Media Release

Mangaluru, Sep 12: The relief intervention team under Disaster Management Cell of School of Social Work, Roshni Nilaya left for Belagavi, Karnataka with relief material collected from the public.

Juliet C J, principal flagged off the team which consisted of three faculty volunteers namely Chongtham Odessey Singh (coordinator, Disaster Management Cell, School of Social Work, Roshni Nilaya), Dr Sebastin K V and Balaji Narayan B and seven student volunteers namely Fr Francis Pinto SJ, Mohammed Umar Khan, Yusuf Rizwan, Anil Pinto, Sagar D, Sanvith Dias, Akshay D’Silva.

The team along with staff volunteers of Deeksha Trust, Dharward, distributed relief material collected at School of Social Work, Roshni Nilaya to 118 flood affected families of Singlapur Bangle village of Gokak Taluk, Belagavi. The families who had lost their houses during the flood (partially and fully) were given a special package of relief material.

Distribution at Anganwadi Centre of Singlapur Bangle Village was also carried out. The families who benefitted from this effort expressed their gratitude and blessings by colourful thumb signatures on chart paper for the donors and all those who contributed to make this effort a success.

On September 4 and 5, faculty and student volunteers of (Disaster Management Cell) School of Social Work, Roshni Nilaya along with staff volunteers of Deeksha Trust, Dharward, collected data about the village and floods using Participatory Rural Appraisal approach. Social mapping was done in Singlapur Bangle Village. Focused group discussions were conducted in three villages namely Singlapur Bangle Village, Singlapur village and Singlapur Takke village to understand:

1) The sequence of the flood
2) The consequences of the flood
3) The current needs of the villagers specifically those who lost their houses completely in the flood

Seven cases were also developed out of those families whose houses had completely fallen, through in-depth interviews and observations using case study approach.

The team returned to Mangaluru on September 7.

On top priority, the current need of the people in these villages is the reconstruction of their houses.

A detail report will be developed on the basis of data collected and will be submitted to the concerned government offices and other non-governmental bodies who might be able to help the villages further.