During natural calamities and the recent pandemic, CSA facilitated disaster-management and mitigation activities, in collaboration with other organisations. In terms of covid-relief and flood relief, preparedness of the regions also played a major role in CSA’s efforts.

AT A GLANCE

COVID-19 RELIEF ACTIVITIES IN CSA PROJECTS AREAS

KEY HIGHLIGHTS

• 1,030 survival kits were distributed in 3 urban slums and 81 CSA project villages (in Chhattisgarh and Karnataka), benefiting 4,120 people.

• Protection Kits were distributed to families of CSA-sponsored children in L R Nagar and Janakiram slums, and the villages in our project area benefitting 4,500 people.
• 5,000 masks were distributed in Kainakary, Alleppey district, Kerala, with the support of the local panchayat.
• Resource support to ASVAS NGO for providing food materials to 500 families.
• CSA field facilitators in the villages extend support to local self-government systems like BBMP, PHCs, and panchayats by creating awareness about COVID-19 and supporting the relief work activities.
• Makeshift shelter for migrants arranged at Bommanahalli Boys hostel.

The worldwide outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic has left the world in the face of an unprecedented crisis. The lockdown crisscrossed with the pre-existing vulnerabilities, bringing to the fore inequalities, discrimination, and anxieties among the disadvantaged sections of the society. In tandem with the nation's fight against the virus spread, CHRIST (Deemed to be University) implemented a series of interventions through the Centre for Social Action (CSA) to help the most vulnerable and at-risk groups in all the project areas sail through the crisis. 

This has been done at various levels such as direct support to the communities, collaboration with NGOs at the field level, networking with local government bodies in facilitating community support programmes, awareness creations among the communities, and so on. The University contributed Rs. 5,00,000/- to the Chief Minister's Relief Fund, Government of Karnataka. Besides, 12,331 people and 1,030 families among the vulnerable population in the project areas were provided with relief support that is worth Rs. 20 lakhs 34 thousand rupees, through various interventions of the University.

FLOOD RELIEF - JAMKHANDI

The relief materials were collected and distributed to support women and children in six villages of Jamkhandi, Karnataka, that were destroyed in the 2019 Karnataka floods. Generous contributions were made by CSA volunteers and Christ students for providing for these activities, and it was ensured that relief funds reached the targeted people.

HULIMAVU FLOOD RELIEF

CSA volunteers with other Christ students set out from the campus on 27th November 2019 to distribute flood relief donations to çommunities affected by the flood at multiple locations along the Begur-Hulimavu Road. The residents in the area had suffered an immense loss due to the destruction of most of their possessions by the flood, like clothes, wheat, ragi, and other edibles. The donation kits for each family consisted of four toothbrushes, 2 soaps, 1kg ragi, 5kg rice, 2kg dal, sanitary napkins, and chocolates for kids. The volunteers also witnessed the interior of the flood-affected houses, interacted with the locals, and enquired about the extent of the damages they’ve suffered. The donation drive was well organized in a very short period of time, and with the combined efforts of volunteers, Christites, faculty, and the council, more than 60 households were covered in a single evening.