The recent floods in Kerala, probably the greatest ever in its history, affected a lot of people throughout the state. Never before had our state faced such a grave situation. The people had to leave everything behind them, just to move to safety. Lakhs of people had to move to relief camps for their survival. It was certainly not an easy situation for them. Help needed to reach them on an urgent basis.
As part of the flood relief and rehabilitation, the NSS unit of ACE College of Engineering, under the guidance of Mr. Shaji Chellappan, organized a Flood Relief Collection Centre at the college premises on August 18th, 2018. The student volunteers gave complete support and worked very hard so as to ensure maximum collection for the affected areas. They collected things of essential use from the general public, packed those things and transported them to the main collection centre at Women’s college, Trivandrum. It is indeed worthwhile to mention here that things worth above Rupees 1 lakh were collected and packed off to the affected areas. The items included almost all essential commodities ranging from medicines and baby foods to sanitary napkins and drinking water.
On August 25th, 2018, on the occasion of Onam festival, the remaining commodities from our collection centre were taken off to the Vellayani flood relief camp located at Govt. LP School, Vellayani. The things were handed over to the Panchayath President Smt. R. Jayalakshmi. . The day was really unforgettable and such an effort indeed made us truly happy.
When the entire state was trying to lend a helping hand to the flood affected people, our student volunteers took this responsibility upon themselves. A total of 54 student volunteers participated in the flood rehabilitation program in Aranmula and Aluva from August 28, 2018 to September 2, 2018. The flood rehabilitation programme in Aranmula was co-ordinated by our Training and Placement Officer, Col. Saju Thomas alongwith the KSEB officials. Our student volunteers inspected the electrical wirings and electrical equipments in the flood affected homes before electricity regeneration in the affected areas.
A total of 42 student volunteers from our college completed the Rapid Visual Screening survey of the buildings in the Kadungalloor Grama Panchayath, Aluva. About 2000 houses were surveyed under this activity. The students also visited almost the entire ward and prepared a report on the current situation and condition in the flood relief camps. Subsequently, they handed over this report to the Panchayath President. The surveying carried out by our students immensely helped the Panchayath to get the post flood relief support from the government authorities. The Kadungalloor Panchayath Committee appreciated our efforts and services.
On a concluding note, we would like to thank our Principal, Administrative manager, all HoDs and all the staff members and student volunteers for their support towards the flood relief and rehabilitation programme. We would also like to thank the officials of various Government authorities including the various Panchayaths who helped us by providing food and accommodation to our student volunteers. It was definitely a life changing experience for our students who might have learnt a lot from these circumstances. Hoping that the God’s Own country, our state of Kerala, recovers soon from this tragic situation.
