• Immediately Needed Supplies
• Logistics of Relief
• Communication
• Janpath Citizens Initiative
• Relief Activities Thus Far
• Earthquake Relief Action: A Short Report
  
  • Condition in Bhuj
  • Flow of Information
  • Chain of Procurement and Supply
  • NGO - Government Coordination
• Resourceful Websites
• Donate Generously: MONEY is the quickest relief you can extend NOW
• Bangalore Response Contact Addresses

1. Satellite phone instruments (with battery back-up) - for base camp in Bhuj
   
2. Ham radio sets (range over 500 km., preferably 1,000 km.) – one to be based in Bhuj and one in Ahmedabad
   
3. Short-range one-to-many handheld portable radio sets ("walkie-talkies") - for use locally in Bhuj & environs
   
4. Short-range many-to-many handheld portable radio sets – for use in Bhuj & environs

This is an initiative comprising 200 NGOs of Gujarat undertaking networked Relief Action and is co-ordinated by Janvikas (contact details at the end of this Update).

The objectives of the Citizen's Initiative is as follows :

To act as the key support system to the Kutch Navnirman Abhiyan network which has the capacity to deal with 300 villages presently. To support the relief initiatives of other member organizations in Kutch through the Kutch Navnirman Abhiyan To support the Janpath members relief operations in other districts.

5. Activities done by the Abhiyan till date

Basic assessment survey of relief needs completed for 160 villages. NGO Relief desk set up at the airport and the District Collectorates office for co-ordination. Information brief being repared on a daily assessment and released to all concerned in Bhuj. Depots set up at Samakhyali and Bhujodi. Five Sub-depots set up. Providing personnel and volunteer support to district administration. Abhiyan is a key player involved in planning with the Distict Collectorates.

6. Earthquake Relief Action: A Short Report

The latest media reports speculate that over 25,000 people have died in the earthquake and the number rendered homeless cannot be even estimated. In a quick response to the affected districts, a network of over 200 NGO's in Gujarat have come together as the "Janpath Citizens Initiative /Janvikas / Kutch Navnirman Abhiyan" to take up relief activities.

Janvikas has set up a control room where around 50 volunteers are working at any given time receiving requests for supplies, procuring supplies, offloading, loading, despatching to the villages through Abhiyan and some NGOs in other districts.

 In addition they are constrantly negotiating with suppliers, manufacturers and other organizations for discount in prices, accessing free supplies etc. For example, NDDB has agreed to donate edible oil but it has to be picked from Kandla airport, likewise other supplies like tarpaulins, blankets, grains etc. The control room is a bee hive of activity, with co-ordination meetings taking place twice a day. The activities were initially hampered by lack of communication between the control room and districts but now a HAM radio network has been set up which has started functioning.

 In this scenario the Janpath Citizen's Initiative seems to be slowly and surely working towards setting up a supply chain from Ahmedabad and outside to depots set up a system of making packages for a family of 5 for one month consisting of bare essentials such as grains, tarpaulins, blankets, etc (costing about RS. 2500), which can be supplied directly to the villages by the NGOs. However, we must remember that the Citizen's Initiative cannot cover all the villages. Even in the villages being covered the Initiative tries to support only the households from the poor sections.

Condition in Bhuj:

All roads seem to be leading to Bhuj. Reports say that the roads are choked with supply trucks, some stranded on the roads, the airport is choked with flights and supplies, sometimes from the Government in place yet. The NGOs are desperate because they fear that more deaths may take place if supplies don't reach soon.

Flow of Information:

A regular flow of information from the Abhiyan in Kutch and the control room in Ahmedabad has started through the HAM and mobile phones (one company has donated 10 mobile phone sets). The packing of the food supplies for one family and dispatch is taking place smoothly. A separate depot has been established. However, what should take 5 hours to reach Bhuj is apparently taking place over 10 hours due to traffic congestion on the roads.

Chain of Procurement and Supply:

 A regular procurement and supply chain has been set up. The procurement is done at the control room at Janvikas, the packaging at the Sanand centre of Navsarjan, from there it goes to the Sami depot (set up by the Citizen's Initiative) close to Kutch. From there supplies are picked up by the Abhiyan volunteers and taken to villages and distributed to identified families. Abhiyan in turn have set up sub – depots in the taluks. The system is established and now the hitches in the flow are being tackled. The hitches are that trucks which go to Kutch take over 24 hours to return, free supplies promised by companies get held up somewhere bringing a stop to the chain.

Requests for support / supplies, offers of donations, demands from the Citizen's Initiative is coming in at a regular interval and is being dealt with swiftly at the control room immediately. Indications are that there is good linkages between different NGOs in the field, links with the district administration in Kutch also seems to be good. Needs of the district administration for management support is also being routed through the Abhiyan. For eg. Yesterday there were requests from the Abhiyan that volunteers were urgently needed to prepare stock lists of the Government depot of medical supplies at Bhuj and a team of orthapaedic surgeons and anesthetics were needed at a Govt. health centre. These requests were immediately attended to and volunteers sent.

 Resources, both in kind and money are slowly coming in. Donations in the form of materials – tarpaulin, medicines, blankets, grains are coming from all over the country. These are immediately forwarded to the districts.

NGO - Government Coordination

 The co-ordination between GO-NGO at Ahmedabad got underway with the Nodal officer nominated by the GOI visiting the control room yesterday for a meeting. All issues were discussed openly; many suggestions given by the Citizen's Initiative were accepted. It was agreed that there would be a co-ordination meeting everyday to exchange information and co-ordination everyday to exchange information and co-ordinate relief efforts. This meeting will be short and will be held at both Ahmedabad and district level.