The UN expects upwards of 5 million displaced children, women and men, who will need water, food, clothing, shelter, medical care, etc.
Alternatives is in India and Indonesia providing emergency relief aid. But much, much more is needed to save the lives of many innocent civilians.
India
The Pondicherry and Tamilnadu Science forum in close coordination with other mass organisations( esp DYFI and AIDWA) and with AID India have set up a overall coordination mechanism and a distribution and outreach mechanism to reach out to the entire area of the affected. To do this the Chennai office is taking care of the relief work in Chennai town and the Malar/TNSF office of Kanyakumari is taking care of the work in Kanyakumari district. The rest of the area esp the Pondicherry- Cuddlaore Nagapattinam belt which is the main affected part is being coordinated from the PSF office.
This entire large stretch has been divided into 4 areas which are furhter ssub-divided into 7 clusters with a senior coordinator in each area and a cluster level team helping out in each cluster. In each cluster there are 30 villages and a group of volunteers in each village. In some of these areas we have well established networks and therefore this has been relatively easy to set up whereas in other areas we have sent in volunteers. So far 6 truckloads of relief materials have been sent down this chain. This is a small drop in the ocean of needs - but on the other hand this has ensured that the chain is functional. We welcome contributions - but please time is important and we need to rush it in.
Indonesia
The Indonesian province of Aceh was hit the hardest, and over 2 million survivors are now struggling to find the basics of life. Alternatives, working with the Indonesian Society for Social Transformation, is delivering food and medicine and providing shelter to the survivors. Together we are meeting the immediate needs, while laying a foundation of on-going assistance to rehabilitate their livelihoods.
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