Disasters have always coexisted with civilization and over the last few decades the vulnerability of human population has been increasing significantly. India too has had its share of disasters on account of its unique geo-climatic conditions. Floods, droughts, cyclones, earthquakes and landslides have been recurrent phenomena. In just one decade, 1990-2000, around 30 million people were affected by disasters every year. The loss in terms of private, community and public assets has been astronomical.

In September, 1993 an earthquake measuring 6.4 on the Richter scale devastated Latur and Osmanabad districts in Maharashtra. The loss of life and property was unimaginable. Thousands were rendered homeless and destitute. Many humanitarian agencies responded to this disaster for the relief and rescue operations. BJS was amongst the first organizations to react with around 800 of its volunteers reaching the disaster site within just a few hours of the tragedy. It adopted 9 villages from amongst the worst affected and established its camps with the entire infrastructure required to provide relief and rescue measures. Generator sets, mobile two-way communication equipment, food supplies, tents and utensils were made available to facilitate the relief operations. BJS provided freshly prepared meals to around 30,000 affected over a period of one month. Medical supplies and other relief material like blankets, warm clothing and lamps were also supplied by the BJS camps. Such was the organizational skill displayed by the BJS team that many other volunteer and donor agencies handed over their relief material to BJS for the further effective and efficient distribution amongst the affected. BJS volunteers also worked under adverse conditions to cremate the bodies of the victims.

Based on their first experience in providing relief and rescue to the affected in a disaster of such magnitude, BJS immediately set to fine tune its response mechanism for such eventualities. The turnaround time for making the primary relief material available to the affected has to be minimal in order to reduce the trauma of the survivors. Recognizing the need for speedy and effective relief operations, BJS trained its volunteers in the various roles and responsibilities they would be required to undertake during disasters. The need for well organized supply of relief material and effective coordination between government, NGOs and the media was recognized and the necessary steps were taken to address these in the planning and preparation of the relief.

BJS stands apart from other humanitarian agencies in its approach towards relief and rescue. The main strength of BJS is its ability to mobilize a strong team of volunteers at a moment's notice and have it report to any part of the country within a few hours of a disaster. The response from this well trained and disciplined volunteer force is not only emotional; , it is also organized and effective. The task force is extremely sensitized and takes utmost efforts to ensure that the dignity of the affected is maintained. The roles and responsibilities of the various members are clearly defined and the communication between the various teams within the task force is clear and precise. Thus the presence of the BJS team at the disaster site and seeing them at work is very reassuring to the victims and this accelerates the processing of restoring normalcy. BJS also has innovated a methodology whereby it can reuse the relief material used in one disaster for a subsequent disaster.

In all the major disasters that have since unfortunately affected the country; , the Akola floods in 2002, the Gujarat earthquake in 2001, the Andaman Tsunami in 2004; , BJS has always been in the forefront of the relief and rescue efforts earning appreciation and respect of the other collaborating agencies and the affected survivors of the tragedy. In fact many government agencies (the National Disaster Management Authority, NDMA for example) first approach BJS for the strategy and execution of the relief and rescue operations in the event of any disaster.

BJS took a pro-active step and conducted a peace march across the state from Pune to Nagpur. The religious heads of Hindus, Muslims and Jains together with prominent political and local leaders led the march. They came together for a single cause – Peace and Harmony.

On September 30th 1993, at 3.56am an Earthquake of magnitude 6.3 struck Killari,Sastur and Latur Districts of Maharashtra The impact of the disaster on human life was unimaginably high. The degree of destruction was such that dwellings in several villages of these two districts had totally collapsed. Thousands of people lost near and dear ones and became houseless. Official figures show that about 3,00,000 people lost their home and belongings. The official figures of casualty were around 10000 among which women, children and aged people were on higher side. About 3 Lac people became homeless and 5000 children in the age group 1-13 years became orphans or destitute. Since the Earthquake struck in the early hours, death toll was very high. 25 villages were reduced to rubble and 58 villages suffered severe damage.

BJS adopted nine villages of Osmanabad and Latur districts. The names of 9 villages are Sastur, Holi, Holithanda, Rajegaon, Rebi Chincholi, Thavshijad, Pettsanghvi, Nandurga, and Katechincholi. BJS established a Main Camp at Sastur with all required equipments consisting of, generators, walky talky sets, perishable food, tents, utensils etc. In Sastur provision of electricity was not available during the first few hours after earthquake. BJS made an arrangement for electricity through the Generator and fixed 200 halogen bulbs in Sastur village. Government officials, relief workers, and other NGOs benefited from the arrangements made by BJS for electricity. From the very first day after the disaster, BJS provided relief materials to victims. 800 BJS volunteers reached the affected area in just a few hours of the tragedy. The BJS camps were so well managed that they drew words of genuine appreciation from several national leaders.

Read More...

A severe earthquake of magnitude 6.0 struck Jabalpur and adjoining areas in Madhya Pradesh in the early hours of May 22,1997 which took a toll of 39 (Source: M/O Agriculture) human lives and caused extensive damage to property.

The districts Jabalpur, Mandla, Chhindwara & Seoni suffered wide spread damages. Damage was maximum in Jabalpur and Mandla districts but lesser in Chhindwara and Seoni districts. Altogether 2739 villages were affected. In Jabalpur City, 67 wards were affected while the number of villages affected in Jabalpur district was 1859. In Mandla district, 289 were affected; in Seoni district 569 villages were affected and in Chhindwada district 22 villages were affected.

Out of 39 deaths, which occurred due to earthquake, 38 were in Jabalpur City and one death occurred in Chhindwada. As per the available statistics, In Jabalpur district 2310 people were injured while in Mandla 120 persons were injured. 4 persons in Chhindwada and 1 person in Seoni were injured.

This earthquake attains significance because it was located very near to an urban conglomeration, a major city in India, Jabalpur having a population of about 1.2 million.

Soon after the earthquake, BJS volunteers reached the affected area and set up rescue camps. Rescue & relief operations were carried out on an urgent basis. During the rescue and immediate relief activities, BJS realized that even though the loss to human lives was very less compared to the Latur earthquke, the Jabalpur earthquake had brought about extensive damage to properties. 42 villages were completely flattened, leaving thousands of people homeless.

The BJS team comprising Mr. Mahendra Surana, Mr. Dilip Gandhi, Mr. Prafulla Parakh and Mr. Madanlal Jain visited the quake - affected villages in Jabalpur. They visited the villages including Bilehari, Tilehari, Gaur, Kudaria, Nim Kheda, etc in Jabalpur.

Read More...

On January 26th, 2001, as the colorful Republic Day parades got under way the continent reverberated to the worst earthquake in India's history measuring 7.6 in the Richter scale. The epicenter in the northern province of Gujarat was a scene of devastation. The city of Bhuj where 150,000 people lived was turned into rubble with hardly a building left standing. About 7633 villages in 21 (out of 25) districts of Gujarat were affected to varyingdegrees. The districts most affected were Kuchchh, Surendranagar, Jamnagar, Rajkot, Patan and Ahmedabad. About 30% of the state's population was affected. The Geographical area affected was more than that of Haryana and Kerala together. Businesses were ruined; infrastructure torn apart and basic services were rendered now non-existent. The physical damage is apparent but the human cost is yet to be counted with tens of thousands of people killed and injured and whole communities wiped out. India's national day will long be remembered as a day of sorrow.

It was through the normal 'News' channels that BJS Headquarters at Pune got to know of the Gujarat Earthquake, which struck Gujarat on 26th Jan. The very next day, 27th Jan, Mr.Shantilalji Muttha held a meeting of the staff and students of WERC (Wagholi Education Rehabilitation Center). It may be pertinent to recall that the students of WERC were those children who had suffered due to the Latur Earthquake and had been rehabilitated by Mr. Muttha at WERC. Mr. Muttha's aim was that let one earthquake affected person help another earthquake affected person. Based on the meeting, mixed teams, each comprising 10 persons including students and teachers were formed to go and render aid at Gujarat. List of relief material to be carried in terms of food, medicine and other essential items were also given.

On the same day, 27th Jan, Mr. Muttha contacted people at Mumbai to provide the required relief materials. In particular he contacted the Indian Chamber of Commerce and requested for Food, water, clothing, milk powder and even footwear. Truckloads of these items were sent Directly from Mumbai to the affected areas. On the third day ie, 29th jan. Mr. Muttha along with the WERC teams reached Gujarat. He also contacted 'Volunteers' who were requested to come to Gujarat in their own vehicles. 400 volunteers reached the next day. Mr. Prafulla parakh was requested to be located at the BJS HQ, Pune and co-ordinate the relief work. Two BJS camps were set up one at Samkhiyali and the other at Bhachau. Mr. Muttha hiself located at the Bhachau camp.

Read More...

During August 2002, heavy monsoon flash floods hit the northern region of Maharashtra causing heavy loss to life & properties. The district Akola was the worst flood affected area where almost 15 villages were badly affected. Even though the death toll was not that high (4-5 people), the damage to properties was high.

As soon as the water level rose beyond the danger mark, the District Collectorate contacted BJS with an appeal for help. BJS spring up into action. The volunteer network all over Maharashtra was activated immediately. A quick strategy for flood relief was formulated & the volunteers from various parts of the state rushed to flood affected region for immediate rescue & relief.

BJS volunteers utilized all the material available at hand for the rescue operations. As the water level was very high, there were many people who were stranded on top of roofs of buildings trees, etc. BJS volunteers shifted them to safety places in all the possible ways, many a times carrying them on their shoulders. In areas, which were completely inundated with water, BJS used boats for rescue operations.

BJS made all the necessary arrangements for providing food twice a day to approximately 7000 flood affected people. BJS set up two relief camps, Shri. Deepchand Gardi Nagar & Shri Sureshdada Jain Nagar for the temporary accommodation of the flood affected people. The people evacuated from the flooded areas were taken to these relief camps. BJS made all the necessary arrangements for providing medical aid to the affected people. About 10,000 people were provided with shelter & medical aid.

As a result of a massive earthquake having epicenter close to the Sumatra island of Indonesia, measuring 9.0 on the Richter scale the Tsunami disaster struck the Indian Ocean littoral states on 26th December 2004. Within hours the killer Tsunami waves thrashed into the shoreline of 12 Indian Ocean countries including India, Indonesia, Sri Lanka, Thailand, Malaysia, Maldives, Myanmar, Bangladesh, Andaman & Nicobar islands, Seychelles, Somalia, Tanzania and Kenya taking the life of more than 229,850 people.

The disastrous Tsunami, which hit the east coast of India, brought about a huge amount of damage to life, properties and environment. Extensive damage was caused in Andaman & Nicobar Islands Andhra Pradesh, Kerala, Tamil Nadu and Pondichery. Beyond heavy toll of human lives, it caused an enormous environmental impact that will affect the region for years to come. The official death toll has been put at 12405 but the actual count may be more than 18000.

BJS was one of the few NGOs who started the relief and rehabilitation of the affected people from the first day itself of Tsunami disaster. BJS volunteers along with their associates rushed to the coast of Tamil Nadu & Pondicherry within hours of the Tsunami hit. They established six camps and provided relief material and rehabilitation including food, shelter and medicine to the people of more than fifty villages.

In order to provide education rehabilitation for the tsunami affected children, BJS tried to get the permission from Tamil Nadu Administration to establish one Education Rehabilitation Centre over there. But Tamil Nadu government denied the offer since it had plans to carry out this activity on its own independently. After that the BJS attention focused on Andaman & Nicobar Islands.

Read More...

On Oct 8, 2005, at 08.50 AM local time, a 7.6 Richter earthquake struck the Kashmiri region of Pakistan and India, causing widespread destruction in Pakistan's Azad Jammu and Kashmir (AJK) and North-West Frontier Provinces (NWFP), and India’s western and southern Kashmir – an area of 30,000 sq km. The main shock was followed by more than 978 aftershocks of magnitude Mw 4.0 and above, until Oct 27, 2005. This earthquake was associated with the known subduction zone of active thrust fault in the area where the Eurasian and Indian tectonic plates are colliding and moving northward at a rate of 40 mm/year, giving rise to the Himalayan mountain ranges.

This was the deadliest earthquake in the recent history of Indian sub-continent, with more than 80,000 fatalities. 200,000 people injured, and more than 4 million people left homeless. Almost all the buildings, collapsed in areas close to the epicenter. Up to 25 km from the epicentre, nearly 25% of the buildings collapsed, and 50% of the buildings were severely damaged. The NDMA authorities were concerned that in view of the coming winter; there would be many casualties due to cold. The provision of shelters therefore was an immediate requirement. Gen NC Vij, Vice Chairman, NDMA personally spoke to Mr. Muttha requesting for help. Mr. Muttha assured NDMA that BJS would provide all possible aid / help.

As part of its relief work after the Gujarat Earthquake in 2001, BJS had constructed 1004 'Prefab' classrooms, and out of this, 870 prefab classrooms were lying vacant. It is mark of Mr. Muttha's vision that even at the time of constructing these prefabricated classrooms in Gujarat, he had arrived at an informal agreement with the school authorities that once permanent classrooms were built in place of these prefab classrooms; BJS would be free to reuse them at any other disaster hit location. Accordingly Mr. Muttha directed that dismantling of these 870 prefab classrooms should commence. A team under Mr. Ashok Pawar from Pune was dispatched to Gujarat to supervise the dismantling and dispatch of these prefab shelters. Mr. Ashok Pawar carried out this work at BJS effort and cost employing local labourers for this task.

Read More...

The Mandhardevi Kalubai Temple located on top of the Mandhardevi Hill near Wai in Satara District of Pashchim Maharashtra attracts 3-4 lakhs pilgrims every year in the Dec-Jan (Paush), especially on the Poornima Day. The Shakambhari Paush Purnima is an annual event. 25th January, 2005, was a doubly auspicious day for the devotees as it was a Tuesday along with Poornima, a rare combination. The devotees were much more in number. The steepness of the climb to the temple, the narrow entrance, or the small size of the temple compound, nothing mattered to them.

At around 1.30 pm, the temple premises witnessed the gravest stampede in the history of Maharashtra leading to the death of approx 340 pilgrims within no time. Eyewitness accounts of the tragedy vary. The most plausible sequence of events suggests that some devotees slipped on a mix of excess oil near the deepmaal, water from broken coconuts and blood from sacrificed goats, near the entrance of the sanctum sanctorum, sending a wave of panic through the other 2 lakh devotees. Panic stricken devotees tried to rush down and continued slipping on the surface, people coming up also fell down and were trampled upon. Gravening the situation, a fire was also broke out in one of the make shift stalls located near the temple. The fire that started has been attributed to an electric pole that fell and sent shock waves through the coconut water, adding to the panic. Another version is that as word spread of possible deaths, angry people burnt some shops on the road. As the fire spread, gas cylinders started exploding. 25 were counted in the space of two hours. Property worth lakhs were burnt.

Soon after the tragedy 125 BJS volunteers reached the temple premises and started rescue & relief work immediately. The A team of 25 doctors under the leadership of Dr. Vijay Sethia also reached there. BJS medical team provided immediate first-aid to the injured people and shifted them to the hospitals at Wai for further treatment.

50 volunteers from Wagholi under the leadership of Shri. Ashok Pawar also reached for relief operations. The team from Wagholi was comprised of students and teachers of Wagholi Education Rehabilitation Center. They carried all the necessary materials for the preparation & distribution of food along with them. They took the responsibility of preparation & distribution of food. Freshly cooked food & drinking water was provided to the affected people.

BJS made the arrangements to provide temporary shelter to the devotees. All those pilgrims who came from other parts of the state were provided with shelter, food & medical attention.

Read More...

In the course of a week from 21July 2005, unusually heavy rains lashed the coastal areas of Konkan and Western Ghats in Maharashtra, causing extensive flooding in Raigad and Ratnagiri districts, with many towns and villages under water. On July 26, when the highest ever rainfall recorded in the last 100 years in the country battered sub-urban Mumbai and Thane, Maharashtra experienced one of the worst floods in its history. No sooner did the flooding recede in Konkan and Marathwada, the release of water from the Koyana and Ujani dams flooded Sangli, Kolhapur, and Solapur districts. Flood alerts were issued in four different regions after reservoir levels touched "danger levels". Water was released from various dams in the state and people were being evacuated from low-lying regions. The Pune District Collectorate and other high level officers called for a meeting to discuss the flood situation and to chalk out a disaster mitigation plan with the active involvement of NGOs. BJS National President, Shri Shantilal Muttha was invited to participate in the meeting. During this meeting BJS took the challenging responsibility of preparation and distribution of fresh cooked meals to more than 8,000 flood - affected people twice a day for 8 to 9 days. Soon after the water level rose beyond the danger mark, BJS swung into action and the BJS volunteers from all the regions of Maharashtra were mobilized to carry out the relief operations. A well coordinated team of BJS including students and teachers of WERC (Wagholi Education Rehabilitation Center) managed the logistics for preparing and distributing the food to the flood affected people who were accommodated in various schools and darmashalas.

The food preparation was done in the Wagholi kitchen. The BJS kitchen in Wagholi was run voluntarily by housewives from BJS centers in Chandannagar and Wagholi area. They worked hard, selflessly. From the Wagholi Kitchen the prepared food was packed properly and transported to PCMC headquarters in large trucks of Sanghatana and from there it was distributed to the respective relief centers in the smaller vans of PCMC. BJS maintained quality, hygiene and efficiency so strictly during all those days that there were no complaints either from the authorities or from the people.

Read More...

From 16th July onwards, heavy rain continued to lash the North, East and Central regions of Maharashtra. As a result the Godavari, Krishna and Koyna overflowed above the danger mark & water from dams on them was released.

24 districts get badly affected leaving, more than 200 dead, approximately 400 missing and 450,000 evacuated across 5,421 villages. Nashik, Jalgaon, Amravati, Aurangabad, Nagpur, Pune, Nanded, Buldana, Jalna, Ahmednagar, Parbhani, Hingoli, Yavatmal, Washim, Akola, Kolhapur and Nandurbar were the worst affected areas.

As soon as the water level rose beyond the danger mark, BJS swung into action. Having previous experience in the flood relief activities in Maharashtra, BJS took the challenging task of rescue and relief of the people at various flood-affected districts of Maharashtra. BJS volunteer network all over Maharashtra was immediately activated & they rushed to help flood affected people.

The major activities carried out were

• Distribution of Food, Medicine, Blankets, Household items etc.
• Provision of temporary shelter to the people of worst affected areas.
• Distribution of relief kits to affected people in collaboration with Sakal Relief Fund.

Read More...

On 19 August 2008, Bihar was devastated by unprecedented flooding. The river Kosi, a major tributary of the Ganga, which flows from Nepal into Bihar, breached its eastern embankment at Kushaha, Nepal, changing its course, submerging hundreds of villages and triggering the worst floods in Bihar in recent times. The water discharge from the 1.2 km breach was more than 1.5 lakh cusecs for several weeks. Along the breached embankment, the raging waters swept away people, their villages, their homes, their standing crops and their livestock, in three districts of Bihar. People south of the breach, who survived, were displaced, their land ravaged, their crops and livestock washed away.

The BJS team comprising of Shri Kantilal Ostwal (Sillod), Shri Deepak Parakh (Chandrapur), Shri Babubhai Oswal (Khopoli) and the teachers and students of Wagholi Educational and Rehabilitation Center (WERC) near Pune, provided relief in the districts of Madhepura, Saharsa, Purnea and Supaul.

The base office was set up at Saharsa and local volunteers, Shri Pratap Sethiya, Shri Rajesh Jain, Shri Arun Jain and others, manned this office. The team surveyed the area, took stock and made a plan of action for extending help to the people of the submerged villages around Kusava village.

At that point in time, more than 20,000 persons were relocated from the surrounding villages. BJS immediately started distribution of food packets, clothes and medicines. The volunteers also assisted about 25,000 people, stranded in 15-20 villages like Ranipur, Jamuha, Idrahi, Rauta, Kusalahi, Parihari, Sukharul, Pohbara and Haribola, moving them to the safety of Kusava village.

By October, the need to distribute food and clothing had minimised. The focus shifted to providing medical care. At Bellari in Madhepura district, the medical camp established in September continued to provide medical care.BJS opened a Help Centre near the Nepal border. To start, food and medicines were distributed to about 3,000 people. The conditions were so difficult that most of the volunteer agencies working in the area left.

The breach in the embankment was plugged completely by the end of January 2009. People, especially from areas, marooned due to water logging, continued to use the camp. BJS with Sakal Relief Fund continued to provide medical care through the medical camps at Pratapganj and Chhatapur. Assessing the need for medical care, it was decided to close the camps by 28 February 2009.

Read More...