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Bangalore Extends Its Helping Hands

Bangalore - Earthquake Update Appeal No. 2  (2nd Feb 2001)

From: Bangalore Response to Gujarat Earthquake
Send reply to: esg@bgl.vsnl.net.in
Organization: Environment Support Group

Earthquake Update/Appeal No. 2
02 February 2001


BANGALORE RESPONSE TO GUJARAT EARTHQUAKE



1. Immediately Needed Supplies

Medical supplies utmost importance. Please refer to Essential Medicine List in Earthquake Update Appeal No. 1.

Kindly note that no Sample Drugs should be sent, only Bulk Supplies. Generic Medicine List with collection points will be dispatched tomorrow. Apart from medical supplies, presently only shelter related material relief is called for. Temporary shelters are of crucial importance to enable recovery of victims and protect families from cold and diseases. Specifications as follows

Temporary Shelter Kits total 20,000 kits wanted, comprising:
Item Specification Amount
Tarpaulins (with eyelets) 18 x 12 feet 1 sheet per family
Rope (strong enough to tie tents) jute or nylon 24 metres per family
Pegs (to anchor ropes) wood or steel 6 per family  
Bamboo poles dry at least 10 ft. long  
Blankets 5 per family  


2. Logistics of Relief

Blanket ban on volunteers in Bhuj and near the epicentre. Infrastructure cannot support volunteers.

Gujarathi trading networks have established good supply of material aid but addressing the field need is of crucial significance now.

3. Communication Field work in utter jeopardy because of yawning communication gaps on the field. Immediate need for communication equipment to be deployed in affected areas.

List of equipment needed include:

  1. Satellite phone instruments (with battery back-up) - for base camp in Bhuj
  2. Ham radio sets (range over 500 km., preferably 1,000 km.) – one to be based in Bhuj and one in Ahmedabad
  3. Short-range one-to-many handheld portable radio sets ("walkie-talkies") - for use locally in Bhuj & environs
  4. Short-range many-to-many handheld portable radio sets – for use in Bhuj & environs

4. "Janpath Citizens Initiative / Janvikas / Kutch Navnirman Abhiyan"

This is an initiative comprising 200 NGOs of Gujarat undertaking networked Relief Action and is co-ordinated by Janvikas (contact details at the end of this Update).

The objectives of the Citizen's Initiative is as follows :

To act as the key support system to the Kutch Navnirman Abhiyan network which has the capacity to deal with 300 villages presently. To support the relief initiatives of other member organizations in Kutch through the Kutch Navnirman Abhiyan To support the Janpath members relief operations in other districts.

5. Activities done by the Abhiyan till date

Basic assessment survey of relief needs completed for 160 villages. NGO Relief desk set up at the airport and the District Collectorates office for co-ordination. Information brief being repared on a daily assessment and released to all concerned in Bhuj. Depots set up at Samakhyali and Bhujodi. Five Sub-depots set up. Providing personnel and volunteer support to district administration. Abhiyan is a key player involved in planning with the Distict Collectorates.

6. Earthquake Relief Action: A Short Report

The latest media reports speculate that over 25,000 people have died in the earthquake and the number rendered homeless cannot be even estimated. In a quick response to the affected districts, a network of over 200 NGO's in Gujarat have come together as the "Janpath Citizens Initiative /Janvikas / Kutch Navnirman Abhiyan" to take up relief activities.

Janvikas has set up a control room where around 50 volunteers are working at any given time receiving requests for supplies, procuring supplies, offloading, loading, despatching to the villages through Abhiyan and some NGOs in other districts.

 In addition they are constrantly negotiating with suppliers, manufacturers and other organizations for discount in prices, accessing free supplies etc. For example, NDDB has agreed to donate edible oil but it has to be picked from Kandla airport, likewise other supplies like tarpaulins, blankets, grains etc. The control room is a bee hive of activity, with co-ordination meetings taking place twice a day. The activities were initially hampered by lack of communication between the control room and districts but now a HAM radio network has been set up which has started functioning.

 In this scenario the Janpath Citizen's Initiative seems to be slowly and surely working towards setting up a supply chain from Ahmedabad and outside to depots set up a system of making packages for a family of 5 for one month consisting of bare essentials such as grains, tarpaulins, blankets, etc (costing about RS. 2500), which can be supplied directly to the villages by the NGOs. However, we must remember that the Citizen's Initiative cannot cover all the villages. Even in the villages being covered the Initiative tries to support only the households from the poor sections.

Condition in Bhuj:

All roads seem to be leading to Bhuj. Reports say that the roads are choked with supply trucks, some stranded on the roads, the airport is choked with flights and supplies, sometimes from the Government in place yet. The NGOs are desperate because they fear that more deaths may take place if supplies don't reach soon.

Flow of Information:

A regular flow of information from the Abhiyan in Kutch and the control room in Ahmedabad has started through the HAM and mobile phones (one company has donated 10 mobile phone sets). The packing of the food supplies for one family and dispatch is taking place smoothly. A separate depot has been established. However, what should take 5 hours to reach Bhuj is apparently taking place over 10 hours due to traffic congestion on the roads.

Chain of Procurement and Supply:

 A regular procurement and supply chain has been set up. The procurement is done at the control room at Janvikas, the packaging at the Sanand centre of Navsarjan, from there it goes to the Sami depot (set up by the Citizen's Initiative) close to Kutch. From there supplies are picked up by the Abhiyan volunteers and taken to villages and distributed to identified families. Abhiyan in turn have set up sub – depots in the taluks. The system is established and now the hitches in the flow are being tackled. The hitches are that trucks which go to Kutch take over 24 hours to return, free supplies promised by companies get held up somewhere bringing a stop to the chain.

Requests for support / supplies, offers of donations, demands from the Citizen's Initiative is coming in at a regular interval and is being dealt with swiftly at the control room immediately. Indications are that there is good linkages between different NGOs in the field, links with the district administration in Kutch also seems to be good. Needs of the district administration for management support is also being routed through the Abhiyan. For eg. Yesterday there were requests from the Abhiyan that volunteers were urgently needed to prepare stock lists of the Government depot of medical supplies at Bhuj and a team of orthapaedic surgeons and anesthetics were needed at a Govt. health centre. These requests were immediately attended to and volunteers sent.

 Resources, both in kind and money are slowly coming in. Donations in the form of materials – tarpaulin, medicines, blankets, grains are coming from all over the country. These are immediately forwarded to the districts.

NGO - Government Coordination

 The co-ordination between GO-NGO at Ahmedabad got underway with the Nodal officer nominated by the GOI visiting the control room yesterday for a meeting. All issues were discussed openly; many suggestions given by the Citizen's Initiative were accepted. It was agreed that there would be a co-ordination meeting everyday to exchange information and co-ordination everyday to exchange information and co-ordinate relief efforts. This meeting will be short and will be held at both Ahmedabad and district level.

7. Resourceful Websites

Gujarat Quake Health Effects Network: Contains very useful information for Medical Relief http://earthquake9.tripod.com

Field Reports from Quake Affected Areas: http://www.aidindia.org/

List of injured

http://www.engineersguild.com/quakehelp.html

http://www.kutchinfo.com

http://www.panjokutch.com/

Messages to Gujarat
http://www.earthquakemessage.com/

List of collapsed buildings
http://www.ahmedabadcity.com/

8. Donate generously

To coordinate donations, the "Janpath Citizens Initiative / Janvikas /Kutch Navnirman Abhiyan", have set up a Separate Account with the Global Trust Bank.

You can make your contributions by way of Cheques / Demand Drafts / Direct Money Transfer favouring:

"Janvikas (EQ) A/c no. 2101016292".

Global Trust will accept contributions made to this account in all its branches across the country. Please note that several banks have waived the service fee for issuing Demand Drafts made to earthquake relief efforts.

You can drop the cheques/DDs in any of Global Trust Bank branches. The Bangalore Branches are in the following locations:

1. 21/15, M. G. Road, Bangalore 560 001 Tel: 5596625
2. 547, CMH Road, Indiranagar, Bangalore 560 038 Tel: 5284710
3. 209/1, Bellary Road, Sadashivanagar, Bangalore 560 079 Tel: 3446103
4. 7/24, 11th Main, 4th Block, Jayanagar East, Bangalore 560 011. Tel: 6541431

If you have problems reaching the Global Trust Bank, you can send your Cheque/DD contributions to HID Forum or ESG, for which Janvikas receipts will be issued:

HID Forum, 3, Lavelle Mansions, 1/2, Lavelle Road, Bangalore 560 001. Tel: 2270762/2243762 Fax: 2243763 Email: hidforum@vsnl.com

Environment Support Group ®, S-3, Rajashree Apartments, 18/57, 1st Main Road, S. R. K. Gardens, Jayanagar, Bannerghatta Road, Bangalore 560 041. INDIA. Telefax: 91-80-6341977 Fax: 91-80-6723926 (PP) Email: esg@bgl.vsnl.net.in

Cash contributions are collected at HID Forum.

You may also send your contributions directly to Ahmedabad, but please remember that such Cheques/DDs may take several days to clear. These Cheques/DDs should also be drawn in favour of "Janvikas (EQ) a/c no. 2101016292" and mailed to:

Janvikas, 105-6 Royal Chinmay Apartments, Behind Simandhar Towers, Judges Bungalows Road, Ahmedabad 380 015. Tel: 91-79-6857745 Fax:91-79-6857443. 24 hour hotline: 6856685, 6857745, 6857443 Email: socjust@icenet.net or jv-hidrc@icenet.net (Swift Code: GTBKINBB021 - Global Trust Bank Limited, Bodakdev, Ahmedabad 380 015)

100% Income Tax Waiver for Donations:

Shri. R. K. Pathania, Member, Central Board of Direct Taxes, New Delhi, following a tour of the earthquake affected villages has declared that:

"Donations made on or before 30th June 2001, to Charitable Institutions already registered with the Income-Tax Department will be entitled for 100% deduction from taxable income of the donor." (Press Release of S. K. Gam, ITO (PR) For Chief Commissioner of Income Tax, Gujarat, Ahmedabad dated 31 January 2001 No. CC/ABD/PR/A62/2000-01

All contributions made to the aforementioned Janavikas account are thus eligible for this relief. Janvikas 80 (G) Registration No.: HQIII/33(151)/98-99 valid from 1.4.98 to 31.3.2001

In case of foreign donations make contribution to: JANVIKAS- A/c No: 9687; Bank of India, Panchwati Branch, Ahmedabad. SWIFT CODE NO.: BKIDINBBAAMB. Janvikas has the requisite clearance under the Foreign Contribution (Regulation) Act.

Online donations via credit cards can be made by logging onto www.icicicommunities.org, favouring Give Foundation, Money2India or Infinity Internet Banking.

OXFAM (India) account:

Contributions may also be made to "OXFAM India", for which 100% Tax relief is available under Sec 80 (G).

Oxfam (India), 'Vijaya Shree', 4th A Main, Off Bellary Road, Hebbal, Bangalore - 560 024. Tel: 363 2964/363 3274 Fax: 363 1371 (Attn. Oxfam India). Email: oxfamindia@vsnl.com

9. Bangalore Response to Gujarat Earthquake

Coordinating Groups:

Resource Coordination and Financial Contributions: HID Forum, 3, Lavelle Mansions, 1/2, Lavelle Road, Bangalore 560 001. Tel: 2270762/2243762 Fax: 2243763 Email: hidforum@vsnl.com or bangalore@sdc.net

Medical Relief Advisory: Community Health Cell, 367, "Srinivasa Nilaya", Jakkasandra, 1st Main, 1st Block, Koramangala, Bangalore 560 034. Tel: 5531518/5525372 Email: sochara@blr.vsnl.net.in

Media and Financial Contributions: Oxfam (India), 'Vijaya Shree', 4th A Main, Off Bellary Road, Hebbal, Bangalore - 560 024. Tel: 363 2964/363 3274 Fax: 363 1371 (Attn. Oxfam India). Email: oxfamindia@vsnl.com

Food and Non-Medical Supplies: Voluntary Health Association of Karnataka, 60, Rajini Nilaya, 2nd Cross, Gurumurthy Street, Ramakrishna Mutt Road, Ulsoor, Bangalore 560 008. Tel: 5546606 Email: vhak@bgl.vsnl.net.in

Clothes and Blankets: Ashraya, Jawan's Quarters, BDA Park, Double Road, Indiranagar 1st Stg, Bangalore 38. Tel: 5251929 Fax: 5286195 ashchild@bgl.vsnl.net.in

Information Collation and Earthquake Update/Appeal Dissemination: Environment Support Group ®, S-3, Rajashree Apartments, 18/57, 1st Main Road, S. R. K. Gardens, Jayanagar, Bannerghatta Road, Bangalore 560 041. INDIA. Telefax: 91-80-6341977 Fax: 91-80-6723926 (PP) Email: esg@bgl.vsnl.net.in

On Behalf of: "Janpath Citizens Initiative / Janvikas / Kutch Navnirman Abhiyan". C/o Janvikas, 105-6 Royal Chinmay Apartments, Behind Simandhar Towers, Judges Bungalows Road, Ahmedabad 380 015. Tel: 91-79-6857745 Fax:91-79-6857443. 24 hour hotline: 6856685, 6857745, 6857443 Email: socjust@icenet.net or jv-hidrc@icenet.net

Issue 2 ENDS

Bangalore Earthquake Relief Group Mailing Service from; Environment Support Group S-3, Rajashree Apts., 18/57, 1st Main SRK Gardens, Bannerghatta Road, Jayanagar Bangalore 560 041 Telefax: 91-80-6341977 (24 hours) Email: esg@bgl.vsnl.net.in

TO BE ADDED TO THE LIST WITH TWO DISPATCHES (MORN AND AFTERNOON DAILY) PLEASE SEND EMAIL/CALL ESG