Imtiaz Sooliman – Gift of the Givers relief efforts for Chennai, Southern India
AI: Summary ©
A representative from the humanitarian organization discusses the devastation in India and the need for assistance from the
Government. They mention the need for help in helping people affected by the flooding of Chennai and the need for water purification tablets. The organization is selling cash donations and is also selling water purifiers.
Government. They mention the need for help in helping people affected by the flooding of Chennai and the need for water purification tablets. The organization is selling cash donations and is also selling water purifiers.
AI: Summary ©
After some of the deadliest, heaviest rains in decades, the
National Disaster Response Force there says flooding has killed at
least 272
people in the state of Tamil Nadu since October already, and at
least 28,000 others have been rescued so far. NGO gift of the
givers will be embarking on relief efforts of their own. Dr, MTR
Suleiman from the humanitarian organization, joins us now from
our Durban studios. Good afternoon again, doctor, and sorry for that
earlier interruption.
That's fine. Thank you. We've had some very distressing pictures
coming out of Chennai and Tamil Nadu, but you're kind of in a
unique situation now, because the Indian Government hasn't requested
the help that they need.
Yes, it's a unique and the Indian government never asked for
international assistance. It has happened many times before. The
last one was when many years ago, it was a tsunami. And you know
that one was devastating. The whole endowment islands was
submerged in India, and the government then asked for help.
And India is very careful. It does its own assistance. And even
whilst that tsunami took place, it went next door to help Sri Lanka.
And people in South Africa started calling us, saying, We want to
help India. So I said, the Indian Government has not asked for
assistance, but they said, We feel very close to the people in
Chennai, and we like to help. At that point, on Sunday night, I got
a call from a South African who lives in India for 27 years, and
he said, I'm involved with the movie industry, and more than 100
teams from the movie union have gone out into Chennai, and they're
all assisting. They require assistance from the South Africans
to help them do what they're doing in India, and all of them, most of
them in South Africa, most of them in India, all mentioned clean
drinking water, and of course, they spoke about other things,
medicines, food, clothes. So we said, Okay, we don't do this
normally when the government doesn't call for aid, but since
there's an overwhelming need from the South Africans and teams on
the ground in India, we will make an exception and be a conduit for
the two sides to assist in the best way we can. And how are your
intentions being received by the Indian government at this point?
Doc,
well, they wouldn't, they wouldn't be against the idea, because they
know I've had dealings with them before in the past. I also dealt
with them during the Nepal earthquake, and I must say, they
were very, very good. It was a Sunday. It was a long weekend, and
I asked them to open Embassy on a Sunday through our international
relations department. And Indian Government, Deputy High
Commissioner immediately said, we'll open the embassy for you on
Sunday. So then our intentions, basically are to help people in
the best way we can without interfering with their process,
even with my context on the ground, we have, you know, sort of
satellite office inside India, they said, look, the Indian
government made 10 billion rupees available from the central
government to go to the state government. But even that will not
be enough, given the scale of the devastation inside China. And
that's true in any major disaster, a government itself cannot act on
its own. It requires assistance, but in this case, India is hoping
for assistance from within itself, rather than from outside. There's
been a fair degree of public anger, if you want, over the state
government's alleged failure to warn residents of flooding, and
then we had complaints of a slow response after the torrential
rains. Do you have any idea what kind of response we're seeing from
the Indian government right now?
Well, I can only take what I hear from the people on the ground, and
everybody says it's not enough, but that kind of comment you get
in every type of disaster, it's impossible to reach 1.8 million or
2 million people all at one time, especially when the airport is
closed, when roads are closed, when rain lines are affected, you
can't get there no matter what you do which government in the world,
whether it's in America, whether it's in Europe, whether it's in
China, if those kind of conditions face you, it's impossible to get
to the people it that's its natural disasters, do things like
that, and Quite often, the people who are supposed to be assisting,
they themselves are trapped, so it makes it very difficult. For
example, in certain areas, if the disaster response agency is
completely trapped, they need assistance. So they can't get out
to go help somebody else. So to bring teams from another part of
the country in a situation like that, where there's no open
airports or transport facilities, everything takes much longer, and
that's something people don't understand.
We understand a massive cleanup operation underway now, the very
elderly and young, of course, bearing the brunt of this. What
are some of the most urgent items that people are in need of? Now,
those that are affected, especially in the 5000 relief
camps set up across Chennai and very quickly, Doctor, how can
members of the public want to help contact you.
The water is the most essential need, food, medication. You have
to be careful of water borne disease, cholera, typhoid, you
know, and doesn't really issues like that. You need water
purification tablets. If you don't have clean drinking water, they
need.
Clothing, if they've lost everything they need utensils in
which to eat. Those are the basic items for people to contact us.
We're selling cash donations only. It's faster. It's more efficient.
Teams. The items are much cheaper. In India, you can buy, you know,
much vitamins at a lower price. And best way to call us is Oh,
800-780-6911
or visit www dot gift of the givers.org,
thank you. That was Dr MTR Suleiman from the humanitarian
organization. Gift of the givers joining us from the Durban
studios. If you do want to contribute to help the Fund for
flood affected victims in Chennai, that number He's given us is o8,
107, 869, double, one time to take a short break. I'll be back with
more news after this. You.