Uttarakhand floods: Reaching out to the affected
In an initiative to provide immediate material and trauma relief to the evacuees of the calamity-struck Uttarakhand, The Art of Living volunteers in Dehradun and North India, under the aegis of Volunteer for A Better India (VBI), worked with the paramilitary forces, the Indian Air Force and disaster management teams. The Art of Living's sister organization, the International Association for Human Values (IAHV) united in all its relief efforts.
The Art of Living and IAHV had also established a disaster relief fund to provide humanitarian assistance to the victims of the Uttarakhand floods.
The IAHV in partnership with The Art of Living Foundation (Art of Living) has established a disaster relief fund to provide humanitarian assistance to the victims of the floods in Uttarakhand.
The Art of Living-IAHV intervention
The IAHV and Art of Living volunteers began relief work on June 17th at the Jolly Grant Airport at 4 am. They worked in coordination with the military, the disaster management team and the Government of Uttarakhand to send relief materials and food to the pilgrims who were stuck in different areas. Many organizations started sending relief material, but there was no man-labor to distribute it. The volunteers along with the Indian Army undertook this job to provide the evacuees with water and food.
After heavy floods lashed the area and resulted in heavy loss of lives, volunteers of the organization set up relief camps in Guptkashi, Dharasu, Harsil, Rudraprayag, Gauchar, Rishikesh and Jolly Grant airport. Volunteers trekked and reached out to remotest of villages like Chandrapura, Medula, Sili, Agastya Muni, Vijaynagar, Ukhimth, Neily, Kund and Arkund to provide relief material, food, medical-aid and trauma relief to the inhabitants in distress.
Door-to-door relief material was distributed in homes that lost an earning member. A team of 250 volunteers, including doctors, continually provided trauma relief, medical aid, and food. They also assisted in rescue operations and clearing the debris. 100 truckloads of relief material which came in from various parts of the country reached areas which had not seen food for a couple of days.
Apart from providing material relief, IAHV raised funds and also conducted trauma-relief meditation for the evacuees who arrived at the airport as a transit before they moved ahead for their hometowns.
Workshops were held at Dharasu and Harsil which reached out to hundreds of people and helped them become calm and provided solace. “Meditation, breathing exercises, and satsangs helped people to regain their composure and faith so that they could plan their life ahead. Amidst disaster and grief, people are finding solace through these practices,” shared Swami Divyanand who camped at Guptkashi.
The rescue work by the Indian Armed Forces, NDRF, ITBP was supported by The Art of Living volunteers via choppers and roads too.
A brief summary of the work carried out
| ACTIVITY | ART OF LIVING INTERVENTION | DETAILS |
| Art of Living Base Camp | Risikesh, Rudraprayag, Dharasu, Saigul ( Tehri), Chinyali. | Coordination and distribution to various affected areas. |
| Relief Camp | Gupta akashi, Srinagar, Rudraprayag, Sili Village, Dharasu, Harsil, Jolly Grant Airport, Dehradun, Rishikesh, Kharabi, Gauchar, Yamnotri , Risikesh, Rudraprayag, Dharasu, Saigul (Tehri), Chinyali, Chandrapuri, Hanumanchetti, Uttarkashi, Ranachetti, Saigul (Tehri), Srikot. | Distributing food packets (dry food, packaged biscuits, raw materials including Rice, Dal, Spices, and Tea leaves), Utensils, Torches, Blankets, Baby foo d, Transit Shelters, Langar, Clearing of silt and debris. |
| Medical Camp, Distribution of Medicines | Guptakashi, Srinagar, Rudraprayag, Sili Village, Dharasu, Harsil, Jolly Grant Airport, Dehradun, Rishikesh, Kharabi, Gauchar, Yamnotri , Risikesh, Rudrapraya g, Dharasu, Saigul (Tehri), Chinyali, Chandrapuri, Hanumanchetti, Uttarkashi, Ranachetti, Saigul (Tehri), Srikot. | Pro viding Free Medical assistance distribution of Medicine. |
| Assisting the Rescue Operation | Jolly Grant Airport, Dehradun. | Managing all the loading, distribution of relief materials and supporting the trauma - struck people. The rescue work by the Indian armed forces and NDRF, ITBP supported by Art of living volunteers is on, via choppers and roads too. |
| Trauma Relief workshop | Dharasu, Harsil. | More than 15 00 people have so far benefited from the trauma relief camp of the Art of Living at Harsil. Dharasu and other places they are organizing short sessions of meditation and breathing techniques to help the survivors shake off the trauma. About 50 personnel from the BRO (Border Road Organization underwent a trauma relief session in Guptkashi and Harshil. |
How the events unfolded
Apart from running the medical and relief camp, they distributed 250 packets of food at Sirobagarh to the pilgrims being brought down on-foot by the army. Exhausted and drained, the relief on the faces of these survivors is something to be seen as they are greeted by the volunteer's team of Dr Amit, Dr Rangeel, Dr Siraz, Dr Ariz and Dr Harish.
More than 1000 pooris and chana dal was also served to 250 people at Srikot last evening from 7pm to 11:30pm. Apart from distributing dry food, packaged biscuits, they are also served with fresh food prepared by the volunteers.
In a major breakthrough today, the team has already left this morning to reach out to the villages of Sili and Tilwara that have so far remained untouched because of the major road blocks on the way. Our volunteers will be going 60kms out of the way to reach these villages.
Reports from the base camp in Rishikesh and Dehradun have been overwhelming with the offers of help pouring in from all over the country and world. Volunteers eager to pitch-in have been calling from places as far as Chennai, Trivandrum, Baroda, Bangalore and many are ready to take several weeks off from work just to be able to help here.
In a report from Gaurikund, a chopper crashed on the eve of 25 June taking lives of 20 members of the IAF, ITBP and NDRF who were on a rescue mission near Gauchar. Even as the report of crash was shocking, the IAF team on ground went ahead with their rescue operations undisturbed in spite of the loss of their colleagues and team members. It is such dedication and commitment to the mission on hand that truly sets our armed forces apart.
Inspired by their efforts, The Art of Living volunteers, who have been sleeping a couple of hours since last 10 days, ignored their exhaustion and pushed ahead with the relief task.
While the challenges continue, the selfless spirit of service that the IAF and The Art of Living volunteers, along with many others is commendable. These recue-teams in North India is defining the acts of humanity in times of crisis.
Apart from running the medical and relief camp, they distributed 250 packets of food at Sirobagarh to the pilgrims being brought down on-foot by the army. Exhausted and drained, the relief on the faces of these survivors is something to be seen as they are greeted by the volunteer's team of Dr Amit, Dr Rangeel, Dr Siraz, Dr Ariz and Dr Harish.
More than 1000 pooris and chana dal was also served to 250 people at Srikot last evening from 7pm to 11:30pm. Apart from distributing dry food, packaged biscuits, they are also served with fresh food prepared by the volunteers.In a major breakthrough today, the team has already left this morning to reach out to the villages of Sili and Tilwara that have so far remained untouched because of the major road blocks on the way. Our volunteers will be going 60kms out of the way to reach these villages.
Meanwhile, the team at Dharasu welcomed the pilgrims being rescued from Gangotri with fresh food and care and attention. In a one of a kind Satsang and Meditation session organized by The Art of Living team, these survivors were able to shake off the trauma of the last few days and come back to some semblance of normalcy. Neeraj, a teacher with The Art of Living has already flown to Harsil today morning where he will be conducting a trauma-relief session for more than 350 people.Reports from the base camp in Rishikesh and Dehradun have been overwhelming with the offers of help pouring in from all over the country and world. Volunteers eager to pitch-in have been calling from places as far as Chennai, Trivandrum, Baroda, Bangalore and many are ready to take several weeks off from work just to be able to help here.
In a report from Gaurikund, a chopper crashed on the eve of 25 June taking lives of 20 members of the IAF, ITBP and NDRF who were on a rescue mission near Gauchar. Even as the report of crash was shocking, the IAF team on ground went ahead with their rescue operations undisturbed in spite of the loss of their colleagues and team members. It is such dedication and commitment to the mission on hand that truly sets our armed forces apart.Inspired by their efforts, The Art of Living volunteers, who have been sleeping a couple of hours since last 10 days, ignored their exhaustion and pushed ahead with the relief task.
Too weak to walk and body shivering with a raging fever, Ram Kumar was carried down the chopper steps by two volunteers. Hungry and exhausted, he was helped by Art of Living volunteers who got him immediate medical attention. They ran around, trying to arrange for a simple cup of tea and a blanket for him. Too weak to even hold the cup, Malvika and Swati fed him the biscuits and tea. Having lost all his belongings, Ram Kumar didn't even have slippers on his feet. As we all searched around for some footwear, Surya, one of the volunteers, highly moved by the incident quietly slipped his own slippers onto Ram Kumar's feet and working barefoot was of little concern to him at that moment.While the challenges continue, the selfless spirit of service that the IAF and The Art of Living volunteers, along with many others is commendable. These recue-teams in North India is defining the acts of humanity in times of crisis.
As Savita Devi stepped out of the chopper that had rescued her from Gaurikund, she was received by Prachi, The Art of Living volunteer. Hailing from Gorakhpur, Savita Devi had lost not only all her belongings but also 35 members of the group travelling with her, including her husband and children. As she unburdened her heart, Prachi sat listening patiently. Left with no money, the volunteers' team made sure she not only received medical care but also arranged her travel arrangements.
Several survivors wept gratefully as The Art of Living volunteers received them, helping them to connect with their families.Satendra Kumar, mistakenly brought to Dehradun while the rest of his party was sent to Uttarkashi, wept tears of gratitude as Mohit, another volunteer, spent one and a half hours trying to connect him to his family.
In a similar effort, Nishagra, who is leading the team at Guptakashi, identified 235 local families who have lost all sources of livelihood, with the help of the local administration. Leading this unique initiative, Nishagra has made sure that they have adequate supplies of food and all other essentials before the monsoons set in again.The team have been receiving calls from hundreds of people around the world, eager to join this effort. This show of humanness and strength in the face of adversity is truly overwhelming!
While several organisations have joined in to provide relief material, the Art of Living volunteers are adding the much-needed human touch. With a kind word, a loving touch and a warm embrace the team provides not only food but also some solace to the trauma struck souls of the survivors.Another team of 8 people that left yesterday for Dharasu with five truckloads of relief material will set up a similar medical and relief camp there.
The team set up in Guptakashi is already helping people stuck there. Although roads in some of the affected areas are getting blocked due to the rain, our volunteers are ready to handle any eventuality.Due to bad weather, relief and evacuation sorties by choppers have been temporarily halted, our team at the Jolly Grant airport is ready to help the authorities as soon as work resumes.
While enough food and relief material has been sent here by several organizations and our own team from The Art of Living, the team urges all concerned people to build up the funds so that these resources can be used to rebuild the lives of local villagers who have lost not only their homes but also all sources of livelihood.The Art of Living volunteers, eager to help, have been calling from all over the country offering to come and help with the ongoing work. Although rain plays spoilsport here, the spirit of the volunteers remains unhampered!
Medical camps set up in Srinagar by Dr Monika, Dr Vyas and Dr Harish provided round-the-clock medical aid to hundreds of evacuees.
10,000-15,000 people are expected to be evacuated from these areas in the next 2-3 days. Despite heavy rains and landslides on the way, the team has gone ahead and set up a camp in Gauchar. The team has reached Gauchar with three truckloads of supplies donated by The Art of Living teachers and volunteers from Saharanpur.A camp in Guptakashi under the lead of Nishagra and his team is also providing aid and relief material to patients in a make-shift hospital that has been set up there. Three more truckloads of supplies have been sent this morning for providing further help.
The members of the organization from all over the country are reaching out to help. Several volunteers from Jalalabad, Faridkot, Jaipur, Hyderabad, Moradabad, and Bangalore have reached here to offer their support.A team of 15 volunteers will be leaving from Dehradun today with seven truckloads of supplies to set up a new camp in Dharasu.
In addition, the volunteers have been working non-stop at the Jolly Grant airport, helping the IAF (Indian Air Force) and Disaster Management teams in rescue work. Yesterday, the airport was only open to The Art of Living volunteers as nobody else was allowed inside for security reasons. At the end of the day, the team was lauded by the Public Relation Officer (PRO) of the IAF for their rescue efforts.Weather forecasts predict heavy rainfall again in Uttarakhand in the next 48 hrs yet the volunteers are determined to keep the work going.
In an extra effort, the volunteers have also been arranging transport for the lost crowd to be sent back to their hometowns as far as Kota, Gorakhpur, Bhopal and more.
Medical camp set up by The Art of Living doctors has been working round the clock helping hundreds of pilgrims coming down from Badrinath.Art of Living devotees from all over the country have been calling us to help with relief supplies and volunteers. Trucks full of food material are reaching Dehradun from Saharanpur, Kapurthala, Jalandhar and Chandigarh today. These will be dispatched soon to our Art of Living camps set up in Gauchar and Guptakashi.
Weather conditions have again turned bad here but despite the rain the Art of Living team has already begun work here since 5 am.The Art of Living Dehradun chapter has already sent one truck of supplies along with four volunteers to Guptakashi this morning.
More volunteers are needed in Gauchar since that is going to be the base for rescue operation from Badrinath. However, all this work will happen only in the next three-four days. Volunteers who are interested to come should come immediately.An official from the Disaster Management department informed some of the volunteers that several villages have been wiped out and there has been tremendous loss of life and property. He opines that after the immediate relief work is over, the focus should be on building shelters for the locals. The focus so far has been only on rescuing pilgrims. But in the future locals need to be helped too.
As part of the relief-work, the volunteers have distributed 5,000 food-packets, so far, to the people who reached the airport safely through the helicopters. "We have been here since morning.There are many organizations sending relief material, but there is no one to distribute it. Our volunteers along with the Indian army are undertaking this job to provide the evacuees with water and food," said Shweta Golani, Coordinator, Flood-Relief Work, Uttarakhand.
Around 150 people have reached the airport through helicopters, roughly 25-30 people per round. There are 30 Art of Living rescue-volunteers managing all the distribution work at the airport. "Focusing on supporting the trauma-struck people, we have raised Rs. 2 lakh in a day's time," she said, adding further, "We are giving healing and conducting trauma-relief meditation for the evacuees too, who are reaching the airport as a transit before they move ahead for their hometowns."The rescue work by the Indian armed forces is on, via choppers and roads too. Badrinath roads have been opened because of the settled weather. "However, the forecast does not look very favourable after two days. We have to accomplish the rescue task as soon as possible before the weather turns bad," she informs.
Many more volunteers and initiatives are expected to come forth in providing aid in the flood-affected area."I urge more volunteers to come forward for the Uttarakhand relief work," Gurudev Sri Sri Ravi Shankar tweeted, encouraging people to help in this hour of need.
The scale of the disaster:
On 16th June, a cloudburst in the state affected the districts of Uttarkashi, Rudraprayag, Chamoli, and Tehri. This triggered massive flooding and landslides, wiping off entire towns, roads, buildings, and population. The region had various pilgrimage places that were visited by millions of pilgrims. The entire area was buried under 6-8 feet of slurry. According to the government, the death toll was above 10,000. The Chief Minister of Uttarakhand said, “We will never know the exact figures.” In the absence of roads, it was difficult to reach people who ran to the forest areas to save themselves. This resulted in thousands of people dying due to starvation and extreme weather after the cloudburst as well. Rescue operations became extremely difficult, and so the rescue-team had to airlift the stranded people with the help of a large fleet of choppers. About 100,000 people were rescued. At the time of the disaster, the Economic Times reported that a total of 3,978 villages had lost connectivity. In the coming days, connectivity was restored in 2,375 habitations while the remaining villages remained marooned. As many as 658 villages remained in darkness, and at least 744 roads of the 1636 damaged ones were yet to be rebuilt. Among other essential services that were hit, at least 237 drinking water schemes were also damaged.
Challenges that were faced
- High risk of epidemic because of decomposing bodies
- The roads were damaged, therefore couldn’t be used for transportation. Many areas were not accessible even by miles. Therefore, it was difficult to send the relief-materials to these areas
- Getting storage places/space was a problem. Because of the adverse weather conditions and space crunch, sometimes the relief-materials got wet
- In the upper terrain, it was difficult to find places to house volunteers
- Also, due to bad weather conditions, volunteers were not able to move in upper stream
- Because of no electricity and network connectivity, communication was a problem
