The story is the same: lots of supplies, no distribution

There are hundreds of relief workers trying to bring  asemblance of normalcy in Gujarat after a devastating earthquake reduced it to rubble on January 26.

Among them was Mona Gandhi, who along with her friends, visited quake-ravaged Kutch district with supplies bought with money given by generous donors.  

Gandhi shares her experience with www.lohanaonline.com the devastation she saw, the victims she helped and the lessons she learnt: “Four of us from Mumbai arrived in Kutch on February 3 to distribute food, medicines, utensils to earthquake victims. 

On Sunday morning, we visited Bela village, where not a single house has been left untouched by the killer quake. The people, who have been living in the dark, asked us for tarpaulins or tents. 

They complained that the government hasn’t provided them with any, nine days after the quake. 

We went from house to house, distributing supplies - medicines, rice, pulses, salt packets, red chilli powder, turmeric, tea leaves, sugar, matchboxes, candles – everything we could think someone who has lost everything would need. 

We met the local doctor here, who said he badly needs cough and cold medicines for children and adults.  

Our next stop was Rapar

Here we spoke to relief workers, who told us that villages like Fatehgadh, Bhimasar, Gagodhar, Aadesar and Suvai (all in Rapar taluka) also needed tarpaulins and medicines for children – that they had been completely forgotten by the administration. 

We met some volunteers who were sprinkling insecticides. We gave them surgical gloves and face-masks since they were short of those. In Bhachau, not a single structure stands. The roads are severely damaged. The strong odour of decomposing bodies trapped in the rubble fills the air.  

People here pitch tents beside heaps of rubble, which they call their house’, and give you a count of the deaths in their family. They are numb with the pain of their loss.

In big towns like Bhachau, Bhuj, Anjar and Rapar, heaps of supplies are piled up at government relief camps and there seem to be enough relief workers. 

But if you take a closer look, it is clear that the piles of supplies are not being distributed efficiently, nor with any urgency. The other volunteers we interacted with told us that villages in the interiors have been left out in the cold, as the government is yet to provide them with any relief. 

Want to know how you could be of help to Kutch victims as a volunteer? Here’s a ready reckoner.

•    The best way to help is to get a guide from Kutch to take you to villages in the interiors, not yet assisted by the government.
  

•    In every village, you need to visit families personally, assess the damage to their house, ask them what they need and hand it to them personally, rather than just give bags of supplies to the headman of the village.
  

•  Villages in Kutch still practise caste system and it is quite possible that the headman will distribute the supplies only to the higher castes.
  

•    Some communities like the Rajputs prefer to starve rather than “beg” for food.

So it may be a good idea to hand the supplies to the children of such houses, or take something from the adults in exchange, like perhaps a cup of tea.

•    What is most needed right now are tarpaulins and tents, not food and water.
  

•    On main roads you will find people begging – ignore them, for they tend to hoard supplies, depriving people in remote villages who really need help.
  

•    Bring your own food and water supply, and also surgical gloves and face masks to avoid contact with contaminated objects.”

  As told to www.lohanaonline.com by Mona Gandhi