Flood of help from NGOs to rain-affected

Around 70 residents of Sarvodaya Girls Hostel, run by the Harijan Sevak Sangh, had to vacate the premises in Chetpet. They were forced to move to another location in T. Nagar, as the rainwater was found to be mixed with sewerage water. “The rain has severely affected the property and we are now looking at funds to start  repair work and damage control. This happens during every natural calamity. We need funds to build a new building for the girls, whose lives turn upside down when something like this happens,” says P Maruthi of Harijan Sevak Sangh. 

NGOs across the city are reaching out to old age homes and hostels, through volunteers to ensure that the residents are comfortable. Aravind Jayabal of Raindropss, says, “We work closely with an old age home in Ambattur and the Seers girls home in Vyasarpadi. When the rain began, we got a call from Vyasarpadi stating that they were in need of food, as they were in knee-deep water. Their kitchen was completely flooded. We were able to carry food packets to them for two days, after which the volunteers helped to clean the area.” 

Volunteers are also planning to take up sanitation work once the rain stops. “We  have already organised awareness programmes about dengue, but once there is a break in the rain, we plan to start a second-round awareness initiative,” adds Aravind.

Apart from those in hostels and homes, there are a number of pavement dwellers who have been affected by the heavy rain. A few social organisations are reaching out to them. Angelin Prince of Candles, a Chennai-based NGO, says, “We have distributing food parcels to the pavement dwellers throughout the city. Recently, we drove from Anna Nagar to Choolaimedu, and gave away food to those on the pavements.” 

Another social organisation, Founder SFS (Something for Society), went across OMR and helped a number of refugees from Myanmar. “The shelter given to these refugees in Kelambakkam was in a bad shape and water was stagnating everywhere. We helped clean up the place, and fed them. We plan to go there again and check the situation."