RESPONSE TO DISASTERS

In 2019, India saw several water-related disasters, primarily floods, cyclones, and a drought in Uttar Pradesh. ActionAid Association intensified its efforts to restore structures damaged by water and to increase awareness.

To maximize the impact of its response, ActionAid Association conducted a need assessment and focused its intervention on the worst affected regions following each event. In total, our teams reached out to communities affected by flooding across several states and those affected by cyclones in others. We provided food to 44,215 individuals and hygiene support to 3,545 individuals. We also facilitated community access to entitlements and other forms of government-sponsored compensation.

Following Cyclone Phani, which made landfall on April 26, we immediately reached out to the most vulnerable across several districts in Odisha. ActionAid Association’s Bhubaneswar team immediately provided shelter and food to 40 families, and the regional team also distributed dry ration to 3000 families in areas of Puri district and in the slums of Bhubaneswar. We provided 1,150 families and an additional 675 women in Puri district with hygiene kits and household materials. 60 families were also given 20 litres of water and a solar lamp for nighttime safety. 25 volunteers with ActionAid Association also provided relief in Bhubaneswar, where they cleared roads, sanitised, and supplied drinking water. Our volunteers also helped evacuate 2,256 individuals in the Daringbadi block, where the cyclone’s damage was less severe. ActionAid Association along with other community responders ensured that affected individuals would receive government-provided compensation following the cyclone.

Following flooding in Assam caused by the overflow of the Brahmaputra River, we reached out to those affected in the Baksha and Morigaon districts and distributed hygiene kits to 1,770 families. ActionAid Association’s teams also decontaminated water sources—primarily hand pumps, ponds, and wells. We also installed 16 iron removal filtration units that will improve access to drinking water for 1,600 families.

During the first wave of flooding in Bihar, which lasted until the end of July, we provided hygiene kits, mosquito nets and Tarpaulin sheets to 1,200 families in the Sitamarhi district. During the second wave, which ended in September, the Patna district was underwater for several days. We immediately reached out to 1,000 vulnerable families of 10 slums of Patna, where we provided dry ration kits.

In Maharashtra, the Sangli, Kolhapur and Satara districts were severely affected by flooding. ActionAid Association and its local partners reached out to 650 families by providing hygiene kits and nutrition kits to 450 pregnant and lactating women. Simultaneously, Maharashtra was battling a yearly drought. Our teams visited the worst-hit regions to distribute water in the Badnapur taluka of Jalna district. We also provided drip irrigation sets to farmers in Badnapur and Aurangabad and ran community kitchens in certain villages.

Following flooding in Karnataka, ActionAid Association and its partners provided dry rations and household kits to 403 vulnerable families affected by the flood in the Bagalkot, Belagavi, and Uttara Kannada districts. The families primarily belonged to the historically marginalized groups including the Devadasi system, Dalits, Siddi communities, and Gowli tribes.

ActionAid Association repaired five schools, five anganwadis, and one community hall in Idukki district, Kerala, after devastating flooding that killed 121 people. In Pathanamthitta district, Pandalam municipality, we constructed four new Anganwadi centres, which will benefit approximately 1366 families. We have also repaired 32 houses with the support of Colgate Palmolive throughout the municipality. In the Idukki district, we formed 25 women’s collectives in partnership with Kudumbashree, where we have trained 225 women in organic farming practices.