In a rare show of solidarity with the flood victims, the district mission of Kudumbashree in Pathanamthitta has been working in tandem with the district administration to bring life back on track.
“Of our 1.5 lakh mission workers in 9,282 neighbourhoods, those unaffected by the floods on August 16 and 17 functioned as channels of information for the district administration, filtering information on those trapped. Subsequently, working as individuals and in groups, they identified people stranded alone and ailing people so that they could be rescued or provided food. They used little canoes to travel to isolated places to give food and medicines. A total of 21 panchayats in the district were badly affected by the floods, while around six to 10 panchayats suffered partial damage. We gathered mission workers from the unaffected regions to distribute food and essentials in the affected areas in the first few days of flooding,” said district mission coordinator Sabir Hussain.
The mission had set up two community kitchens, at Elanthoor and Pulinkeezhu, primarily to feed the volunteers.
“The kitchen at Elanthoor caters to nearly 1,600 people,” said Mr. Hussain.
On Tuesday, over 6,000 workers mobilised by the district mission cleaned public premises, roads, streets and households across five panchayats.
Sathi Ajayan, a CDS worker of Kudumbasree from Nedumbram panchayat, said she was part of a group that was cleaning Anganwadis and a bus stop at Puthiyakavu on Tuesday.
They would also clean a few housing colonies which were wrecked by the waters. “Some people do not even have firewood or gas cylinders to cook food. We have made gas cylinders available to them. The focus is also on isolated dwellings where people have suffered the worst,” she said.
Help desks in Wayanad
In Wayanad, Kudumbashree had opened help desks in 182 camps led by around 3,027 Kudumbashree workers. “Some 8,833 Kudumbasree workers have successfully cleaned 6,233 flood affected houses and around 255 streets. Door-to-door counselling is being given by our counsellors besides at camps. Nearly 2,916 victims have been counselled so far,” said a Kudumbashree official.
‘Survival Tree’ is another activity launched for Balasabha children primarily to provide them psycho-social support.
Around 350 members are providing voluntary services to various packing centres across the district.
COMMents
SHARE