Strategy to Provide ReliefRelief Operation Sparsh by Sankalp India Foundation for the people suffering from floods in North Karnataka

Floods 2009• Sankalp India Foundation has initiated a massive relief Operation Sparsh for

the people suffering from the floods in North Karnataka. People have been rendered homeless and they are housed in relief camps.

• Our goal will be to ensure that we reach out to these relief camps and participate in the activity that aims to provide immediate assistance to the people by mobilizing resources that are needed the most.

• We have been in touch with local groups who have been actively participating in the relief work since one week. We have also been in touch with relevant government officials who will be able to give us dependable information on the happenings.

• According to inputs received from these sources, food, blankets, household products and sanitary products in the same order of importance are the things needed in an immediate sense.

• Our attempt will involve to mobilize these resources and use the knowledge of the mentioned sources of information to choose the most worthy and needy recipients of the supplies and make sure that they are handed over to them.

• Furthermore, starting Tuesday, 6 October, 2009 one of our volunteers will be present at Ground0 to understand the ground realities better and participate in relief measures.

Identifying the places to provide relief

• Sankalp has been in touch with the District Administrator, Deputy Commissioner and the Relief Commissioner to understand which area requires maximum help.

• Our Volunteer from the Organization visited the selected areas and prepared a first hand report of the situation. Village Sarpanch, Revenue Officer and local leaders are consulted to come up with most needed materials.

• This way by taking the macroscopic directions from the Government and the microscopic requirement specification from the local community, we are able to ensure best assessment of the need and the needy.

Plan to scale up activity

• While relief is being provided in some areas, assessment is going on in other areas. Based on the supply of funds, we will be able to provide systematic help to more areas, within a duration of 48 hours.

Purchase of Goods

• Extensive market research has been made to identify materials of reliable quality and cheap prices to be provided as relief material.

• Many of our suppliers have joined in the relief process by providing goods at par with the cost price.

What is being supplied?• Food and water has mostly been taken care of by

the Government. Political parties have also ensured sufficient supply of blankets.

• With the inputs we have got, we are currently looking at clothes (dhotis, sarees, towels and floor mats (daris)) and utensils (1 rice cooking utensil, 1 dal cooking utensil, 1 rice spoon, 1 dal spoon, 2 glasses and 2 plates) as our focus area.

• Apart from that our on-field Volunteer has been provided with enough contribution to be able to immediately supply food and water if there is an immediate need.

• As per the advice of District Administrator, difference in socio-economic setup and experiences from the past, we are not carrying used clothes to the affected area.

• On a daily basis, we are reviewing this list in order to ensure best utilization of available funds.

Contributing to the cause - Organizations

• We invite organizations to come forward at this hour of need and join hands with us to provide relief. We recommend the organizations to collect the contributions internally and make a bulk transfer to the organization. Receipts will be provided for all contributions.

• Please note we will not be able to offer any Income Tax exemption for the contributions.

Contributions from Individuals• Individuals are also requested to join and contributions. • Electronic transfer of funds to Sankalp Account

Sankalp India Foundation. SBI Account Number 30246145829. Please do not forget to leave your name and mobile number when you execute the electronic transfer. Once the transfer is done please let us know about it on the following link:http://spreadsheets.google.com/viewform?formkey=dE1WeXYtbHZjVldOVFU5d3hzN0pqbXc6MA

If this does not work for you then confirm the transaction by a mail to sankalp.admin@gmail.com• Note:

- Food grain will be purchased from the local markets in the cities around the affected area. Hence we recommend making a monetary contribution for the same.- We do not encourage cash contribution. No volunteer of Sankalp will request you to contribute cash!- The contributions and their usage will be kept public in order to assist transparency unless the donor categorically instructs otherwise.- Please note that we are not offering income tax relief of any financial contributions made.

Are we focusing only on Karnataka?

• We have chosen the flood affected areas between the rivers Tungabhadra and Krishna.

• Once we have done enough in these areas and have necessary funds we will provide relief to other flood affected areas as well.

A Promise• We as an Organization are focused towards

ensuring the best possible and optimal utilization of the contributions that you make for the victims.

• In order to assist transparency, we will be providing a comprehensive report on funds’ utilization at the end of the mission.

• Daily updates about the program are being posted on www.sankalpindia.net

• Inline with the Organizational philosophy, all the logistical costs including expenses for transportation, packaging, labour charges and Volunteers’ travel and accommodation is funded by the Volunteers themselves. Contribution made by you are converted 100% to relief supply.

Our many Thanks to..

• KSRTC for providing transportation facilities for the relief material.

• MSRIT: MS Ramaiah Institute of Technology has always stood by Sankalp. Yet again the institute is encouraging the staff and students to contribute generously towards the relief mission. Being the first organisation to participate in this effort, MSRIT got the ball rolling for Project Sparsh.

• Dhariwal & Sreenivas Chartered Accountants: Dhariwal & Sreenivas Chartered Accountants were early front runners from the corporate sector where the fund collection is proceeding in full swing.

About Sankalp – In the field of Blood

• Sankalp India Foundation is a Voluntary organization which has been working for the cause of blood and disasters from 23rd May 2003.

• We have been helping people looking for blood for the past 6 years.

• We network the blood banks around Karnataka via a single helpline number 94800 44444 which is a state-wide helpline for any person looking for blood.

• We also organize standardized blood donation drives in Companies and Colleges, and organize blood awareness weeks in schools.

Our past missions related to Disasters

• Sankalp India Foundation is a registered organization under the Society's Registration Act 1960. Reg No: BLU-S297-2007-08. The organization has participated in the following relief missions in the past:

• Tsunami: Sankalp was the only organization outside Tamil Nadu to be reaching out for relief for the victims of the Tsunami in December 2004 at Nagapattinum within 36 hours of the disaster. We provided assistance in managing the ambulance services at base hospital and clothes and food for the victims at Nagore.

• Kashmir Earthquake: Sankalp reached out to the victims of the massive earthquake that struck on 8th October 2005 in Kashmir with 600 blankets. The blankets were delivered to the victims suffering from extreme cold 3 kms from the Line of Control in the Tangdhar District of J&K.

• Flood Relief in Tanjavur: Sankalp organized relief for the flood affected Tanjavur in November 2005. On request of Tanjavur Red Cross, food supplies were distributed in the affected area.

• Bihar Floods: Sankalp contributed to teh relief efforts after Bihar Floods by providing the food grains, medicines soaps, milk powder, baby food etc.Terror Attacks: Sankalp had been instrumental in mobilizing blood donors in the wake of the terror attacks in Hyderabad, Bangalore, Delhi and Jaipur in 2008. We ensured that there was no shortage of blood for the victims of these attacks.

Contact Us

• Please get in touch with us for any more details by calling us on 9880132850 | 9886522376 | 9886064563

• Mail: sankalp.admin@gmail.com• Visit: www.sankalpindia.net

Links on the site• Project Sparsh:

http://www.sankalpindia.net/drupal/project-sparsh-relief-victims-fo-karnataka-floods

• Updates: http://www.sankalpindia.net/drupal/live-updates-relief-mission

• Images of affected areas: http://www.sankalpindia.net/drupal/disaster-mitigation-and-management-group/images-areas-where-sankalp-plans-provide-relief• Contributing Organizations:

http://www.sankalpindia.net/drupal/contributing-organisations• Individual Contributions:

http://www.sankalpindia.net/drupal/disaster-mitigation-and-management-group/individual-contribution

Latest Update

• About 500 sets of utensils have been sent over on October 8th, Thursday, to flood affected areas near Raichur, namely Chicksugur, Chickmanchur and Tungabhadra village.

Some Images from the affected areas

Images