Inclusiveness: A prime virtue during humanitarian response

When Siba Barik, 20, arrived at the distribution center he was clueless and confused but when the Caritas India Humanitarian Aid worker handed over the shelter kit in his hands, he filled with happiness. His figures started feeling the materials of different sizes and shapes. Siba is visually impaired by birth.

Siba and his elder brother are visually impaired by birth and the family used to survive by selling vegetables from their kitchen garden. The destructive Fani cyclone has destroyed their house and the only source of livelihood.

Hailing from the Totasahi village under Bamanala Gram Panchayat of Puri District in Odisha, Siba and his family was displaced without food and source of income.  The Cyclone has changed their life completely, their kitchen garden was vanished and completely washed out. Their fragile house could not stand the destructive wind speed of 185 kmph and shattered like a piece of paper. Presently, Siba and his family is staying in a shelter home. Cyclone Fani has damaged 5,08,467 houses and destroyed 181711.4 hectares of the crop area.

Caritas India along with Catholic Charities made a need assessment and selected people living with disability and aged among the most vulnerable among the marginalized affected community. Caritas India has made a special effort for inclusiveness of people with disability, aged, children and special category in its humanitarian aid and recovery programmes.

Caritas India is working in Puri, Jagatsinghpur, and Khurdha district of Odisha to support 10,000 families with Food, WaSH and Shelter Support. As the shelters are closing down, the affected families will be expected to return to their homes, whereas the majority of these damaged homes are not safe for living conditions. As the gap between total damage and partial damage is too high, the support from any direction will be highly required.

In the wake of increasing temperature and heat waves, the provision of temporary shelter material like tarpaulin sheets, ground mats etc. will not be enough to safeguard the dignity of the people and ensure that they are safe from any further protection risks. Caritas India plans to extend its support in Shelter and safe sanitation infrastructure, refurbishment/ repair of these educational institutions and alternate livelihood support in the form of seed support, goatry and poultry to the affected families to restart their livelihoods and generate income quickly.