A team of Nationalists sets up a professional War Room, to aid rescue operations in flood-hit areas of Kerala and Kodagu. Using social media, they sourced the information of victims trapped in inundated areas and guided rescue teams to save them. This is an example of how social media can be used for disaster management.
Heavy rains that lashed Kerala and Kodagu of Karnataka inundated large parts of the states resulting in death and destruction. The devastating floods triggered landslides and threw life out of gear in the affected areas. State machinery was slow to respond. But rescue teams and organisations like RSS swung into action and rescued thousands in distress.
Inspired by nationalist ideals, a group of youngsters, led by Girish Alva, set a War Room to aid rescue and relief efforts. They connected with their brothers and sisters in India and abroad through social media to gather information on affected people and provide support. They started two Hashtags #SOSKerala initially, followed by #SOSKodagu.
The 32-member team sifted through information pouring in from social media, collated, prioritized and passed them to Army rescue teams, swayamsevaks on the ground and fisher folk on rescue work. The team worked round-the-clock coordinating rescue efforts. There were distress calls from people trapped in flood and areas affected by landslides. In many places, lines of communication were cut. The two Hashtags #SOSKerala and #SOSKodagu raised the expectations of many with people reaching out for help, relatives in fear for lives of loved ones stuck in homes filled with water seeping in, hunger and exhaustion draining lives. Irony with water gushed everywhere they were thirsty making frantic efforts to save, power which was not available and phones not lasting, battery draining all messages reached the War Room.
The Social Media platforms namely Facebook, WhatsApp, Twitter together with calls scanned thoroughly for distress messages. SOS varied from waiting ‘aged lady on top of a roof of flooded home in Kerala’ to ‘group of neighbors holding life in hand near a landslide in Kodagu’ War Room monitored and acted upon. 95 cases in total were taken up by the Team and worked on into dawn hours in coordination with Armed forces, rescue teams, Swayamsevaks, fishermen and relief teams on ground.
The determined Nationalists were able to save many lives, they mapped locations connecting them to helplines, Armed Forces, RSS Swayamsevaks, relief teams, fishermen. Messages of despair needed motivation and hope as some locations were difficult terrains to reach with water levels rising high and landslides blocking rescue. Phone batteries dead filled fear in relatives worried of safety and further action. The War Room didn’t let despair step in, continuously encouraged people to emerge stronger in this situation. The messages, calls of rescues successful, relief reaching successfully brought positivity, weather updates were checked constantly. Besides rescuing, #SOSKodagu reached out to unite aged Parents Bella and Chambavva in Mytri Hall Centre, Madikeri with their son M.B.Laalu serving in BSF.
The team put in 1200 manhours with 1050 calls made, 3200 Social Media messages posted, relief material worth 3-4 Lakhs collected on ground, two collection centers set up for Online ordering of relief materials and an ongoing Crowd funding site for donation is the work put in by the team.
The team members left behind their livelihoods and took it as a mission in their lives. They couldn’t sit idle when their brothers and sisters were in distress and considered this as a service to the nation. #SOSKerala and #SOSKodagu War Room will definitely awaken and arise our Nation as one without waiting for others to work for our Motherland when she needs us. Shed all misconceptions, stand united setting aside differences, we emerge stronger to contribute selfless in rescue and relief measures is the message the Team gives out. The best use of Social Media used here spreading a message to rebuild lives, homes together, a race against time #SOS.
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