South India Floods

This is the final report for World Vision's South India Floods Response. This project has been completed. We hope you enjoy reading the activities and accomplishments below. Thank you for your generous support.

The North-East monsoon wreaked havoc in Tamilnadu and specifically in Chennai as incessant rains led to inundation of large areas in Chennai. Chennai received record levels of rain and most parts of the city were under water. As several rivers and other bodies of water breached their banks, hundreds of families living along Adyar River and other low lying areas were evacuated to safer places but many stayed in the house unaware that water would reach their homes and were stranded without water and electricity for three days until rescue team from NDRF evacuated them. Other parts of Tamil Nadu such as Cuddalore & Nellore in Andrha Pradesh were also affected.

World Vision’s Immediate Response

World Vision India conducted Basic Rapid Assessment aimed at gathering necessary information on the needs of the affected people. Due importance were given in consulting children, youth, and women to understand their needs better. This information was collected from the community by way of Rapid Assessment survey (simple random sampling), Focus Group Discussion and Key Information Informants.

World Vision India’s interventions centered on the following immediate relief:

• Setting up of relief camps
• Provision of cooked food
• Distribution of relief kits to flood affected families
• Health - health camps
• Clean Water, Sanitation & Hygiene (WASH) - Addressing water & sanitation through awareness, water purification & installation of Bio toilets.
• Child protection through Child Friendly Spaces

Distribution of Food and Water - 22300 cooked food packets and 82,516 liters of water were distributed to around 4460 families.

Emergency Relief Kits to 15,000 families - Relief kits comprising of dry ration and Non-Food Items (NFIs) were given to the flood affected families. Care was taken to include persons with disabilities, pregnant women and mothers/ guardians with children below 5 years.

Health Initiatives - 2 medical camps were conducted to provide basic medicines benefiting130 children and 270 adults. Street plays were conducted at 14 operational areas of the Chennai My City Initiative providing awareness on hygiene and water borne diseases through plays and IEC materials reaching out to more than 3,150 people.

Child Friendly Spaces gave hope and confidence to 410 children

WASH in Emergency – 1) 150,930 sachets of water purification tablets were provided to 5031 families benefiting around 25,155 people. The WASH team conducted a series of demos on the usage of the sachets that enabled the people to access safe drinking water and prevent against water borne diseases. Live demo on handwashing was organized for 255 women from 10 communities. Some of the worst affected slums comprising of around 14,000 families were assisted with 1,000 kgs of Cclorine powder to sanitize the houses and streets after the flood. 2) 6 bio digester eco-friendly toilets were installed along with a 150 ft. bore well with hand pump enabling families access sanitation facilities.

Distribution Process

• Rapid assessment for identification and enlisting of beneficiaries
• Issue of tokens to enlisted families
• Announcement of distribution date & venue
• Distribution of relief materials

Criteria for selection of beneficiaries

• Maintained in the relief register.
• Issued relief tokens in order to avoid duplication and to have a record of beneficiaries
• Families that experienced loss of homes and property due to the floods
• Families below the poverty line & within World Vision’s existing target areas
• Families with maximum number of dependents (Children & Senior citizens)
• Vulnerable households - members having disabilities, pregnant & lactating mothers, single parent households, orphan children taken care by relatives & grand parents