Bengaluru: The rains in flood affected areas of Kerala and Karnataka have reduced, however, people are still struggling from the after effects. Homes are filled with water and mud and people are forced to drink contaminated water in some areas. Residents are finding it difficult to clean their homes without pumps and proper equipment.
Asianet News Networks has taken up the initiative to bring the lives of flood affected victims back to normal. Asianet News employees in Kerala have formed multiple teams and are visiting the flood affected areas of Chengannur in 25 vehicles for removing water and mud from homes. So far, the team has cleaned over 75 homes using pumps and will also be sending teams to Kuttanad, Alleppy, Tirichur and Aluva.
Suvarna News and Kannada Prabha are in touch with the Government of Karnataka and will be acting as the single nodal agency for donors who are interested in rebuilding homes of victims, schools, hospitals and anganwadis in Kodagu region. Suvarna News will also be organizing the manpower for construction of these structures.
Asianet News Networks has played a pivotal role in rescuing over 1,50,000 people by proving the geo coordinates to government rescue teams and fishermen who also played a major role in rescuing people. ANN converted the location details sent by victims through whatsapp, SMS, Facebook posts in to geo coordinates and shared it with the rescue team.
Amit Gupta, CEO, Asianet News Networks said, “We had decided to do non-stop coverage of the flood and rescue operations and drop the ads despite heavy bookings for the festival season. As a responsible media brand, our teams rose to mitigate the sufferings of the flood victims. Other than sending the 40 tons of relief materials, our staff in Kerala and Karnataka are working round the clock to ensure that the lives of these victims are back to normal. We are in touch with several NGOs who are involved in the rescue operations and providing all the assistance to them. Our next focus is to assist rebuild roads and bridges which have collapsed so that the connectivity is restored in these areas.”
Frank P Thomas, Director and Group CFO said, “Asianet News took the leadership in rescuing people from the flood affected areas. Our helpdesk was operating 24/7 and provided geo coordinates of over 1.5 lac people to the rescue team. Other than that, we helped over 4000 people trace their friends and families who were missing due to floods. Almost every member of Asianet News volunteered for the helpdesk and for the rescue operations. Seeing our efforts, many corporate companies have come forward to support out team with cash, vehicles and cleaning equipments.”
