PHA-Exchange> Chennai Tsunami relief - work update and need for volunteers/material

[Claudio]

From: Ravishankar Arunachalam <ravia at alumni.cmu.edu>

Dear friends,

Update (30/12, 7 AM IST)
from the AID-India office in chennai.

1) Reporting on the day's work
2) The ground situation and plan
3) Current need for material
4) Volunteering requirements
5) Contact info

1) Day's work on 29/12:
Chennai: Our field teams have been taking surveys and need assessment in
the areas of royapuram, thiruvanmiyur and different areas in foreshore
estate . Distribution of blankets and clothes was undertaken in
thiruvanmiyur.

Cuddalore/Nagai/Pondicherry/Kanyakumari: Here also work is being
co-ordinated with field volunteers . Work has begun in 7 clusters of 30
villages each, and relief material sent from chennai has been distributed to
these villages.
Another fresh consignment of 3 trucks with mats, blankets, medicines and
clothes for about 3000 people has been sent tonight.

Volunteer teams: About 75 volunteers including students from different
colleges and full-timers have been working in the AID-India office in
different teams through the day -

2) The situation
In Chennai and nearby: It has been quite a difficult task to know who has
been actually affected in what way due to the tsunami. The problem has
been compounded by the chaos due to the glut of organizations distributing
material. We are working not only on relief, but also long-term rehab and
on a continual basis for the next few months. However, we cant ingore
short-term relief operations because its difficult to get involved later
if we do not help during the hour of need. So where needed, we have to and
are finding ways of distributing blankets and other urgently needed
material.

Most of the people in different shelters would like to go back and resume
normal activities as soon as possible, even if they've lost their houses
and all possessions. Some of them have lost roofs and are afraid that even
what's left is stolen. Our volunteers will be helping today in clearing
the debris, and trying to restore it to a dwelling place to the extent
possible. Health is mainly an issue in areas in the outskirts areas in
between pondy and chennai. We are going with a team of doctors for a
health camp in those areas.

In Nagai, Cuddalore and other areas:
Since the damage has been much more in these areas, the need for material
is more acute here. There's also a huge problem of removing bodies, debris
etc. Again, there's a glut of old clothes, but medicines, gloves/masks and
provisions for immediate use are more required, along with children's
clothes specifically. Medicines for cholera/diarrhoea etc. are in short
supply,especially for chidren. There's a need for volunteers and doctors
too in almost all the places.

3) Current need for material:
i) Cooking Provisions - Rice/Dal/Oil/Sugar/Milk powder - packed in packets
if possible.
ii) Soaps/Detergents/Paste and other items, for cuddalore/nagai etc.
iii) Kodams, vessels and other utensils
iv) There's a huge need for Blankets and Mats
v) Medicines - Doxycycline, Cough syrups, ORS packets, Septron
tablets/syrups, Anti-histamines etc.
for adults and children separatley.

4) Need for volunteers:
There's still a HUGE need for volunteers here for different teams (see I
above). There's also a similar need of volunteers who can spend a few days
in pondicherry/cuddalore/nagai/kanyakumari. Preferably those who can speak
tamil. Please contact the aid-india office.

5) Contact info:
The main AID help line is 044-2835 0403, 044 5561 5629.
Address: 20, Ratheenam St, Gopalaupuram, Chennai-600086

Check http://survivors.aidindia.org for latest requirements, contact
points in other cities in India, as well as aborad. Photos will
also be up at that site.

We wont be able to respond immediately to email, so please use the phone
numbers provided.