para-medics and a doctor from AIIMS, Resident Doctor’s Association with relief material worth 2.5 million are already on their way to Saharsa. The team is supposed to reach there by evening of 8th September 2008. Meanwhile, a team of three doctors who volunteered independently led by Dr. Saket has joined the team on 7th evening. They will be running the MMU (Mobile Medical Unit) set up jointly by DSW and Help Age.

The name of the Team Members are : Mr. Farrukh Faheem (Team Leader), Mr. Manish Jha, Mr. Ankit Joshi, Mr. Vinay Kumar, Mr. Nikhil Aggarwal, Mr. Rohit Bharti, Mr. Vivek Vardhan, and Mr. Amarjeet (Non-Teaching Member)

Relief Material worth Rs. 2.5 Million sent to Saharsa

Relief material of worth Rs. 2.5 million was booked in the parcel room of the Old Delhi Railway Station by Department of Social Work (DSW), University of Delhi. Initially the Railway Administration denied to receive the material and said that it can only be sent in the name of the District Magistrate. However, after a long persuasion and with the help of some senior officials helping at the personal level the material was not only booked but booked free of cost. But before it is done 40 students and 4 faculty members from DSW had to wait in the railway station using all their advocacy skills to get the job done. Dr. Ravi Ranjan from Zakir Hussain College, DU played a significant role in getting the materials booked. The team acknowledges the kind cooperation of Mr. Shri Prakash (General Manager, Northern Railways), Mr. Sanjay Jain and Mr. Gopal (Officer, Parcel Room), Mr. Mishra (Station Manager) at Old Delhi Railway Station for their support in booking the relief materials. Department of Social Work appeals to the Government of India in general and Railway Ministry in particular to create a systematic and simple process so that the relief process is strengthened and can carry on smoothly.

The relief materials despatched to Saharsa Base Camp set up by DSW largely contains medicines, ORS sachets, infant milk powder, tarpaulin sheets, slippers, torches, candles, match boxes, clothes, etc.

Financial update

Please click here for financial update till 5 th sept

http://spreadsheets.google.com/pub?key=pD0oywN8OgeDu3X0qNzrLcw

Fight for Every Morsel: An Account from Madhepura

Field Update 5th September 2008

Dr. Manoj Jha and Kaivalya Desai from DSW visited the Madhepura town along with the team from TISS. The site at Madhepura was worse than expected.
  • Many areas of Madhepura town have around 2 to 3 feet of water. The team observed a lot of economic loss in the district as the life in the main township has come to a complete halt because of water getting into the town.
  • The team visited the relief camp at T.P. College in Madhepura which had around 25000 people. The situation in the camp was extremely worse with people crying for emergency relief. In addition to this the entire administration was in a complete mess.
  • Two of the team members witnessed a small food riot in the camp where two persons were fighting over a sack of rice. These two persons came from the same village. More over the policemen who were standing there started clapping and laughing at the site.

Death and Despair in Relief Camps

Updates from the field: 4th Sept '08

Group A visited the following places in Basantpur Block in Supaul district of Bihar on Day 2:-
1. Kataiyya
2. Kosi Barrage
3. Kusaha Dam
4. Kasoni-Musahari
5. Sripur
Apart from that Group also went to Sripur-Haripur area of Sunsari District of Nepal.
At all these places the group was accompanied by a team from Tata Institute of Social Sciences (TISS) and one person from Help Age India.
Following are the observations made by the team:-

  • The damage to lives and property is on an unprecedented scale. All along the 100 km drive to Kusaha (in Saptari district in Nepal) near Birpur in Supol district in Bihar, we saw people living in relief camps or living by the side of the roads in makeshift structures (plastic sheds) or anything impromptu chosen.
  • Most of the camps were run by local and voluntary groups.
  • There is a conspicuous absence of international donor agencies as far a running camps are concerned.
  • At Katiyya in Basantpur block in Birpur Panchayat, we saw a large settlement of temporary huts living along the sides of the road. There were at least 35,000 to 50,000 huts in this area and an estimated 1 lakh plus population of families from Basantpur block.
  • The people were in a state of helplessness, anger, frustration and despair. Everyone approaching them or they approaching anyone is unspoken dialogue on and around hope. Basic needs in these kind of situation such as food and protective shelters are conspicously missing and one can easily imagine the stage of medicinal help. Image a population of one lakh and you cannot spot any body offering medicinal help.
  • These people are here since August 21. Apart from providing the people with plastic sheets for building their huts, no help from the district administration had reached them so far.
  • People are surviving on eating roasted ‘chooda’ which is supplied by some local groups. We shall not like to comment upon the quality of Chooda (called chirwa in Delhi) for there are other unmet and unattended issues.
  • Many people are falling ill – diahorrea, headache and fever are common complaints. No medical help is available.
  • Some people have died due to ailments – cases of people dying after vomiting 2-3 times.
  • As many as 25,000 people in Nepal and 75,000 people from Basantpur, Raghopur, Chatapur and Pratapganj have reportedly died by the river washing them away or due to drowning.
  • There are people in Mohanpur area who are marooned (5-7kms from Kataiyya).
  • People have paid anything from Rs.1000/- to Rs. 5000/- to boatmen get rescued.
  • The poor and the dalits have suffered the most in terms to damage to lives and property. People who had pucca houses and double storied structures were able to survive when the flooding happened, as they could live in their terraces till the boats reached to rescue them. The poor had no option but to wade through the strong water currents with the river in full spate to survive, leading to many deaths.
  • People are surviving by selling their jewellery and utensils in the nearby markets.
  • There is an air of despondency among the people which we shared with them as we left from the spot.
  • Similar settlements were there along the way before and into the Nepal side. However, settlements on the Nepal side looked more ‘settled’.
  • The hutments on the Nepal side were also running into thousands – at least 50,000 huts by conservative estimates.
  • These settlements were on the left side of the elevated road on which we were driving. This side is where the river originally flows, usually covering the entire left side stretch right upto the edge of the road. Due to the dam breach, the river now covers the entire right side stretch – running into hundred square kms. This is where the people (now living on the left side) originally used to live and cultivate their fields. All one can see now is miles of water.
  • Help being offered by the Nepalese government is better organised than on the Indian side. People are given raw rice, dal and potatoes so that they can cook their own food.
  • Many people from the Indian side are moving to the Nepal since they feel that better help is available on that side.
  • At Kataiyya people told us that still many people from Nidam chowk, Birpur and Mohanpur are trapped and after many requests by the local people still the government is not making any effort to rescue the trapped people.
  • At Kataiyya there are people from Bhimnagar Panchayat, Khojgama Panchayat and Baneli Patti.
  • There are a lot of people nearly 50,000 who have crossed the border and are now living in the Nepal relief camps as the camps there are better organised.
  • Cases of death in relief camps are also being reported by the people, which is deliberately being suppressed by the administartion.