If more people come forward after watching my post, then there will be a real impact of this post.
For me, being a local guide does not mean only adding location, photos, roads, and updating the maps, but also responsibility to guide society in need.
In the last week of May, the devastating tropical cyclone Yaas, hit the coastal area of West Bengal and Odisha, India. The coastal area of West Bengal was highly affected and many people were compelled to leave their house as a large village area of Sundarbans was completely underwater. The lockdown due to the second wave of COVID-19 was also going on during that time. Lockdown is not always a happy situation for those whose source of income is on the basis of daily work. As all types of outside activity were closed, so they were facing a very difficult situation to survive. And in this situation cyclone, Yaas made the situation more complex for them to survive. In this situation, we thought to do something for those who were affected most. We (my friends of hometown, brothers, and elders of locality) run a self-funded social welfare organization (āĻā§āĻ˛āĻž āĻāĻāĻžāĻļ - Khola Akash) in my hometown Basirhat city of West Bengal. The Cyclone affected area was around 50-60 km distance from Basirhat. We planned to distribute some basic daily commodities with as many people as we can in the cyclone-affected area.
Food for all-
We started the collection of food items and other daily required items and stored them for distribution on 6th June. All the photo was taken by me LG @PritishB
Pic- the group members are collecting food items like potatoes, rice, basic medicines, etc, and storing them in a room.
Pic of the Items distributed-
- Sanitary Napkin
- Soap
- Rice
- Dal
- Mosquito repellent
- ORS and basic medicines
- Powdered milk
- Puffed rice
- Biscuits
- Potato
On 6th June morning, we started our journey (following the COVID protocols, wearing a mask and with sanitizer) in a car with our group members towards the Cyclone affected area. Up to some part we went by car and then we had to ride a boat through the river to reach the affected areas. Most of the area was waterlogged and the village hoses were underwater.
Pic- We started our journey with a car and a group photo of group members (me seating on the front row, 2nd from right, wearing a deep blue mask)
*Pic- Some pictures of us carrying the items and going towards the affected areas. Pictures were taken by me LG @PritishB *
Distribution of materials-
Other items like candle, shampoo, etc were also distributed
Pic- distribution going on
Pic- waterlogged houses in the large areas made the villagers homeless after cyclone Yaas.
On total, we were able to distribute the food and other items among 120 families. We know that the number is not large and there are lots of needy people. I request all of my Local Guide friends in West Bengal, if you have extra money please try to extend your helping hand as they need our help badly during this situation. No one knows when they will be again able to come back to their own house from the cyclone shelters.
Hopefully, we all together will be able to overcome this situation.
Thank you for reading this post.
Stay safe and happy.
among all local guides.
