Monday, May 25, 2009

Flood Relief

Flood is a natural calamity causing severe damages to the basic survival of the people. The primary damage is the destruction of the people’s dwellings, leaving the people with no choice apart from moving out from their broken dwellings. Then they try to take shelter anywhere and everywhere, on top of the trees or on broken buildings or even above their thatched roofs or on the roads above the flood levels just to protect themselves. And they suffer without food. Children, women, old people, the diseased and the disabled become totally helpless. Food becomes a major problem!

The flood water spreads all over the land putting a stop to electricity, basic communication amongst people, medical help, drinking water supply, and food transport. Apart from this, the price of the available food items hikes up. This makes it all the more unaffordable for the people prone to flood. Without sufficient medical help, the children and diseased people undergo severe physical suffering. Arrangement of food becomes the major issue at that time. This pathetic condition forces some good citizens to steal food for their hungry family members. The struggle for survival makes people learn and practice illegal means to earn their living. Will such attitudes help the society and the nation? So how will the flood-prone people survive? Apart from the human beings getting affected from the flood, domestic animals also get affected. Innocent animals like cows and buffaloes which provide milk to the human beings develop diseases due to the flood water and many of them die without food!

Having noticed a crisis amongst the people in the flood prone villages, ISKCON Mayapur has organized a project named Flood Relief. Within the last 30 years, some part of West Bengal has been affected by the flood waters of Ganga almost every year, either in small scale or large scale. From 1978 until now there have been at least 4-5 major floods apart from the smaller floods! The major floods are disastrous! Food for Life Mayapur has been on site in action, launching extensive relief efforts to cater to the needs of the flood affected people.

When there is a threat of a flood, ISKCON attempts several precautionary measures to prevent it such as
• Sand bags are put across the roads
• Sewage gates are checked
• Roads are checked and repaired
• Medical facilities are arranged
• The local government and villages are kept informed about the flood situation
• Local residents are given precautions to store food and prepare for surviving during flood

And once the flood sets in, the stranded villagers need the following:
• Prasadam: Cooked food such as khitchari, and dry food such as flat-rice (chira) with molasses (gur)
• Drinking water
• Medical facilities: Volunteer doctors, assistants and medicines
• Food for children such as biscuits and milk powder
• Fodder for cows
• Tents and other essential materials for survival
• Clothing
• Emergency rescue team
• Help to transport their essentials from their home to a place of shelter

How is all of this provided by Food for Life Mayapur?
About 300 full-time volunteers from ISKCON dedicate their time and energy to help in flood relief. Some of them cook food from morning to night on a daily basis, while others distribute it to various surrounding affected villages. Experienced field-workers and dynamic senior team leaders meet on a daily basis to strategically plan the entire flood relief operation based on input from their village networks on population, affected spots, potential places of distribution of food, etc., specific requirements and current availability of resources. Specific service teams are organized, supervised and dispatched to specific localities in consultation with local governmental authorities. Each daily meeting is preceded by a review of the previous day’s efforts, and the challenges faced are noted and deliberated upon.

On an average, more than 3000 plates of cooked food and 3000 plates of dry food are served to the stranded villagers. The affected villagers have repeatedly expressed their honest appreciation and gratitude to ISKCON Mayapur for their services.

After the flood
Once the flood waters recede, there is still a lot of work to be done to resettle the villagers back into their normal life. These include:
• Help to transport the flood victims along with their possessions back to their homes
• Their houses need to be repaired
• Since their fields are not fertile and adversely affected by the flood, they are unable to produce their own foodstuff; so they still need food to survive
• They, especially women and children, need clothing
• The flood affected areas need to be disinfected
• Further medicines and health-awareness programs need to be conducted to reduce and stop epidemics due to the flood

In order to do the above, we need your help and support.

Lord Chaitanya flooded the whole world with the holy names of Krishna. Helping to serve the residents of His holy abode is a powerful means of receiving the mercy of Sri Navadvipa-dhama. Join us in receiving the mercy of Sri Navadvipa-dhama as per your capacity.

Help us help the flood victims. Periodic floods in Mayapur and surrounding areas is a reality. Let us help the villagers overcome their challenges at this crucial part of the year.

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