AID India Flood Relief Report "A few days ago we gave them catamarams. Today they came in catamarams to help us!" Chennai (4th December) Water from various tanks around the city broke their bunds and flooded large parts of the city. In many places the water has come up to the ceiling of the house, in some place the water went over the roof! In most places the slums were completely flooded and it was impossible to get inside the slum without a boat. We quickly asked our volunteers from the fishing villages near Chennai for help. We had recently given a lot of Catamarams in the Tsunami villages. They now helped us by bringing the catamarams to help rescue people in Chennai slums.
We have been working in a number of areas in the city - providing food, water and organizing rescue operations. 1. Koturpuram: Here about 10000 were affected. The first floor in many housing board flats were full of water. Many people had rushed to the second and third floor and were trapped inside. With the catamarams we rescued many of these people. We also supplied bread for children to many of the stranded people. In the night, we provided food at the relief camp.  
Catamaram rescuing people in Kotturpuram. The water is at the level of the ground floor roof!  
Distributing Bread and Dinner in Koturpuram 2. Saidapet: Here totally more than 25000 have been affected. 15000 have been put up at the Teachers College, the rest are distributed in different areas locally. Our volunteers had a hard time organizing distribution here because of the huge crowd in the camp. But we managed to provide milk and bread for the children. 3. MGR Nagar: Here about 10000 were affected and this was very similar to Koturpuram - with people still trapped inside houses. We organized rescue relief distribution for these people using a catamaram. We also supplied bread for children.  
Houses Submerged in MGR Nagar 4. Kallukuttai: This area has been very badly affected ever since the Oct 27th rains. We had earlier organized food and bread several times. We also provided blankets and clothes and a medical camp. Today, we provided bread for the children. 5. Madipakkam: We supplied dinner for the affected people. 6. Tambaram: Huge parts of Tambram are under water. We supplied bread and food for the people affected in Muduchur area. 7. Paddapai: Our volunteers did a survey of the area - large pockets of this area is under water - right now we visited 10 villages in this area and established contacts and estimated the need here. This area is very close to the tanks that broke and the entire location has been badly affected. Tomorrow we are going back with supplies to provide relief in this area. We will also be starting a temporary relief office in this area. Today - We continued the relief work in all of the above areas - mainly providing bread for children. We also organized 3 health camps - in Kotturpuram, Saidapet and MGR Nagar. Tomorrow - We will continue the relief efforts and also start a survey to identify the huts that have been totally destroyed to try and organize support of these families. Other Areas (Last Few Days) Koovathur: We had done an initial survey of the affected people and then immediately provided them with basic relief materials. We then identified huts that have been damaged and provided them with thatch to rebuild their huts. We are now working on relief in 17 villages in the area and will be working totally in about 30 villages here. Chidambaram: We helped organize community kitchens in Chidambaram immediately after the flood and provided food for 5000 people on the first and second day. Our Health Van left for the area and has organized 15 camps in 15 villages - with an average of about 300 people per camp in the affected villages - around Chidambaram. Every day our van is organizing 3 health camps. This service will be continued for the next few days. Cuddalore: We are working in 3 villages in the SIPCOT area with the Cuddalore District Consumer Protection Organization - providing food and blankets to the affected people. Bhuvanagiri: In Bhuvanagiri, we have provided rice to the affected people. We are assessing the damage and will be providing thatch for people to reconstruct their houses.
Pudukottai: In 3 villages we have provided blankets and rice for the affected people.
-- Balaji Sampath
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