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Kerala received a massive support, help and concern from many parts of the world during the flood. The monetary and material help were flowing to the state from the rest of the country and abroad. The relief materials were collected and transported to Kerala from many parts of India and also from other nations. Monetary help was also flowing into the Chief Minister’s Disaster Relief Fund. There was a huge social media movement for helping the flood-hit people with the hashtag of #DoForKerala. This impelled people from all around the globe to offer a helping hand to Kerala.
Albeit there was some hatred spreading against Kerala and clamours to deny any help for the state even from within the country, the aid and abetment received were whopping. PM Narendra Modi also assured all possible support for the state and immediately sanctioned an emergency fund amounting to ₹500 crores. Multitude state and UT governments in the country have assured monetary aid to Kerala from their respective disaster relief fund. This includes Delhi, Bihar, Odisha, Tamil Nadu, Andhra Pradesh, Puducherry, Jharkhand, Maharashtra, Gujarat, Punjab, Telangana, Himachal Pradesh, Uttarakhand, Chhattisgarh, Madhya Pradesh, Karnataka, West Bengal, Manipur and Tripura. Notably, Delhi CM Arvind Kejriwal said that one month’s salary of all ruling party MPs and MLAs will be donated to the flood relief. Following this, Congress MPs and MLAs and former Jammu and Kashmir CM Omar Abdullah have also pledged the same. Odisha CM Naveen Patnaik sent 245 fire personnel and innumerable boats to Kerala. Also, Tamil Nadu IAS officers have offered a day’s salary to the relief fund.
The most astonishing information is that the sex workers in Ahmednagar district of Maharashtra have donated Rs. 21000 to the PM’s relief fund for Kerala flood victims and also said they will raise another Rs. 1 lakh by the end of the month.
SBI has donated Rs. 2 crores for the flood victims in Kerala. Many television channels like Star India, Sun TV, Asianet, etc have contributed their part both monetarily as well as by other means. They were in the forefront of rescue operations from the beginning and efficiently coordinated the same. The volunteers in collection centres and donation camps in cities like New Delhi, Mumbai, Chennai and Bangalore put their backs into collecting money and materials to provide aid to Kerala. Moreover, Rueter’s display board at London appreciated the efforts of Kerala fishermen.
Indian Railways announced free transportation of the relief materials to Kerala. Five airlines that are, Air India, Jet Airways, Air Vistara, Qatar Airways and Emirates SkyCargo have waived off air freight charges on all domestic cargo shipments of relief materials to Kerala. Apart from these numerous business organizations, political parties, religious organizations and myriad individuals have contributed to the flood relief fund
Our immediate neighbour, Pakistan offered all sort of assistance what so ever required. Pakistan PM Imran Khan conveyed his prayers and concern for the people of Kerala through social media. The Qatar govt has announced an aid of 5 million US dollars for the flood relief in Kerala especially for people who have lost their homes in the flood and landslides. Emir of Qatar, Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad al Thani wished Kerala and its people a speedy recovery. An international charity organisation based in Qatar, Qatar Charity launched an emergency fundraising programme to help the people of Kerala with food, shelter and medical needs. UAE govt has also formed a committee to study about the flood in Kerala and to provide help. The monetary aid of the UAE is yet to be finalised officially.
Notably, the CMDRF was opened by the contribution from CM Pinarayi Vijayan of ₹1 lakh and have amounted to over ₹300 crores till date and it is increasing exponentially.
Many of the prominent football clubs around the globe have extended their support to the people of flood-hit Kerala mainly through the social media. Italian football club AS Roma expressed their solidarity with the people of Kerala and have decided to auction off five match worn t-shirts of their first team players for raising fund to donate to the flood relief fund. Other major football clubs like FC Barcelona, Liverpool, FC Girona, Melbourne City FC, SD Eibar and even the Spanish association La Liga have expressed their condolences and solidarity to the people of Kerala and have also called out for action through their social media pages.The government was working hand in hand with the people during the flood. The contributions from all levels of administration were remarkable. Notably, the CMDRF was opened by the contribution from CM Pinarayi Vijayan of ₹1 lakh and have amounted to over ₹300 crores till date and it is increasing exponentially.
Amid all the support and aid from all around the globe, the opposition party in Kerala has come up with allegations against the government saying that “it was a man-made disaster” and criticized the government for not taking necessary precautions before opening up the dam shutters. Ramesh Chennithala, leader of the opposition had raised these allegations, which was then supported by various MLAs of the opposition like P. T. Thomas, K. Muraleedharan, etc. However, Ramesh was earlier in support of the government’s handling of the opening of dams and rescue operations. Also, the renowned ecologist and environmentalist Madhav Gadgil condemned the successive governments of Kerala for inviting the disaster which could have been averted through proper execution of environmental policies and programmes.
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