[pagalguy]

Hello Folks,

This is to all of you living in or around Kerala or knows about the relief work being conducted in the Kollam area in Kerala. I have been in touch with a a couple of people who want to help by going to Kollam and getting in touch with an NGO which is providing relief services.

The donors want to ensure that they receive an 80G exemption on their donations and also want to ensure that the relief material purchased are being put to good use. They want to ensure that the money doesn' go waste and intend to work with the NGO to ensure proper distribution.

They are leaving tomorrow to Kerala! Please get back to me ASAP with any information you have regarding this. Its exceptionally urgent and you can help hundreds of lives provided the relief material reaches the right set of people.

Hoping to hear from you folks ASAP. If you want to talk to me about it, you can PM me for my number, or send me your number and I'll get back to you ASAP.

[guitar_killer]

if they r leavin by means of Rail....plzzz...tell them..nt to get down at Quilon...which is supossed to b the nearest to Kollam....intead..ask them to get down at Chengannur...frm wher they will b guided by the stuents and NSS scouts accordingly.....

rest...if they r takin any relief material....medicines..and uncooked raw food..like rice and normal southie staple foor prefered...
plzzz no wheat,aata....or any such types...

rest ..i'll keep u informed..accordingly..........

All the Best........

[pagalguy]

I'll keep that in mind and inform accordingly. They are not carrying relief supplies rightaway, but intend to work in tandem with the NGOs there and work on the relief effort and also donate to buy the necessary relief items.

It would be great if you could get me in touch with any of the NGOs who are working on the ground level in and near Kollam area.

Thanks a lot for the info!

[pswaroop]

Heard about your call so decided to give some information which i've collected. In Kerla Kollam district was the worst hit and particularly two villages,were the worst affected by last week's tsunami,Alappad village in Kollam district, which recorded 100 deaths, and Arattupuzha in Alappuzha district, which saw 25 death. Both the villages are within 25 km distance of each other. Close to 11,000 houses are fully damaged and another 15,000 houses partially damaged. In all, more than 100,000 people from these two villages are now living in relief camps. The Dec 26 tsunami has officially claimed at least 210 lives in Kerala.
Kollam is less than 2 hrs drive from Trivandrum and is well connected from there. Kollam is well connected by good roadways and railways.

Bangalore: 04:55, 10:45, 16:20
Mumbai:04:55, 08:55, 11:05, 12:45, 14:35, 18:20
Kannur: 07:30, 11:05, 12:45, 14:35, 18:20, 19:50, 20:10, 22:10
Ernakulam: Frequent Trains.
Mangalore:07:30, 11:05, 12:45, 14:35, 18:20, 19:50, 20:10
Thiruvananthapuram:02:25, 02:55, 03:40, 04:20, 05:20, 07:25, 08:40, 09:00,
09:25, 10:10, 11:10, 13:15, 14:00, 16:40, 17:10, 17:30, 18:00,
18:55, 19:53, 20:33, 21:00, 21:40

Kollam is connected by good motorable roads to all parts of Kerala and Tamil Nadu (KSRTC Enquiry Ph : 275200.
Alappuzha: Frequent buses (2 hrs)
Ambasamudram: 05.15, 15.15
Bangalore: 17.30
Coimbatore: 05.50, 08.30, 11.00, 14.40, 20.30, 22.30
Kochi:Frequent buses (4 hrs)
Kottayam: 12.00, 16.00
Thenkasi: 05.15, 06.15, 08.15, 10.45, 14.45, 16.15, 20.00<br>
Thiruvananthapuram:Frequent buses (1½ hrs)

You might want to carry some minimal medical kit with you for personal use. Take an emergency medical kit consisting of immediate medicines and medical supplies like Aspirin or paracetamol for pain or fever. An anti-allergy capsule if needed. Creams to ease irritation from insect bites, stings, cuts, scratches and sunburn.Don't forget Bandages and Band-Aids, throat lozenges, and multivitamins. You are mostly offered warm or hot water to drink in hotels and you can always insist on it as its a norm in Kerla. You might also get mineral water but try avoid purchasing because they are no good.
Hope the info here will serve your purpose well.
You can get back to me on pswaroop81@yahoo.co.in
Regards
Swaroop P
IIM Kozhikode
ps- I m not a malu nor have any command on the language.

[pswaroop]

Also the amount of damages is huge because of the fact that the places effected lie at sea level or at someplaces below sea level. And the people living here live along the backwater lanes. which they use for transportation and also mode of daily use for washing etc. Such close proximity lead to such a large destruction of houses and property. and the condition is such that no one can at present get back to their houses.

[pagalguy]

Swaroop,

Thanks for the info. I'll make sure it gets to the folks who are making this trip. However my original Q still remains .. which are the NGOs that are working on the ground level. How are they working. The donors want to head over to Kerala tomorrow and make sure that they can donate and supervise the distribution of the relief goods to the affected people.

Let me have more info on that one asap. I'll PM my tel. no to you. Let me know if you come across something.

Warm Regards,

[guitar_killer]

Originally Posted by pagalguy

I'll keep that in mind and inform accordingly. They are not carrying relief supplies rightaway, but intend to work in tandem with the NGOs there and work on the relief effort and also donate to buy the necessary relief items.

It would be great if you could get me in touch with any of the NGOs who are working on the ground level in and near Kollam area.

Thanks a lot for the info!

The info which i gave u waz based on the cpl of mails i exchngd with my 'Bro @ REC Chengannur...
if the guyz at ur end..r planin to move in a day or so...i can ask the guyz @ the engg coll..to escort them..or..do the needful....

Languauge Communication shudnt b a issue...'coz keralites r well versed with hindi or english....moreover...commuting shudn't also b a problem....

[pswaroop]

Languauge Communication shudnt b a issue...'coz keralites r well versed with hindi or english....

Well on the contrary Kerlaites are bad at both Hindi and English, make no mistake. Kerla might be one of the most literate sttate but only literate in Malayalam
About the NGO's I can't provide any list of NGO's working in Kollam or to that matter any down south. I'll try to get some info but i m afraid it would long and tedious process as of now. Its better to contact a person from Trivandrum or even down south for this purpose.

[Jugnoo]

Hi ,

I read the thread late, just now.

I am not sure of any NGOs working... Since the number of people who have died is less and kollam fishermen community is kinda having money and got networking (from kerala and dubai/gulf), I havenot read about any NGO camps in the newspapers. Or maybe the english newspapers dont have any info regarding NGOs.

It seems that the district administration is doing most of the work. http://www.kerala.nic.in/tsunami.htm gives info about the government relief measures.

I asked a few collegues in office, if they had any info in malayam newspapers, they said no info regarding NGOs...

Yep, Agree with pswaroop , that communication could be some prbs , though not much, most of them can manage to speak/understand English but forget Hindi!

[puneet]

i found this link
http://tri.htmlplanet.com/
http://tri.htmlplanet.com/corkboard/

it is a great database of whats happening at each place affected and contact info of relief organizations in those places .

PS : i got this link from forums.tech-arena.com , allwin u can probably get in touch with ujjwald , he is the moderator .