We headed towards this place and enroute we witnessed the devastation these floods have caused and finally landed in a most affected place of Mehabubnagar district, this village is known as Gadda Baswapuram (GB). GB village was fully submerged on Friday the 2nd October in the Sri Sailam back waters and Krishna flood waters coming from Karnataka. The Village head (Sarpanch) with a few other people of the same village evacuated every one and have tried best to evacuate the cattle also. Since Friday, they have been living in a make shift Rehabilitation centre in nearby rice mill, government seems to have air dropped a few (stale) food packets & (un hygienic) water; nearby villagers and a few other volunteers have tried their best to feed these people. Food is not a major concern at this moment, though it is the basic necessity, in fact a little quality and hygienic food is something very much required for them. Apart from food, they need clean drinking water and basic medicines to keep them away from most common diseases that spread post floods. We gave the food we took along with us to these people and also the clean drinking water. We gave biscuits, bread and bun to kids, in no time they consumed whatever gave and stored some cooked for their dinner.
They took us along with them in water (by boats) to show the level of damage this flood has caused. We were flabbergasted to see the way water has caused devastation, we found just water every where and their now fully submerged village in floods; not even a single house is left untouched by floods, they have lost everything - livelihood, earnings, living, roads, crops, house and their village. 100+ houses in this village are now in 15 to 20 feet deep water. Few houses have already collapsed due to the force of water and for being in water for 2 full days. Snakes have entered into almost all every house to protect their lives, dogs and cats have stayed back living on safe terraces waiting for someone to feed them. We were taken through waters to the submerged village by post graduate students of that village, who came on vacation to the village and have lost everything. These guys were so energetic and were unfazed from the situation, but deep in heart they were worried about their future; they did ask for help towards the end of our journey to restore their lives and village. This village consists of farm labors, fishermen, farmers and of course a few students; the village head has lost all that he has while saving his people and he has been living with his people taking care of them in the rehabilitation centre. His eyes said what pain he is going through and how confident he is in restoring the lives of his people. When we reached shore, one of the villagers told the village head about the condition of his (village head’s) house (a part of house was collapsed), he didn’t react and remained composed.
We finally asked the village head about the immediate requirements to restore the village and initially he said, they would need clothes, blankets, towels, utensils and groceries. It will take about 6 months for them to come back to normalcy and restart the life from here, they need assistance. During a calamity like this, it is very common for us to donate some money or material in bulk to government or NGOs or charitable trusts; we never know where these funds go and who are the final beneficiaries of this aid, this time we decided to do the service on our own reaching out to the people in need and have identified this village alone (at the moment) to put high focus and energy.
We are planning for a next visit on Oct 10th, brining all organizations under one umbrella, just trying to help them out as much as we can.
Contributions / Support for this:
Rice packets prepared by Sushmita, Sirisha, Pavan and Nikil along with their neighbors
From friends in deedz group: Bread, Chapatis, pickles and 1200 water packets
Biscuits and transportation taken care by AMIGOS (with the help of Amar, Jaggu, Kiran Sai, Venu)
Balance amount in AMIGOS: 22,033.70
The amount received for this activity is : 1,000 Rs/-
From AMIGOS Fund: 2,500 Rs/-
Total amount collect for this activity: 3,500 /-
Transportation Charges: 3,500/-
(6.50 Rs/- per KM, total 502 KMS, including driver pay)
Total balance as of now with AMIGOS 19.533.70 Rs/-
Pictures:
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