Events & News on Disaster Management: > Meetings

Meeting held on 23rd Feb 2001 at Vinobha Hall of Thakkar Baba vidyalaya 4 - 7p.m: Friends of Bhuj (FOB): SAMANVAYA 

Prayer on Vinayaka by Mrs. Shakunthala Thandavan 

1 minute of silence was observed as a mark of respect towards the Gujarat victims
Blessing of the efforts of Friends of Bhuj by Swamiji of Swaminaraya Ashrama, Gujarat - Chennai chapter

In Solidarity - welcome by Mrs.Shanthi Krishnan

Introduction to Friends of Bhuj (FOB) - concept and work so far - Ram, Chief SAMANVAYA: - 

Friends of Bhuj was formed on the evening of the 27th as a spontaneous gesture by concerned citizen's of Chennai. To date the team remains voluntary and un-structured.  We have concentrated in providing communication link between the NGOs doing relief work in Gujarat and the Chennai Citizen's through our constant updates and reports. Many agencies and individuals have found this information useful in making their relief contribution and directing their efforts. We have done the following things so far:

1. We did a daily update on the web on the ground realities and requirements based on our contact with few NGOs during the early days of the relief work. These were reflected in chennaionline.com and indiatogether.org websites also.

2. With our network of citizen's volunteers we collected relief materials (not cash) and with the help of the Vivek's group sent a truck load of material end of Jan (approx. 9 tons). Since then, we have continued to airlift and send by train relief materials to various NGOs directly and also government agencies in Gujarat BASED ON SPECIFIC REQUESTS from the relief workers. So far relief materials worth approx. 30 lakh has been sent to different relief work agencies through various sources by the FOB team.

3. The relief materials so far facilitated through FOB includes:
- set-up relief material collection during the early days of relief work with YES international about 40 centres across Chennai
- have been helping the railways to load the relief material on to Ahmedabad bound train through MR. Praveen and his team of YES international volunteers everyday
- 500 kgs of wheat flour sent through Gujarati Mandal, 100 kgs of sugar, 100 kgs of rice, 50 kgs of tea, pulses, bread, etc. sent through Sathyasai trust for the relief work of SatyaSai trust, Rajkot
- 200 kgs of camphor for stench removal in the dead body extracting operations in Bhuj - 100 kgs sponsored by Ln. Ratnavel and another 100 kgs given free by the camphor manufacturer airlifted by Indian Airlines
- All emergency medicines for immediate relief worth Rs. 1 lakh sponsored by TechNet Social Services airlifted by the Jet airways
- A team of students from SRM Engineering College visited Gujarat and have come back with specific information on communication related work
- 100 units of universal donor blood sent through Jet Airways; blood organised by Ms. Maria Fathima
- 4000 new woollen blankets from MOP Vaishnav College trust in the city worth about 3.5 lakh sent to Nilpar village where relief work is being organised by IIM - Core
- Old clothes contributed by people towards relief work converted to utensils worth about Rs.1000 and 25 buckets by Dr. Shantha Narayanan and Mrs. Santhi Krishnan

4. We have since then been directing the relief efforts from different quarters to various agencies already working in the field - Vivekananda Kendra, Ramakrishna Mission, IIM Core - Sristhi network, Janavikas,etc.

5. We sent a team of 8 doctors, headed by Dr. Sudha Seshayyan of Stanley Medical and a team of cross-functional volunteers headed by Mr. Sathyamurthy, a management consultant to participate in the immediate relief work and also study the situation on-ground. This team has returned since then with lots of information.

6. Currently we envisage a long term role for ourselves either as a resource group that can support the efforts of various NGOs through our skill base and contacts or to adopt one small village in rural Gujarat for focusing our efforts.

Sharing of Gujarat Relief Work Experience:

1. Mr. Sathyamurthy, Financial Management Consultant, Vyakul Consulting
- The advantages of having a focussed relief effort as against un-focussed effort.
- On the train from Chennai to Ahmedabad, he met a lot of relief materials being carried by co-passengers who had no idea where these materials are to be distributed and to whom it would reach. They had collected these materials and they wanted to reach it to some needy, but, had no idea whether someone even wants these materials. Sathya and his team provided - on board the train - an orientation based on earlier information Friends of Bhuj had gathered and directed their materials to the Adipur area where relief work was being done by the Ramakrishna Ashrama, Rajkot.
- The advantage of participating in the relief work with some personal communication facility
- The need for support agencies and individuals to think for the voluntary agencies on the ground, understand their needs and provide the correct resources support at the right time

2. Mr. Mohammed Ail, South India Shelters
- he visited Bhuj along with Jabalpur team of Doctors
- visited village of Khavda where a doctor has been working tirelessly ("the place is filled with heroes, every relief camp has some hero"), re-directed some of the critical patients to a temporary mobile hospital being managed by Israeli team, the doctor at Khavda did not know of the existence of this mobile hospital
- his suggestion of low cost housing being well received by the Excel industries, Bhuj - they want to sponsor some housing units
- his housing unit plan: 3 houses using asphalt sheets, casurina poles and wooden channels at a cost of Rs. 8000/- ( 25 x 30) as against Rs. 9000/- (16 x 16) per tent which provides less space and can be used only during the nights.
- his design needs 2 carpenters and 2 helpers and they can set-up the entire unit in about 2 days (3 housing units)
- has a scaled down design of the housing unit in his office in Chennai for observation

3. Mr. Natarajan, Swaminarayana Ashram volunteer
- wanted to work as volunteer and boarded the train in Chennai with no idea as to where to work or how, reached the help desk in the railway station in Ahmedabad for direction
- visited Bachau, Gandhidham and Bhuj with a team of doctors from Orissa
- observed the misuse of drinking water and started work in regulating the providing of drinking water along with the Swaminarayana Ashrama people
- Back in Chennai after participating in the relief work for 14 days

4. Kiran Akella, IIT Kharagpur
- he is done his M.Tech specialising in earthquake engineering
- most of the building structures in Urban India cannot withstand earth quake
- the standards are very clear, but, the adherence to them is not at all there hence 250 of the 300 damaged buildings at Ahmedabad would be demolished
- All housing constructions are built to carry vertical loads but not horizontal loads
- the important points missed are the joints and the "box" structure; the sure killers are the C, Y, and L shaped apartment buildings
- in rural Gujarat the sides have not been properly joined and hence due to horizontal movement, the walls have collapsed
- the Morwi bridge has collapsed because of poor design

- it has not been proved substantially yet that earth quake and large dam construction are related to each other
- the tube wells we dig are pinpricks in the surface of the earth and they certainly cannot affect the movement of the plates which occur far below the surface

Friends of Bhuj - core team introduction
Sathyamurthy - co-ordination with voluntary agencies in Gujarat
Ram & Rama - internet based updates and enquiries handling
Rajaram - on the phone handling enquiries
Shanthi Krishnan - co-ordinating the relief material collection
Praveen - Logistics and liaison with railways
Dr. Shantha - medical relief material collection, proper segregation, packing and co-ordination
Narayanan - reaching to the corporates and liaisoning with the various airlines
Shakunthala Thandavan - collection and segregation of relief material, information gathering from press and internet
Ramakrishnan - liaison with corporates for relief contribution

Plan of Action of Friends of Bhuj - Mrs. Shanthi Krishnan
- Short term (6-8 months) - would continue to support any voluntary agency involved in the relief work in a single village in Gujarat
- Long term (2 years) - provide the rehabilitation for the one village of under privileged people where relief work has not reached and continue for next few years; work on disaster management plan for Chennai city

Cartoonist Mushtak: Cartoons auction for Gujarat Relief Work
- he has organized for a portrait artist to make portraits of VIPs who visit his shop and this is auctioned immediately, to be bought either by VIP themselves or someone else and the money collected goes to the relief work
- he is also auctioning some of his earlier cartoons and the money generated would go towards the Gujarat relief work, 
- he has been sending the money thus collected to the PM relief fund, henceforth he would try to consult the FOB to see whether he can provide more than just money

Mr. Srinivasan, Gandhi Darshan Kendra
- spoke of traditional housing structures that have been proved to have more earth quake resistant; village re-construction research centre at Wardha has done extensive work in this and bamboo and mud mortar based houses are found to be more resistant to earth quake and even if they collapse, they can be easily re-constructed and they would not harm people within too much too
- Gandhi Smriti Darshan and Gandhi Darshan Kendra would jointly facilitate rehabilitation work for a few villages and FOB can join hands with these teams in providing their support

Mr. Praveen kumar, YES International
- today we have made a beginning and in the next few days we will have a complete plan of what is to be done and where we would continue to work

End Note: A song In Solidarity - "Nalladhor vinai seidhe" of Subramania Bharatiar
National Anthem
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These Updates are made for Friends of Bhuj by Ram, samanvaya@vsnl.com. Please mail back if you would rather not receive these mails to the above address.
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FRIENDS OF BHUJ:
Contact (all Chennai):
Relief Material - Mrs. Shanthi Krishna: 4463646/4916884
Enquiries over e-mail: Ram, samanvaya@vsnl.com
Enquiries regarding the voluntary agencies in Gujarat: Sathyamurthy, vyakul@eth.net ; 2443036/2440370/Pgr: 9632-712216

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