Cynthia Rodrigues

The recent Mumbai floods wreaked havoc on the city and its people. In response, various Tata Group organisations have come together to offer a helping hand to those affected by the devastation

Mumbai has always had a beauty of its own in the monsoons. The nip in the air, the fragrance of wet earth, the tang of masala corn, all accentuate that beauty. All these images, however, were supplanted by those of devastation and waste in the floods of July 26, 2005, and the subsequent days.

Thousands of people watched aghast as their homes and offices were damaged, roads turned to rivers and manholes into deathtraps. Hundreds of lives and livelihoods were lost. The whole city was under siege and people were filled with vague foreboding every time they saw dark clouds in the sky.

Even as people tried wearily to pick up the pieces of their lives, the Tata Relief Committee (TRC) and the Sir Dorabji Tata Trust (SDTT) swung into action, ready to do what the Tata Group does best: lend a helping hand in times of crisis. Following the heavy rainfall and the floods, the TRC convened a meeting to discuss immediate relief measures and a plan of action. The meeting was also attended by representatives of the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation and the Tata Institute of Social Sciences (TISS). The areas that they chose to concentrate their energies on were Mumbra, L-ward and M-ward. M-ward was the responsibility of TISS; the SDTT and the TRC chose to work in L-ward and Mumbra.

These areas were chosen because very few NGOs had attended to them. By themselves, the residents were not capable of coping with the situation. Their poverty, abysmal living conditions and low awareness levels worked against them. It was necessary to alleviate the miseries of the severely affected local residents.

In many areas, the team worked with local organisations such as Don Bosco Technical School, Unati, Mohalla Committee, Majlis and the Department of Sociology, University of Mumbai.

The objectives of this exercise were many. The most immediate need was to alleviate the immediate distress of the victims. The floods had brought in their wake diseases like leptospirosis and malaria, and had wreaked havoc on the already poor drainage and sanitation infrastructure. The contamination of drinking water had worsened the situation. Efforts were focused on preventing the outbreak of epidemics.

The team worked hard to ensure that potable water was provided to all governmental institutions, including schools and health posts. Families were educated on the use of chlorine tablets. Cooperatives were persuaded to clean building water tanks.

The TRC and SDTT team took special care to reach out to women and children, and to those living in inaccessible areas. As part of the immediate relief measures, the team distributed emergency kits that included cooked food, food grains, clothes, toiletries, utensils, stoves, plastic sheets, essential medicines, water purification tablets and bedding. Adequate medical support was also provided to the affected. Twenty-two employees from Tata Power volunteered for the mobile clinics and to run the relief centre. Indian Hotels provided cooked food in certain areas and distributed food rations in others.

Significantly, the team realised that to make any initiative completely successful it would be necessary to involve the entire community. In order to ensure this, TRC and SDTT supported people's structures and activities within the communities.

Throughout the relief operations the team worked in tandem with the city's municipal corporation, sharing information and structures, to ensure that the most affected populations within the ward and the city were reached.

L-ward saw concerted activity on the part of Tata Power, Nirmala Niketan College of Social Work, BMC officials, SDTT personnel, local community organisations and NSS students from Mumbai colleges. Having assessed that the primary needs of the area were healthcare and food, the team identified the people who were most affected. A cadre of barefoot doctors and mobile health services took care of the immediate health needs of the residents. The mobile clinics had an ambulance, one or two doctors and a team of volunteers.

Volunteers distributed 8,600 cooked food packets, 5,706 food grain packets, 590 family kits and 17,300 chlorine tablets to this area which is home to a population of eight lakhs.

In M-ward, with a population of 10 lakhs, the people who were most at risk were those who lived in the sprawling slums where poor drainage and overflowing sewers were a part of life. The ward housed many settlements which had been demolished in a recent demolition drive. The people thus rendered homeless were acutely vulnerable.

TISS visited the areas to assess the needs of the people. Students, doctors and social workers collaborated with local non-governmental organisations to organise medical camps and other relief efforts. TISS students conducted surveys, set up medical camps and distributed medicines. The volunteers also mobilised resources needed for relief, both in cash and kind, through appeals to individuals and institutions. The team distributed food grains, medicines (hygiene kits and drugs), clothes and household articles to 9,740 families.

Mumbra in Thane district was serviced directly by the Sir Dorabji Tata Trust and volunteers of the Tata Group with support and materials supplied by the TRC. Since this area is home to a large, socially vulnerable community who had suffered both massive land slides and flooding, there was an urgent need to remove debris, conduct sanitation work and provide medical aid and ambulance services. The ground floors of several schools in the vicinity were washed with water from a tanker provided by Tata Power. Medical services were provided through Tata AIG-sponsored ambulances.

In this area, with a population of seven lakhs, the team distributed 1,200 cooked food packets, 10,134 food grain packets, 3,327 household article kits, 463 family kits and 12,096 chlorine tablets. In addition, it made arrangements for 21 mobile clinics where 10,750 patients were treated.

The Sir Ratan Tata Trust invited applications from people who had suffered losses in these floods. This assistance is in the form of a time-bound and non-recurring project, under its Individual Grants Programme.

While these efforts cannot restore the possessions of the victims, they will go a long way in helping them to reconstruct their lives with dignity and self-respect.

Uploaded on October 10, 2005