Kozhikode: Young Indians (Yi), an initiative of the Confederation of Indian Industry (CII), is on a mission to rebuild flood-ravaged Kerala in association with government agencies, Yi national chairman Anuj Kothari has said.
Yi volunteers had actively taken part in rescue and relief activities in the state from August 14 when the rain and flooding intensified.
"The chief minister's office has been informed. Yi members will visit affected areas and identify beneficiaries. Yi members were on the ground for 14 days, supporting rescue operations, calling up government rescue teams, and coordinating relief efforts," he said.
From August 14, when the condition worsened, Yi volunteers from Kochi and Thiruvananthapuram were on the ground. Every hour, the members updated the needs of specific locations on WhatsApp, enabling rescue teams to prioritise their operations. Since the roads were damaged, Yi members from Mumbai organised air transport of relief material to Thiruvananthapuram, the main collection hub. From Bengaluru, 20 truckloads of materials were sent to various locations in Kerala, he said.
"We deployed members in various centres to enable need-based sorting of relief material. Some places needed disinfectants, some others, freshwater. Some 60,000 bottles of water was sent through train, for which an entire compartment was booked, from Himachal Pradesh through Chandigarh. Medicines were sent from Hyderabad. Since Thiruvananthapuram was connected through road, we sent materials directly there. Once the route to Kochi was cleared, we started sending through Kochi also," Anuj Kothari said.
We also explored the option of taking a container load of food from Mundra to the Cochin port. All centres - Tirupur, Madurai, Mysuru, Bengaluru, Coimbatore, Salem and Chennai - chipped in.
"When things started pouring in, we sought the requirements of Thiruvananthapuram and Kochi. The requirements kept changing - some areas needed anti-venom, post flood. First it was water, then anti-venom, later food, medicines and clothing," he said.
