Cyclone Amphan made landfall in West Bengal, India, near the Bangladeshi border.
Amphan became the strongest storm ever recorded in the Bay of Bengal on Monday night, though it has since weakened slightly.
Indian officials said that up to 300,000 people in coastal areas are in immediate danger from potentially deadly storm surges and flooding.
Evacuations across the region have been complicated by the coronavirus pandemic, as authorities attempt to maintain strict social distancing rules.
Affected families are suffering through the aftermath of the most intense cyclones, risk of
spreading coronavirus pandemic is looming large. Maintaining social distance is getting difficult
at this hour of crisis. Basis the first level need-assement by the team, SEEDS appeals for support
towards build back better with West Bengal through its Cyclone Amphan response in the times
of COVID-19.
Committed to serve humaity, SEEDS, a leading humanitarian organisationhadalready deployed
about 300 volunteers in West Bengal for evacuation ever since cyclone warnings have been
released, facilitating timely evacuations of communities at extreme risk. As per the news
reports, over 5,00,000 people were evacuated in the cyclone’s path, with East Midnapore,
South 24 Parganas and Kolkata being the severlyaffected districts. With local partners and vast
network of volunteers, SEEDS team is proactively reaching out to the people who are already
struggling to sustain their lives during COVID-19, with immediate needs. SEEDS has also set up a
control room headquartered in Delhi to monitor activities done by the team on-ground at
regular intervals.
SEEDS team members deployed in the region inform, “The situation at the ground level is worse
than expected. There are drinking water, food and hygiene issues. People in the relief camps and
in general as well have forgetton about social- distancing and COVID-19 is no more their
primary concern. They are worried about food and other essentials at the moment. Moreover,
the internet and electricity has been cut since last three days leading to a complete
communication barrier.”
Commenting on the situation, Dr. Manu Gupta, co-founder, SEEDS, said, “The destruction
caused by the cyclone is beyond imagination. My heart goes out to the people who have to face
adverse impacts of such a disaster when the cases of COVID-19 are increasing daily. We are
committed to reach out to maximum number of people with help for their immediate needs and
appeal for optimum support from corporates, institutions and HNIs.”
Dr, Anshu Sharma, co-founder, SEEDS, said, ‘In this hour of crisis, our utmost mission is to reach
out to the unseen most vulnerable families. The communities at this time are most vulnerable to
the aftermath of cyclone Amphan and Covid-19. We are taking all the necessary actions and
precautions to help people at this moment. Our team is working relentlessly to analyse the long-
term needs of the affected and how effectively they can be heped while maintaining measures
to strengthen the struggle against the spread of the ongoing pandemic.”
Along with the effects of cyclone, neccasry measures are being taken, keeping the occurrence
of Covid-19 at the hindsight. The frontline aid workers and volunteers are struggling to provide
PPE kits for safer response which might lead to a massive spike in theactive cases of Covid-19.
The cyclone has extensively damaged kutcha houses and breached the embankments in the low
lying areas. As per the immediate challenges faced by the people, SEEDS is reaching out with
dry ration, safe drinking water support,family utility kits and hygienge kits. SEEDS appealsto all
citizens to come forward and help usbuild back better the communities in West Bengal.
Your support can make a difference for any of the following items:
Ration Kit: Rs. 1,000 to support one family with of 5 consisting of a wheat flour, rice, pulses, oil,
spices, salt, soybean, sugar, tea leaf and milk powder
Safe Drinking Water Support:
