Kosi Catastrophe

Updates

csingh@gmail.com (Chandan) — Sat, 01 Nov 2008 18:35:00 +0000

Yesterday, woolen & regular clothes, medicines, water purification tablets,

veterinary vaccines (HS & BQ) & medicines and packaged food were sent to Jadia & Lakshminia

panchayat in Murligunj.

We have procured woolen caps,woolen mufflers and ear corers for 1500 children, apart fromlots of woolen clothes collected at Patna & from the clothes sent to us from our donors. The ground situation out here was difficult for about 10 days due to statewide agitations in retaliation for some unwanted political brinkmanship

Hopefully, good sense prevails and things become normal soon.

Thanks a lot to Anubha Ji who has funded the purchase of woolen clothes for small children; most of these clothes will be sent to Raahata and harijan tola in kumarkhand.

We plan to provide woolen clothes for small children to all the infants & small children up to 8-10 years of age to all the 2300 families who are residing at Harijan tola- Rahata cluster of villages.

Motor boat service had been disrupted for some time and we hope that they start soon. At places, one has to carry relief material for up to 10 km. Local villagers and paid porters are helping us.. but its taking more time.

We had a tough time coming back from Nepal after roads In Bihar were blocked due to agitation. But that gave us a chance to spend time near Nepal border (Inarwa) and we saw the Himalayan mountain range early morning. It was one beautiful experience...we were about 150KM south of Himalayan range and quite surprised that we could see the mountain range.

It was white capped horizon much above the cloud line...and it turned to orange glow just before sunrise.

Sometimes I wonder at this irony...beautiful, pure sky almost angelic sunrise...at the start of the day....and pain, suffering and choked feelings at sundown. Heaven and hell in span of a day..same place..same people..but so much change.

I would like to thank all of you for sustained help for such a long period, its amazing how humanity transcends time and tribe. Heartfelt thanks to the wonderful people of Maharastra, who have helped us right through this effort. Your help has been exemplary. God bless you all.

I hope and pray that in these trying times, people who celebrate 'Chath' festival are allowed to do so, where ever they are India.

Preparations are on for 'Chath' festival in and around the troubled waters of Kosi, and for a change, things look festive and positive... that feels great.

Would also like to thank AMURT volunteers who have been helping us in really difficult terrain and conditions.

In the last week, we have received -

*Babyfood & Cloriwat tablets from Sri. Raj Sachdev, Geekay Enterprises, Mumbai.

*INR 25000 from Anubha Ji, Delhi, for purchase of woolen clothes for children.

`chandan

+919931763070

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csingh@gmail.com (Chandan) — Sun, 19 Oct 2008 23:14:00 +0000

We took help from ITBP men to carry relief material to Rahatha village,Kumarkhand, as this embankment was the last motorable point. We left Parwa embankment with relief materials for rahata village, Kumarkhand .The distance was around 15 KM & has to be covered by motor boats. ITBP were kind enough to help us with two motor boats & crew.. Also traveling with us were two Doctors who were headed for Kumarkhand.

~chandan
+919931763070

Kumarkhand;Flood relief

csingh@gmail.com (Chandan) — Sun, 19 Oct 2008 22:54:00 +0000

Kumarkhand;flood relief

csingh@gmail.com (Chandan) — Sun, 19 Oct 2008 22:46:00 +0000

Kumarkhand block flood relief

Boat sent to help us by Ms.Kiran Devi (Sarpanch) & her husband Amarnath Ji (AMURT). We had requested help from them(cellphone) after we got stuck in shallow water and the other ITBP motorboat with Doctors & relief material were lost somewhere near the 8KM mark.

We are very greatful to them for all the help they provided. It is very difficult to manage panic striken, hungry and angry population if you are cut off from mainland by 15-20 km of water for more than two months.

To their credit, they have managed the emergencies and the sustained flood conditions very nicely.

~chandan

+919931763070

csingh@gmail.com (Chandan) — Sun, 19 Oct 2008 22:28:00 +0000

Near Rahatha village, Kumarkhand block.

Kumarkhand -updates

csingh@gmail.com (Chandan) — Sun, 19 Oct 2008 19:40:00 +0000

Leaving Parwa embankment with relief materials for rahata village, Kumarkhand .The distance is around 15 KM & has to be covered by boats. We have two ITBP motorboats with us. Also traveling with us are two Doctors who will get down at Kumarkhand.

As one moves away towards north, becomes apparent that navigation is a real problem . There are no landmarks, no route, no predefined

corridor. As it happened, we lost one motorboat as we moved on. We waited for them some 10 km upstream, hoping that they were safe. Later, we found each other.

It is very easy to get lost. This place is no river having a defined way and underlying river bed. This is the new Kosi route flowing over farmlands. The surface water current is very high, and dangerously deceptive at places where the ground below is uneven.

Where's my share ?

csingh@gmail.com (Chandan) — Fri, 17 Oct 2008 14:19:00 +0000

We distributed cerelac first, they wanted clothes; we distributed clothes; they wanted biscuits, we distributed that..and just before we reached this lady, we ran out of stock. We will make up for it if we meet her again :)

What was heartening was festive clothing and smiles all around.

Jadia- Darafga embankment stretch

Dussera,2008

Updates

csingh@gmail.com (Chandan) — Fri, 17 Oct 2008 11:03:00 +0000

Dear friends,

In the last five days, we have received 9 cartons of chlorine tablets ( one carton apparently misplaced, but railways have acknowledged that on paper, & if they find/receive it, we can have it), &

25 carton of clothes from Capegemini, Hyderabad.

Thanks again to Capegemini group, who have been sending us relief material throughout our effort.

Govt camps, which were being run in schools, have more or less been shifted to main camps, and many people have also returned back to the villages where water had receded.

Most of these villages are still not disinfected, and with a harsh winter just around, it will be tough for these people.

There are accumulated debris, carcass(in some villages in Jediah and murligunj where we are working),dead and rotting vegetation and stagnant pools of water, which probably will stay through the winter.

Due to reduction in water level,It is also getting difficult to get in these villages. You can reach some distance by boat, then you got to trek to the villages as water level is too low for boats.The problem is in carrying supplies. Last trip we borrowed a banana stump raft, and could carry supplies to some distance before it disintegrated. These rafts are to be pushed and not pulled (which we did).

One walks on the semi-metalled or brick-soled roads, which although are under ankle to knee deep water, are firm and safe. To push a raft one has to get down from the road..& that's dicey.

This trip (tomorrow night), we are taking truck tubes. Its a new area we are going to ( Madhepura-Murligunj) and dont know what to expect. ,are taking precautions.

In winter, life is going to be very difficult for the flood victims.

Cold,inadequate nutrition,poor sanitary conditions and stress will expose the flood victims to diseases like influenza,cold&cough, isnofelia,pneumonia et al., in addition to what they are/have already suffered from.

They will need warm clothes, specially for women and children. Woolen or cots-wool inner garments for children ( upto 6-8 years) are very important. Woolen clothes,woolen caps (monkey caps),socks, gloves.. anything that will help the children keep warm in dark damp conditions are needed out here.

NGO's are doing good service to affected people out here. Duplicity of efforts are very less and different pockets of flood area are taken up by different units of NGO's and self help groups.

Government Mega camps are functioning well, in an organized way and will be helpful to the people taking refuge there even in future, as doctors stationed there are also following up serious cases treated earlier at the camps.

But as you go north, towards Nepal, the flood conditions still apply. We are talking about places which are in route of the new kosi. Water current at the core flow area is still very strong.

Most of these places are north and north-east of madhepura. Many villages are still cut off as the roads joining then have been washed off and are still under water.

AMURT volunteers are in some of these villages doing yeoman's service. They are disposing carcass, starting basic camps, medical service and making semi-permanent camps for human and animal care.

They need medical supplies,doctors, veterinary doctors or student volunteers, veterinary medicines.
I hope people will come forward and help them.

We are helping them with all that we can, specially in camps which are operating in difficult interior regions.

You can contact Acharya Kisen Sood for any information regarding help and relief.

Thanks a lot to all who have been helping us provide some relief to flood victims.

thanks & regards,

`chandan

+919931763070

Volunteers needed

csingh@gmail.com (Chandan) — Wed, 15 Oct 2008 12:24:00 +0000

Its more than 2 months, we are working incessantly in flood affected areas. We are in real dearth of people who can work at ground zero level. Apart from Chandan ji, there are only 3-4 persons(Srikant Bhaiya, Sipahi Chacha, Kishori ji and Santosh bhai) who are continuosly working at ground zero level. To sustain and excel further this work for long time, we need more man power at ground zero level.

So if you are intersted in working at ground zero level, then plaese come forward. For further details you can contact Chandan ji (09931763070) .

इस दिपावली में अगर आप बाढ़ पीड़ित लोगों के जीवन में लाना चाहते हैं खुशियों के रंग
तो उठा कर झोला आ जाईए हमारे संग
आप और हम मिलकर लायेंगे उन सबके जीवन में नया रंग

श्रमदान महादान

PS: Wait for my next post to know more about the Srikant Bhaiya, Sipahi Chacha, Kishori ji and Santosh bhai.

Thank's to Capegemini,Chennai & Indus International School, Bangalore

csingh@gmail.com (Chandan) — Mon, 13 Oct 2008 10:04:00 +0000

We received 32 cartons of relief material( GATI D# 439426341) today afternoon.

Thanks a lot to Capegemini,Chennai for their help. Most of the clothes that we have distributed have come from Capegemini network.

Convey my heartfelt gratitude to the management and students of Indus International School, Sarjapur, Bangalore-25.
Thank you Mr.Kumar (Manoj Kumar,Leadership Curriculum Coordinator Indus International ) for all the help.

The 31 cartons of baby food/milk-lactogen/medicines etc. were really picked and packed very thoughtfully. Students from different classes and sections have sent individual packets of carefully selected material. It feels great to see this kind of understanding and generosity from the young generation, specially school children. Hats off to them.

This consignment is being taken to Muraligunj (ramgunj camp) tomorrow. Ramganj is still cut off and is in the path of new Kosi. Supplies are sent there by ITBP motorboats. The approach bridge is being erected by the army at a fast pace . A new camp is started their by AMURT, whom we are working with...and tomorrow our first supplies will be sent to the ppl at Ramgunj ....with lots of love from students of Indus International school, Bangalore.

csingh@gmail.com (Chandan) — Thu, 09 Oct 2008 13:17:00 +0000

csingh@gmail.com (Chandan) — Thu, 09 Oct 2008 13:00:00 +0000

csingh@gmail.com (Chandan) — Thu, 09 Oct 2008 12:38:00 +0000

csingh@gmail.com (Chandan) — Thu, 09 Oct 2008 12:34:00 +0000

csingh@gmail.com (Chandan) — Thu, 09 Oct 2008 12:31:00 +0000

csingh@gmail.com (Chandan) — Thu, 09 Oct 2008 12:10:00 +0000

Pictures from camps..

csingh@gmail.com (Chandan) — Thu, 09 Oct 2008 11:52:00 +0000

csingh@gmail.com (Chandan) — Thu, 09 Oct 2008 11:01:00 +0000

Food is scarce for everyone. People care a lot for the cattle that
survived the deluge and its aftermath. Cattle are more than
domesticated breadearners..they are family.
Children find n collect fresh greens for them any way they can.
This is risky(photo), but the boy was reassuringly confident
when I spoke to him.

"Whas to be done, will be done''

Thank you Serena, thank you Infosys.

csingh@gmail.com (Chandan) — Tue, 07 Oct 2008 21:06:00 +0000

We have received the following relief materials (on oct 8 2k8) from;

Serena Fonseca,

A/903, Vikas Towers Housing Society

Mogra Pada.

Andheri (E).

Mumbai 400 069.

Carton/Bale#	Contents	# of Cartons
1	Childrens & Men’s Clothes	1
2	Ladies Clothes	1
3	Men’s Clothes	1
4	Linen (Sheets & Towels)	1
5	Medicines & Miscellaneous	1
6 – 21	Food Items - Biscuits	16
22 – 28	Food Items – Cerelac	7
29- 32	Food Items - Lactogen	4
33 – 36	Tarpaulin Sheets	4
TOTAL	Weight 800kg.	36 cartons

Dear Serena,Shanti & Cyrus DeSouza,residents of Vikas towers society
& all others who are involved in this relief effort,

Thank you so much.

Thank you for sending the relief materials despite the problems you would have faced.

Thank you for taking the initiative and seeing it thru...to make sure it reaches as close and as early to the flood victims.

Thanks a lot for sending these relief materials, I have received them all in very good condition.

Although I have not been able to meet Mr.Fonseca ( he is with the flood relief team at Saharsa), we are grateful that he & his team could come to Bihar and work with relief teams in affected areas. I hope I can meet him before he leaves for Mumbai.

The trapaulin sheets (15x12feet) coudnt have come at a better time...I was really desprate for this size of sheets.

Friends, I may not have been able to return your calls or update the blog as I am virtually traveling all the time for the last two weeks or so.

During the last ten days( 6 site visits) we have been able to distribute the following ;

Salvar-kameez-dupatta (sets) -680
Salvar /loose tops/nightgowns /trackpants- 800
Children - cotton elastic shorts -new-1200
Mislc. dresses- ~~ 1500 (approx)
Bedsheets,towels,blankets- 60
chlorine water puriication tablets - 360,000.
baby food (cerelac/farex/amul) 400 packets
common medecines(Paracetimol, analgesics, cough n cold medications) 3 cartons
Disposable syringe's 3 & 5 ml -900 pc
Anti fungal cream -350 pc.

These are the main items, miscellaneous other stuf like slippers, sanitary nap's,cotton, band -aid, cotton badages, torchlights etc are procured locally on requirements n distributed.

1. Team Infosys- Mysore, have collected substantial relief material and sent it through AOL.

1. Thanks a lot to Aditya Shembekar, Niranjan Baravani, Sahana Sudarshan, Ishan Bhalla , Surya Adivi, Sheethal Kumar G & others at Infy (Mys) for all the help.Thank you friends...may your tribe increase :)

I will keep you updated of the status of consignment.

Thanks to all our donors, without your help..this initiative would have been a non starter.

God bless you all.

`chandan
+919931763070

Items received: 03-Oct-2008

csingh@gmail.com (Chandan) — Sat, 04 Oct 2008 04:43:00 +0000

Chandan has confirmed that he received clothes (Baby, men and women clothes) from.

IDG media pvt ltd

49, Geetha Building,

3rd cross,Mission Road

Bangalore 27
http://www.idgindia.com/
http://www.pcworld.in/,
http://www.channelworld.in/

Dear Sachin,
Thanks a lot for all the help .
We received three cartons of clothes & relief material from IDG media on 3rd October 2008.

The clothes we received were clean, sorted and packed by gender and age categories, and that was very thoughtful of you all.

Thanks again to all you warmhearted people at IDG media for helping in flood relief effort.

God bless you all.
~chandan

Guneshwar Ji sent 1 tent from Delhi which was received by Chandan on 3-oct-2008.

Expression. .. .less ?

csingh@gmail.com (Chandan) — Wed, 01 Oct 2008 16:57:00 +0000

Embanked on embankments.

~chandan.kosi.2k8
+919931763070

Schools at relief camps

csingh@gmail.com (Chandan) — Wed, 01 Oct 2008 06:34:00 +0000

Education center 1

In the background are the huts, which are temporary centers,
the strength of these schools are around 50. The attendance has been good as they are given clothes, biscuits, stationary, milk ...its a mechanism to sustain the attendance; the school is open for 4 hours daily.

The last picture is of Prathibha, herself a std 11 student and a victim of the flood, she started teaching smaller children.. And now the school has a mix of students from KG to std 8.

We have provided them/are providing books, notebooks, slate, dresses, milk powder, medicines, water purification tablets , biscuits.. to encourage children to spend more time together and learn something.

Food and shelter are provided by Mandan Bharti, Trivenigunj.

Life on embankments..

csingh@gmail.com (Chandan) — Tue, 30 Sep 2008 19:51:00 +0000

Darafga embankment is providing shelter to more than a thousand families who could not make it to the

larger government camps.

Their temporary shelter is made of bamboo sticks supporting clothes or plastic sheets as canopy. Almost

all the huts have a raised platform inside as water is almost kissing the top of embankment..a rise of one feet of water can turn ugly for these folks.

To come in & go out from the embankment one has to either cross waist deep water or use country boats

Updates day 37-41

csingh@gmail.com (Chandan) — Tue, 30 Sep 2008 07:59:00 +0000

Dear friends,
Apologies for the delay in updates. I was traveling to relief camps in Nepal (Bhimnagar & Hamuman nagar) and India ( Trivenigunj, Katihar,Baidhnathpur & Saharsa)

We have received the following between sep24- sep-29th 2k8;

Apologies for the delay.

The following consignments have been received between Sep 25- 29

From Vivek Pandey,Bangalore

Torchlights 60 pc with batteries (Eveready citylight) ~60 pc
Cerelac Baby food ~ 58 packs
Paracetamol tablets ~ Calpol, 1000 tablets

From V.R Bhalla
R.P.Jain Road
Juhu,
Mumbai -49

• Cerelac Baby food 240 packs ~ 110 KG~ 14 cartons

From Capegemini, Bangalore

Clothes 21 cartons
Foodgrain 1carton
Biscuits and sugar 1 carton

Thank you all .. it would have been very difficult to carry on without your support.

t&r,
`chandan
+919931763070

Update - Day 36

csingh@gmail.com (Chandan) — Wed, 24 Sep 2008 03:13:00 +0000

Dear friends,

Consignments received today;

100 vial testing supply (for water testing kit ) ~sent by Guneshwar, Gandhinagar ( Total cost with refill Rs.12213.00)
One carton of clothes sent by Capegemini, Pune.

Stabilization and rehabilitation;

One month & six days after the embankment at Kusaha went down; a lot of cloud still surrounds the whereabouts of people who should have been accounted by now.

Out of 3.5 million people who are reported to be affected by this deluge, a maximum of one million (very liberal estimate) are taking shelter in relief camps. Many people are reported to have moved on to Places outside the flood zone…How many? 2.5 million?

Twenty five hundred thousand people cannot just move out into thin air …they have to be some where. When and how will we know that? Many people are reported to have gone back to the villages as water receded, how many we do not know !!

It’s a Herculean task and all of us have to chip in.

Psychological counseling is one of the critical factors while addressing stabilization issue. Children are the most vulnerable, specially the ones whose family is missing, those who have seen their loved ones Gone under, those who have faced nature’s wrath huddled with their parent, day in day out, hungry, sick, frightened and confused.

Many of the flood victims are young, teenagers, children.. How can they look forward to a new life with all these emotional baggage and suffering that they have to carry for the rest of their lives?

Psychological counseling at camps has to be provided by the best professionals around; they have to be counseled for a new life ahead.

A lot of work has to be done, and the threat of rise in water level still looms large, Kosi is a late bloomer, it can turn ugly again, lets hope and pray that it does not.

If possible, let us have a skype conf. and share views on how these problems can/should be addressed.

We have given ten lifejackets to Anand Marg Universal Relief Team (AMURT). They had an incident while trying to get in Birpur interior and their boat capsized. Earlier, we had also given them clothes & 12 boxes of chlorine for the 12 camps they are running in interior areas.

We need plastic sheets/trampoline sheets for families’ deeper inside on the embankment.

We also need a tent for our team ( 2-4 person). We cannot stay at the site because of lack of shelter and that means more time is spent traveling and very less time on the actual site.

Darafga embankment, for example, is 300 0dd KM away; we leave Patna by 10pm, drive the whole night and reach the site by 9-10am . We hardly have 4-5 hours as we have to leave the site by 3pm to reach Katihar before sun down. And then 10-12 hours drive back.

I plan to stay on the embankment for 3-4 days; we can get a lot of things done and cover a lot of settlements if we stay at the site.

We have taken a room at Saharsa for storing our supplies, and once/if I have a tent, we’ll have a base there.

My team members will be coming back from their native village by 10 am today (they had gone for ‘Jeetiya’ and ‘Pind daan’) and we will start relief ops again tonight.

CFTRI ,Mysore has some good high energy low volume food packets, if any of us can find out more about them, it will be helpful.

I plan to work on the camps we have touched till December, if need be. I would hope for your continued support till then. I could not have done even 1% of the work, if I didn’t have a positive, pro active, supporting and integrated team like you folks.

Thank you all so much.

Chandan Singh