The Hindu : Tamil Nadu / Chennai News : Aid agencies short of manpower

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Sunday, Jan 09, 2005

Tamil Nadu

Tamil Nadu - Chennai

Aid agencies short of manpower

By Ramya Kannan

CHENNAI, JAN. 8. Aid agencies working in the tsunami-hit coastal areas of Tamil Nadu are in a quandary. Relief materials and money are pouring in but there are not enough volunteers to take up rehabilitation work.

With schools and colleges having re-opened after the New Year vacation, students who formed a chunk of the volunteer force on the field has shrunk.

Students from IIT Madras, Stella Maris, Madras Christian College, Loyola College, Crescent Engineering College, SRM Engineering College, Venkateswara Engineering College and various departments of Madras University and several schools worked with aid agencies as their half-yearly or end-semester break coincided with the crisis. Some of the youths who signed up with several non-governmental organisations stayed back in offices of the agencies in Chennai for coordination, while others went to relief camps to assess the needs there. And as they get back to their books, there is need to find replacements.

"Compared to last week, the number of volunteers has dropped," said K. Kalpana, a volunteer with AID India and Tamil Nadu Science Forum. "They (students) were of great help in sorting out relief material, packing and sending them to camps, manning helpdesks or taking calls from donors," she said. Some of them went to camps at Royapuram, Kasimedu, Foreshore Estate, Doomingkuppam and Rajiv Gandhi Nagar, interacting and gauging the needs of the affected.

"We need a lot of hands, especially on days we have to send truckloads to camps in Nagapattinam and Cuddalore," she said. Half of the 80 persons working with AID India are students. Dr. R. Tara, director, SCARF, says 80 per cent of the volunteers who signed up for free training in counselling for crisis and post-traumatic stress disorder, were students. Housewives and software professionals too participated in large numbers.

Committed to cause

P. Jayendra of Bhoomika Trust says many students, youngsters, software professionals and housewives formed the bulk of their teamas well. They have had 100 persons collecting/receiving, sorting out, packing and organising relief materials before despatching them to the affected areas.

However, there are some who are trying to strike a balance between college and relief work.

J. Sandeep Kumar, a final year engineering student says, "We have only two days of college a week. So we spend the rest of the time for voluntary work." He has been volunteering for AID India for over a week.

M. Satchidanand, another engineering student, signed up for relief work because he thought it was his duty, though had to reduce the time spent for voluntary work. Mr. Satchidanand plans to go to college during the day and work as volunteer at night.

The partial or complete withdrawal of the student force has left NGOs wondering how they will cope with relief work. They are hoping that as the relief work enters the crucial phase of rehabilitation, more people will sign up, even if only as part-time volunteers.

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