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Bihar Flood Relief

posted on Tuesday, September 02, 2008 12:03 PM

Dear Friends,


After looking at the relief work being carried out during the Tsunami and J&K earthquake, a bunch of colleagues at the Planning Commission felt the need for a comprehensive Disaster Information Management System (DIMS). We realised that often people want to contribute and help, but are not sure how to do so. Some are apprehensive, others just clueless. Media reports about constant mismanagement, selling of relief materials and relief scams also deepen the feeling of mistrust.



A few colleagues at Planning Commission had got together and developed a system of Information Management in the aftermath of the J&K earthquake. The idea was to have a website with comprehensive details about the affected areas, extent of devastation, supplies that have reached, supplies that are needed and organisations which are working there. Unfortunately, the proposal got lost in bureaucratic procedures. Some Pakistani counterparts were more successful. They launched the website on their own and later passed on the ownership to government agencies.



We are now planning to follow in their footsteps. We realise that at the moment things are too volatile to go in for the kind of comprehensive database envisaged under the DIMS system. So currently, we are looking at very basic information. We will start with a citywise listing of all organisations- government, media, NGOs etc, who are involved in the relief work. For the listing we require the following information:



Name of Organisation

Contact details and web address, if any:

Contact person:

Area of operation: (names of villages/ relief camps/ districts)

Focus areas, if any (eg Health, women, children):

Collection points:

List of materials/ services being collected:

Specifications for cash donations:

Any other information:



We will also provide space for organisations to upload any other details they might wish to share in the interest of transparency ie local contact people, number of families assisted, quantity of material despatched etc.



After the initial listing we propose to add features like Donate a day's pay (for corporates), sponsor a family, volunteer services etc where individuals can contact any of the listed organisations and participate in these ideas. We will, however, only facilitate information dissemination and will not be involved in any direct collection work. We will try and include a link where individual and corporate contributions can be listed.



Currently, we are discussing with media organisations if they can run tag lines once the website is uploaded to spread information. Please pass on this message to all the organisations that you know, so that they can send in the information. Details can be sent to gunjanveda@gmail.com, g.veda@nic.in




Please note that while the database is an initiative by a few people who work at the Planning Commission, it is not a Planning Commission project. We have however, received a lot of support and encouragement from Dr Syeda Hameed who is Member in-charge of the Voluntary Action Cell.


Regards
Gunjan Veda, Officer on Special Duty, Planning Commission

Harsh Agarwal, Consultant, Planning Commission

Priyanka Mukherjee, Consultant, Planning Commission

Ruth Zothanpuii, Planning Commission

Comments

Barry Crisp

Monday, September 15, 2008 01:37 AM

This is a fantastic idea, which I am sure will help many in need. Good luck with it!