Post disaster relief and rehabilitation initiatives of HIHT are continuing unabatedly in its 50 adopted villages affected by the June 2013 Uttarakhand disaster, through its Rural Development Institute (RDI).
On 13th September, the last of 355 disaster victims admitted in our hospital was discharged. She was amongst the 355 victims who were treated totally free of cost by HIHT; her treatment alone cost Rs. 4.50 lakhs to the hospital.
HIHT organized its relief activities in three phases. The first phase involved attending the victims airlifted to Jollygrant airport with instant primary medical care, food items and drinking water bottles, and shifting the seriously injured to the hospital. Under the second phase, RDI’s field staff toured the 50 adopted villages in the districts of Tehri, Chamoli, Uttarkashi, Rudraprayag and Pithoragarh, to cater to the immediate basic needs of the disaster affected villagers viz. cooking utensil kits for families, schools and community kitchens, food kits, family hygiene kits, pregnancy kits, first aid kits, mats, special kits, scholarships to orphan children, other benefits to children, farming tool kits, pea seeds, and other kits were provided to the residents of the affected villages. The content of the above basic needs kits and their distribution details are available on our website www.hihtindia.org.
The Institute also provided free clinical investigation, treatment services and supportive medicines through numerous medical health camps conducted in the villages where over 2,447 patients have benefitted. The disease distribution observed during the health camps helps our medical teams work out the further requirements of specialists and medicines. Our medical teams also visited the schools to provide free health checkups and medicines to their students. The children from these affected areas have also been identified for educational scholarship support and so far 25 children have already been granted scholarships.
The third phase undertakes recovery and rehabilitation activities like repair and reconstruction of drinking water schemes and check dams, livelihood intervention, training in community managed disaster risk reduction and first responder on an ongoing basis, school support and scholarships, plantations, special program for working force in road construction and other activities, water and sanitation, and continued healthcare in the affected villages. The work to re-construct the damaged drinking water system in 18 Swajal villages is in progress. Long term health camps are being conducted at Guptkashi and Ukhimath blocks of Rudraprayag to ensure provision of proper health benefits to their residents. Specialists’ services will be served on alternative weeks. The health checkups and health education plans for the schools would ensure distribution of over 1,000 school hygiene kits to the students. In all 224 villages of the 5 districts would benefit from such camps, the schedule of which has already been prepared upto December 2013. RDI teams are conducting personal visits to homes which have lost a member in this tragedy, to find out the financial requirements of their children for continuation of their education at primary, high school, college or professional levels. Such scholarships have been planned for over 500 students. Our statistics state that over 600 people have perished in the district of Rudraprayag itself.
HIHT has initiated a “Relief and Rehabilitation Fund” for supporting the disaster victims. So far we have received Rs. 1,59,22,332 till date as donations/contributions to the fund. The HIHT employees also contributed a day’s salary to the fund.