Unprecedented growth in name of development can be dangerous.
We, in India, learnt a lesson recently as floods in one of its metro cities,
Chennai! People who planned the city forgot some rules of nature and the whole
city paid the price. Among other reasons, one reason was construction on Marshlands
and river banks. Marshlands and local water bodies are important to absorb
water in case of rains. So when Chennai saw one of the heaviest rainfalls of
the century, there was nothing to soak up the wrath of rains. Entire city along
with its suburban areas was flooded. The loss was enormous!
Many lost their lives. And many more lost their means of
livelihood. Almost everyone in and around the area was affected,
psychologically! There were people injured, hungry and terrified, stranded in
their own houses, waiting to be rescued. People lost the belongings for which
they had worked really hard to buy. But one thing people did not lose was
‘faith in fellow human beings’!
Chennai floods, on one hand were a dent on the human greed but
on the other hand they were reinforcement of solidarity among people all over
India.
Once the emotional setback will be taken care of, the
financial losses will be more visible.
It will take sometime before lives are restored to normal in
Chennai and here are few lesson we all can learn from this tragedy.
1. Know your Neighbors
Chennai stood strong because people
helped fellow beings. When water raised and houses at lower floors were submerged,
neighbors from upper floors accommodated the families in their homes. Even
though everyone was stranded and resources were meager, they shared it. This
warmth and hospitality has always been part of India’s social fabric. We are
not vocal and expressive about our feelings but we always lend a helping hand
whenever needed!
Such tragedies are reminder of why
our ancestors valued ‘Relationships’ more than ‘Material achievements’. Let us
not forget this in our busy lives and be connected with our neighborhood and
neighbors.
2. Keep cash at home
With ATMs at our disposal, we can
easily hear ourselves saying ‘who keeps cash at home now a days’! But when
disasters like floods and earthquakes happen, all institutions are affected. No
matter how immortal we imagine them to be. And soon economy resort to its age
old ways of functioning like cash and barter at least for sometime before
normalcy is restored.
We may not need to keep a lot of cash
but keeping cash for at least a one week’s need can be a helpful.
3. Use Digi Locker
Many lost their important paper likes
Marksheets, Passports, Pan-cards, insurance policies during this calamity. It
is a difficult and time consuming task to procure all documents again.
Government of India has launched a
facility called ‘DigiLocker’ dedicated to personal electronic space for storing
the documents for residents of Indian citizens. It also provides facility for
e-signing documents.
Sharing the link to learn more about
it. www.digilocker.gov.in
4. Take home insurance
Indians love to invest in real estate
but not even one percent insure their homes forget the contents of home. We assume
that mere buying a house is guarantee of safety for our investment and
ourselves. These calamities prove us wrong. In Chennai, all kinds of houses
from a jhuggi to a bungalow were waterlogged. And we learn that building a concrete
structure is not enough and these structure also need a layer of protection.
Taking home insurance is one answer.
Also we can insure valuable contents as well.
Other insurances like Life insurance,
car insurance and medical insurance should be taken and renewed timely.
5. Be part of Social Media
Social media was the life line of
Chennai during this disaster. Information were shared, communication cells were
set up on social media. Those who were running out of battery and were unable
to charge their phone were sharing their help request on social media
particularly Facebook. People in different part of the country were helping by passing
the information like who is stranded, who needs immediate help with the
authorities and help centers as telephone lines were busy or not working.
Social media did serve its purpose of
keeping everyone connected during such difficult times. It is a medium which
can be used how so ever we want to use it. The same medium which is used to
feed vanity of its users can be used for helping each other as well!
6. Rent a Bank Locker
Indians revere Gold. It is perceived as
a sound investment which can be cashed in hour of need. Also wearing gold jewelry
is mark of prosperity in our society. Buying and wearing newer pieces of
jewelry gives a sense of pride. In times of such a calamity when your wellbeing
is at stake, it is easy to forget about your valuables which later on can
result in substantial financial loss.
Bank Lockers can be helpful is this
case. Instead of keeping all jewelry at home, we can decide what we want to
wear for a month or so and keep rest in bank locker. Some additional visits to
bank can take away the tension of safe keeping your valuables. Though banks do
not take responsibility of the contents, they generally are more secured than
home.
7. Some more takeaways
Some more lessons were learnt like
- Remembering important phone numbers rather than being completely dependent on phone directory, which can become inaccessible in cases like discharged battery.
- Children in the family should be taught how and whom to approach for help if needed. If possible, societies can conduct workshops to teach ‘how to safeguard yourself and get help’ during such disasters.
- Knowing first aid and preliminary health care like CPR (Cardiopulmonary Resuscitation consists of mouth-to-mouth respiration and chest compression) can be helpful.
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