Chennai: SOS Children’s Villages of India has come to the aid of hundreds of vulnerable and marginalised families in Chennai and Nagapattinam- the areas worst-hit by the recent cyclones, Nivar and Burevi.
A press release said, as part of the emergency relief work, the NGO is distributing kits of relief materials, worth Rs 3,000 each, containing food items such as bread, biscuits, rice, sugar, atta, sooji, dal items, and oil, besides bath and detergent soaps, candles, sanitary napkins, and tarpaulins and bedsheets to the families. The relief work covers about 140 families with over 275 children in Chennai, and 875 families with about 1330 children in Nagapattinam, who are the beneficiaries of Family Strengthening (FS), the community outreach programme of the NGO.
Senior deputy National director, Sumanta Kar, said, “We are distributing food items, and relief materials to the affected families that fall under the ambit of our FS programme as well as to other families in the local communities. Since we are already working with many of those worst hit, we are able to send them relief materials directly and immediately. Children and women are the worst affected in any disaster and we are trying to support families for the education of their children and restoring their lost livelihood”.
Kar added that the NGO will focus on renovating houses, and restoring livelihoods post cyclone.
“The families are just trying to rebuild their lives with the easing of the Covid-19 lockdown restrictions but the continual spell of heavy rain had inundated their houses, damaged their properties, and affected their livelihoods severely. The farmhands cannot work for many days to come as agricultural lands are under water. The fishermen, who were not able to go to work for more than 10 days because of the cyclone alerts, are uncertain about venturing into the sea. The unskilled daily wagers are not likely to get work any sooner. In this context, renovating their houses, and restoring their livelihoods have to be done on a war-footing,” he said.