Sewa International

Raini village of Uttarakhand has been a home of the brave. With a lot of homes being of serving/retired army men, the villagers are known for their courage and determination. The stories of the struggle for saving the trees by Gaura Devi, during the Chipko movement is still alive in the hearts of the people from Raini village.
While trees often don't figure in the development parameters of the village, Usha Negi from Raini village now credits her life to the trees in the vicinity of her village. She has pledged to never cut any tree, and actively stop people from doing it in the area.
When we met Usha Ji, she was just rescued from a tree branch on the shore of Alaknanda river, close to the dam site. She was washed with the flash floods from her farm and caught a tree branch on the banks. After 6+ hours of wait amidst heavily flowing river, she continued to hold on to the tree, while the rumble continued to bruise her legs. Later at the hospital, she cried for hours recollecting the trauma of witnessing the disaster unravelling before her eyes. She had spent years working in the real-estate sector, cutting trees for building hotels and homes, during the minutes when she had no hopes left of her life, a tree came in between and gave her a new life.
While this tree saved Usha's life, 800+ trees got uprooted in the flash floods. This is a permanent and long term damage to the entire environmental ecosystem, with implications on future floods and landslides.
Sewa International is planning an environmental rehabilitation drive in the area, with massive afforestation efforts, and replanning the village farms to reduce future damages and rebuild the lost environmental resources.
Let's plant our lifesavers and save Uttarakhand!

4 years ago | [YT] | 4

Sewa International

I just returned from Bhangyul village. It's a village which has now been cut off the road route by the glacier burst. We had conversations with multiple affected families on the ground, and their stories of experiencing the disaster have left us numb. Both mentally and emotionally.
None of us could have imagined this, sitting just few kms away in our office of what I may mean to go through the hour-long trauma of the flash floods, arising from the glacier burst. They saw the disaster unfold from the silent peaceful morning to the loud noise of glacier bursting, and rumbling distant sound of the river, and the roaring waters that took away their loved ones in a matter of minutes.
We met the family of Manoj, who like always was honest and hardworking towards his role as a safety guard at the hydro project. While he always ensured that the project remained safe, he couldn't save himself from the gushing waters. His body was recovered yesterday from the tunnel by the NDRF team yesterday. The five days of tensed sleeplessness in his home, coupled with prayers for his safety, have now turned to an atmosphere of grief, and dispair.
He was the only source of income for his family of 6. His father is an old man with severe health problems, and now has just looking at the river, silent since he performed the last rites of his son. His last wish was just to see the marriage of Manoj's sister which now seems far, given the loss of their son, the small farmland, and all their savings. All washed away with the river they have played-in since ages.
As Manoj's mother describes her son, with teary eyes and trembling body, her situation has left all of us shaken for the future of their family ahead.
In this moment of deep pain, Manoj's family is one of the 350+ families which have shaken the entire area and the nation of the devastating effect of the flash floods in Uttarakhand.
Our team of Sewa International is present at the ground zero, in the Tapovan area at the 15+ impacted villages, and is continuously trying to reachout to every person in need and supporting them with all essentials from taking care of their food to health to overall livelihood.
For continuing this support ahead, we need your help.
#UttarakhandGlacierBurst
#uttarakhandneedsus
#DonateNow
bit.ly/3qzk3qg

4 years ago | [YT] | 3

Sewa International

As we write this appeal, Prem Singh (Name changed) is in a state of shock.
In the morning of 7th February, he had a conversation with his son, Prakash Singh about getting some biscuits for their family tea shack in the village. On a normal daily schedule, Prakash left the home for his job as a contractual labourer with NTPC in the morning. A few hours later, Prem Singh heard the loud thumping sounds of the river nearby. It was as if an entire mountain had broken, and the ground was trembling. Birds from the neighbouring villages flew with loud chirps signalling danger, and within a minutes, the river ferociously swept the village, ramming everything in her way with massive rocks of stone and ice. All these happened within a span of 30 minutes.
30 minutes of rage in the river and Prem Singh lost his son. Prakash Singh, along with hundreds of other workers vanished from the dam site within a few seconds, along with the gushing river. His body was recovered a few hours later, at Rudraprayag by the NDRF team.
His father, Prem Singh Ji is still unsure of what happened recalls:
“It was so quick… He was just there with me today morning. And he is no more...I don’t know how this happened. Why is God testing us.. Why us...”
His eyes are swelled with tears, and his body still shaking with the trauma of the impact.
Prakash Ji has left behind his new-born daughter (8 months old), his wife, his parents, and his old-aged grandfather. Prakash Ji was the sole breadwinner of the family, working at the construction site of the NTPC dam. The dam had been built over the acquired farms, so now there is no major landholding in the family too. His runs a small tea-sack in the village, but it has been flooded away too, taking all their shop investments too with it.
The family is not yet over the mourning for their son, while they worry about their next few days’ of food and basic supplies. Prem Ji, in his 50s, is teary, sitting at the corner, thinking how will he rebuild his family now that their elder son is gone, the younger son is still in school, and he has to provide for his family of 6, with no source of income...
And Prem Singh is not alone in this period of deep despair.
Similar stories are emerging from the 250+ families affected by the flash floods from the glacier burst a couple of days ago. While very few non-profits work at the high-altitude mountains, Sewa International has been rehabilitation projects in the area since the 2013 floods, spanning across 394 villages, involving thousands from the local community.

With more than two decades of experience in disaster relief and rehab operations, we are on the ground-zero, working with the impacted communities in the Chamoli and Rudraprayag districts of Uttarakhand. With over 30 dead, more than 200 missing and over 300 families losing their livelihoods, the damage of the glacier burst has shocked the entire community.
While the rescue operations for the missing people are still ongoing, non-stop for more than 40 hours now, Sewa International has started the relief operations with more than 120 on-ground volunteers providing health services, trauma counselling, food supplies, and helping the rescue teams with local knowledge.
We would be using these funds for the following purposes:
Health services: Our health teams are both at the rescue site of Tapovan (site of the dam/power-plant that was devastated) and Raini village (First casualty village of the Glacier Burst), with trained medical professionals. We are providing the following services at both locations:
First Aid
ECG Check
X-Ray Machine
Oxygen Supply
Medicines
Trauma counselling: Our women team members are constantly spending time with the affected communities trying to provide solace and counselling to reduce their grief and bring back normalcy in their lives. With more than 30 affected villages, more than 60 team members are currently engaged in these services.
Supply Food and other amenities: With regular supply lines cut, and some houses devastated, we are supplying food, water and other basic supplies to 350+ individuals, twice a day, across 5 locations.
Helping the rescue teams with local knowledge: With a local network across villages, we are supporting the government authorities with names of the missing people, and their last known locations for rescue operations. We also support the government with the know-how of possible ways to reach out to the cut-off villages.
We are also preparing a strategy and plan of action for the possible long-term rehabilitation programs in the area, like, long-term trauma counselling for the aggrieved, livestock support (goats, poultry etc) for immediate/reliable livelihoods, skill training for knitting, computers etc, and financial literacy for appropriate usage of any government grants in terms of running small sustainable businesses.
All these require your help and support. Uttarakhand needs you!
Please support our relief and rehabilitation operations in the area by donating to our fundraiser here!


bit.ly/3qzk3qg



#donatenow
#UttarakhandGlacierBurst

4 years ago | [YT] | 4