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Brew Magazine (December 2015 Issue)
Smile Foundation, a national level development organization, had their Disaster Response Teams om ground as soon the floods started getting intense. They reached out to approximately 6 lakh people with water, food and other relief materials. Approximately 38000 kg of food and 7,56,000 litres of water provided by Pepsi Co were distributed. Water contamination was identified as an important issue, and this is what prompted the widespread distribution of safe drinking water. Smile worked in Pallavaram, Annaputtur, NaagaiKeni, Karima Nagar and Mudichur in Kanchipuram district; Ponneri, Ennor, Seethanambakkam and Minjur in Thiruninravuur district and the entire Chennai city region. Once the water abated a little, their mobile hospital, Smile On Wheels started functioning. The organization was helped by almost 500 volunteers from Chennai. Several of them were first time volunteers, and some had been rescued themselves. While there was no power in most areas in the city, the volunteers were still able to somehow coordinate and help out those who weren’t as fortunate. Mr. SantanuMisra, Co-founder and Executive Trustee, says that “The resilience, commitment and indomitable spirit of the youths of Chennai have been inspiring for us.” Smile plans to set up multi-speciality health services to aid those in the aftermath of the disaster.
