Hyderabad with Kerala.
Dear Kerala, we are with you in these testing times
Lots of love Hyderabad
Read the banner on the trucks that left with relief items for Kerala.
The trucks were carrying 32 tonnes of relief items that ranged from rice, pulses, soap, bedsheets and clothes. “Surprisingly, many donated wholesale boxes of sanitary napkins and diapers along with biscuits and toiletries. Massive amounts of rice and lentils have also been collected. Seeing this generosity only goes to show how as humans we have a natural tendency to love from within,” says Sunitha Simon, who coordinated the relief item collection along with her friends.
Sunitha decided to start a relief work campaign for Kerala when she went to Bengaluru to volunteer for Kerala flood relief work. The piles of things with no proper streamlining made her wonder of the stuff that might go to waste.
In case of a disaster caused by natural calamity, everyone puts in a lot of effort to help, but without knowing how to process it, the precious resources often gets wasted. For her, organisation was integral.
“So when I came back to Hyderabad, I was determined to do something about it.. My friends Sriram Perri, Sunila Madanu, Bency G, Rishika, Paul Oommen and Dhawan jumped at the idea and got to work. Paul was in Kerala and was updating us with the most necessary items. From here we started sending out a collection drive message with the specifics,” says Sunitha.
Flood relief items being segregated at a common point
Before proceeding to collect items, they also worked on the infrastructure and other collaterals so as to make mobilising work easy. “It was really heart-warming to see the suggestions and help that came in. Even though we had specific drop-off points for relief items, we also had a mini-lorry going around town collecting things from those who cannot travel to the drop-off points,” adds Sunitha, who clearly wanted to make sure as much ground as possible was covered.
The team even went to the extent to crease out any potential road blocks. To see that the trucks go without being stopped, the team approached Telangana government, who readily granted permissions and provided payments for the inter-state road transport.
The team and other volunteers took two days to segregate the materials and finally “the trucks reached Kerala on August 27. Our volunteers distributed relief materials to the affected victims of Mavelikara of Alappuzha district and Angamaly in Kochi,” says Sunitha.
