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Disaster Response
SVARAJ has been responding to humanitarian emergencies of natural disasters (earthquakes, floods, droughts and famine) and human made disasters (war, violence, conflicts, and riots).More than a simple provision of relief, our process of rehabilitation involves helping communities to cope with disasters and rebuilding their homes.. Strengthening communities’ capabilities with respond to these disasters is central goal of our project.
Kosi Floods, Bihar
Kosi river floods in Bihar has claimed many lives and leaving millions marooned. The flood water has smashed thousands of houses and destroyed around 100,000 hectares of farmland. Over 30 lakh people in 16 districts were in the grip of floods, with 23 lakh in worst hit at Supaul, Saharsa, Madhepura, and Araria districts alone. To help Kosi, svaraj has partnered with Nav Jagriti, an NGO based in Patna, with the aim to provide housing and educational support to 30 families and 200 children in three worst flood affected villages in Bihar.
Donate for KosiTo read about Kosi Between the Devil and Deep Waters: The Story of Bihar’s Kosi River. Book; by Dr. D. K. Mishra;
Or to subscribe contact Svaraj
Donate to help film a documentary on the root cause Kosi floods Prevent future floodsSvaraj in association with film maker Nitin is planning to produce a story-based film. The film is largely based on the book by Dinesh Kumar Mishra,"Boya Pade babool kaa". It talks about impractical ways of controlling floods in Bihar, such as embankments, dams, raising the level of villages, etc. The approximate budget for the film will be around Rs. 10 lakh
NAV JEEVAN KENDRA (NJK), Anjar, Gujarat
Nav Jeevan Kendra is a SVARAJ initiative in Community based Disability Rehabilitation, Social and Health Care in Anjar, Kutch district, Gujarat.
Nav Jeevan Kendra is an initiative of Svaraj. Established in 2001, it aims at providing physiotherapy care for paraplegics as victims of Gujarat earth quake. Later the center has been converted to a center for all disabilities.
Services of Navjeevan Kendra are- Physiotherapy Care: NNav Jeevan Kendra provides physiotherapy care to people with disabilities like Cerebral palsy, Mental Retardation with Cerebral Palsy, Spastic Diplegia with Mental Detardation, Paraplegia, Hemeplegia(Stroke) and Ortho cases.
- Recreation center : Outdoor and indoor sport activities, Participation in National and state level sporting events Cultural programmes to include interaction with Gujarat wide disabled people and organizations
- Preventive Education: Information, Education and Communication programmes to increase public awareness of disability concerns.
TSUNAMI, Cuddalore, Tamil Nadu
The Tsunami that shook the world the day after Christmas 2004, brought huge destruction and devastation of an unprecedented scale -over 28 lakh people affected and over 12000 dead; 2.4 lakh homes smashed; 83000 boats damaged in coastal India and the islands of Andaman and Nicobar.
Svaraj responded immediately to the Tsunami that struck the coastal districts in South India on December 26, 2004. We offered immediate relief to the affected individuals and communities with the assistance from the Chennai police, volunteers from the Rotaract clubs, a team of doctors from J.K Health Mission and corporate employees from the city - all working together to provide food, water and medical aid to the affected communities.
Later, a four-member team visited hamlets and 73 villages along the coastal road from Chennai to Kanyakumari , assessing and responding to the needs of the affected person. Following these a proposal was drawn up for a rehabilitation programme to work at Cuddalore district in Tamil Nadu focusing on women, children and fisher folk.
Our InterventionSVARAJ’s intervention was in the District of Cuddalore in Tamil Nadu with respond to the rehabilitation needs on the ground. This region was the second most affected district in India with over 500 people killed - almost three times more women lost their lives than men.
Our efforts in 2005 on key areas of rehabilitation included working with local community groups in order to revitalize the economic, cultural, social and environmental needs in six villages - Thazanguda, Singarathoppu, Akkaraikori, Sothikuppam; Rasapettai and Naicherpettai. Participatory Rural Appraisal (PRA) exercises were conducted in all these villages prior to the design of this intervention.
In 2007 svaraj in association with Pondicherry Multipurpose Social Service Society
[PMSSS] a registered social service agency of the Archdiocese of Pondicherry and cuddalore. Headquartered in the heart of Pondicherry embarked upon supporting 5 districts in cuddalore and initiated steps to bring Information Technology to the tsunami affected villages. With the help from the Village Information Centres [VICs], people can be warned in advance of any imminent disaster The VIC makes announcements through Public Address System thrice a day on the weather, wave heights, wind speed, potential fish findings and the daily market price. This information is displayed on the display boards in each village, which acts as a front line delivery system to the villagers.
