Kerala Floods | Support for few affected families in Maniyarankudy village (Idukki)

Further to what is mentioned in the earlier post, please find below the details from Jinesh on a heavily affected  area in Maniyarankudy village in Idukki district. Please post your thoughts/comments on how we can help.




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Dear Antony and team,

I am very much happy to know your efforts to support the victims of the recent natural calamities. It is understood that your team is planning to provide direct support the needy in selected areas. I am requesting you to consider the people in my village also.

Let me invite your attention to the natural calamities happened near to my home, ie Maniyarankudy village in Idukki district. The area which I am highlighting is a small part of maniyarankudy village (a small portion of one panchayath ward). When the entire kerala was affected by flood, this area was struggling due to heavy landslides and slumping. Several houses vanished in the disastrous situation. This small area itself witnessed the complete collapsing of more than 20 houses and many of the uncollapsed houses became unusable, due to cracks and critical damages to the foundation. At any time, they will fall down. Current death toll in this area is 4 due to the landslide.

This area is occupied by people with extremely low income. Majority of the population belongs to local tribal community. They find their livelihood from labour, cattle and some minimal amount of agriculture.












These pictures are captured from 2 landslide scenes where we lost 4 valuable lives and nearly 9 houses completely wiped out. But I am not sure whether the image can convey the collapsed houses properly. Because no signs of the destroyed houses are visible. Literally vanished :( These pictures may not represent the volume of disaster happened in these areas. But it can give you an idea of the type of damages happened. In our panchayath (Vazhathope Grama Panchayath) itself more than hundred houses completely(100%) damaged. So when your team is extendinding any kind of direct support to the needy please do consider the underprivileged victims from this area too.

As a resident of that area I can extend my full support in collecting the details of the deserved candidates and their family details with photographs. For the time being I have performed only the minimal and SILENT data collection. I have tried my best to avoid to set any expectation to the distressed families, so I have given importance to keep my efforts strictly in the background. But as per need we can collect further details. I have already spoken to the Panchayat administration, so their survey details can also be made available.

Now most of the relief camps are closed. Only the people who lost their houses are in camps. But how long they can stay in the camp is unclear. In several cases, their current land is not suitable or unfit for constructing a new house. There are government funds on offer for their rehabilitation. But the time frame for the distribution of such fund is unclear now. This situation makes me slightly confused to propose the type of support you can offer to them. Another option is to focus on extending support to the people who are not covered under government  schemes. Following are the the options which we considered for a speedy rehabilitation of this area. Government authorities are doing their job in distributing the immediately required consumables. So we have excluded such things from our focus.

1. There is a shelter home proposal from CET, Architectural department, which is expected to cost 1 lakh rupees for one shelter house. This can fulfill the immediate relocation need from the camp.
2. Construction of a new house as per government schemes (400 square feet) is budgeted to cost around 4 Lakhs rupees. But from my observation, in most of the cases, they are not able to complete the construction in this budget. So any kind of financial aid during a pre decided stage of the construction can help them very much.
3. There are many victims who had their livelihood from cattle farming and who lost their livestock during the disaster. Around Rs.50K is expected for one reasonably good cow and this approach can restore their daily income immediately. This is applicable only for the victims who lost their cows during the disaster.
4. There are cases of the school/college going students in the affected families, who really need financial assistance for the continuation of their studies. A limited period sponsorship for their academic expenses will be a great support.

Point number 2 is appeared to be an effective way to extend a long lasting support. This can ensure that, they will be able to complete the construction of their house without depending on any hefty borrowing from money lenders. Point number 3 & 4 is suitable to restore them quickly to their normal life.

We would welcome any new suggestions if you have. As a resident of this area and someone who has access to their fine grained details, I can assure you that you will be connected to the needy in transparent and unbiased way. This will allow you to directly transfer the supports to the needy. If there is any help needed for the aid distribution, I can engage the appropriate authorities for the smooth conduct of your social service. Please note that I will not be able receive any funds from any wellwishers for this purpose, but I will ensure 100% monitoring and necessary support for the completion of the activities you may plan in this regard.

Wishing all the very best to you and your team in all your rehabilitation efforts.


Thanks,
Jinesh Jose