The South Indian state of Kerala has been affected by severe flooding in August 2018 due to massive torrential rains and landslides during the monsoon season. As Kerala battles its worst floods in almost a hundred years, the devastation to life and property is shocking, to say the least. Nearly four hundred precious lives lost and lakhs of people displaced with all 14 districts placed on red alert beside affecting about
With the flood gradually abating, people are stranded without home and livelihood and are in dire need of food, safe drinking water, medical and hygiene supplies, and long-term recovery and rehabilitation support to cope with the disaster.
To help people receive critical relief supplies to survive the disaster, many brands have come forward and have tirelessly worked in the most vulnerable communities of Kerala and reached out to meet the urgent needs of people affected by flood.
With news of the overflow, Amazon India, Flipkart, and Paytm have created special packages and programs, working in partnership with NGOs as well as the Kerala government to help in relief work. Paytm, a digital firm raised ₹35 crore from 1.2 million users and has partnered with the Kerala CM’s Distress Relief Fund for donating money to victims while Flipkart has tied up with NGO Goonj where users can open the Flipkart app and click to donate blankets, toiletries, utensils etc. receiving a tax exemption certificate in return.
On the other hand, Zomato has partnered with Akshaya Patra foundation to contribute food to Kerala flood victims. By initiating a ‘Help Kerala’ banner, in the ‘Order Food Online’ section, it allows users to donate vegetarian and
Airlines are displaying the status of rescheduled and additional flights on their respective websites and Telecom service providers in the state like Airtel, Vodafone, Reliance etc. have announced that they will not charge any customer in Kerala for voice calls and SMS for the next 7 days.
Seeing the scale of the disaster, Star India and its employees have stepped up to donate Rs 5 crore and are doing everything in their power to help along and inform and inspire citizens to join the relief and rehabilitation process.
Meanwhile, Proctor & Gamble India has taken initiative to distribute health and hygiene products besides toothpaste, detergents, sanitary pads, pampers and ensuring safe drinking water by implementing P&G Non-profit Children’s Safe Drinking Water Programme and Hindustan Unilever is donating water purifiers (Pure It), soap and hand sanitizer (Lifebuoy), wheat flour (Annapurna) and tea (Red Label) etc. to the relief camps and are making monetary contributions Chief Minister’s Distress Relief Fund.
To facilitate customers and local NGO’s, Big Bazar chain of stores remain open and are selling discounted relief kits ranging from Rs 300- 700 which customers can devote to the flood victims.
Additionally, the Chief Executive of Future Retail limited mentioned that their fashion wings are preparing clothes to be sent to different parts of Kerala and Sun Pharma said it has partnered with the Indian Drug Manufacturers Association to supply medicines and healthcare services.
So, in the end, Indian brands showed what companies are born to do- “It’s not about the profit, it’s all about making the lives of the consumers easy in every possible way!” Kudos to all the brands who came forward in this devastating situation.
#StandForKerala
