The Holy Trinity Cathedral at Ramanathapuram, Coimbatore has been bustling with activity these days. Trucks carrying relief materials to the flood-affected regions of Kerala have been making a beeline at the church premises. Father Johnson Veettuparambil, who is overseeing the operations, says that the entire diocese of Ramanathapuram has been reaching out to Kerala. “We have collected relief material from Salem, Erode, Tanjore, Tiruvavur and Coimbatore. We first sent relief material to the neighbouring city Palakkad . This was followed by trips to Wayanad and Thrissur. We want to ensure that none of our kith and kin suffer. We have stuck a small banner in front of the trucks so that they are allowed to go to Kerala.” The members of the church are Malayalis living in the city and they do not want to leave any stone unturned to make sure that those in Kerala receive timely help.At the other end of the city at a godown in RS Puram, a number of volunteers are engaged in separating relief materials. These are members of C4TN, a group of 60 NGOs in the city, which was formed during the Chennai floods in 2015. CGS Manion, a co-ordinator at C4TN says, “We have already sent 18 trucks carrying relief material to different parts of flood-affected Kerala including Malappuram, Nenmara, Kanjikode, Wayanad, Attapadi. In fact, we are closely monitoring both relief and rescue operations in Kerala. We have established a control room and are helping people evacuate and move to the next safest place. We are in constant touch with the government authorities as well. Some of the areas were completely cut off earlier, but now with rain receding, things are looking up. We are ensuring that there is road connectivity so that the relief materials reach the affected. We are also sending volunteers who know the local language and are familiar with the demography so that they can quickly take an alternate route, if needed. We sent trucks to Valparai as well, which was also affected by rains.”Does the fact that they have already conducted a similar relief operation during Chennai floods help? “Of course, yes. There were certain gaps then which have been arrested. We could reach out to the affected faster and provide help at the earliest. The only difference is that instead of C4TN, we are using the hashtag C4K ,” he says.Vignesh Kumar of the Coimbatore Bikers Group has been involved in the entire operation. “We began working on C4K a week ago. We have set up many collection centres in the city. We picked up the relief material, brought it to godown and separated them into different categories. We also went to Kerala to drop relief material.” On the other hand, a government employee in the city has done her bit by providing monetary help. “Whenever a national calamity strikes, I try to do my bit. This time around, I contributed to the Kerala Chief Minister’s Distress Fund. Coimbatore is just 50 km away from Palakkad and it’s sad to see people there suffering.”The focus is gradually shifting to rehabilitation. “This will be a tougher task as those affected have to begin their lives from scratch. Most of the houses have been completely destroyed in the floods and they will need a lot of help setting them up again. Not only will they need construction materials, but also electricians and plumbers. School children will need notebooks and study materials. People need to utensils to cook. There is a complete lack of communication as well which needs to be restored at the earliest,” says Mohammad Saleem of Coimbatore Emergency Response Team (CERT) who gave relief material at Malappuram on Sunday.He adds, “During the heavy rains last week, we had established a control center where we took rescue calls and directed them to NDRF teams. I think Kerala handled the situation pretty well. Even on a Sunday, government officials were quite happy to work and the flood affected people coordinated with us without any signs of exhaustion. We supplied bleaching powder, buckets, mosquito coils, candles, matchboxes, salt, sugar, rice and wheat flour to name a few. We didn’t carry perishable items like bread which can easily get spoilt in moist conditions.” Agreeing with him is Manion, who says that since water has started receding in many places. “We don’t need perishable items now. We need materials that can help them build their lives back.”

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