SEEDS plan to build flood-resilient structures in Kerala
A sustainable environment and ecological development society (SEEDS), a not for profit organization involved in cleaning wells and providing healthcare post-floods, is now planning to rebuild school buildings and houses to make them safe, child-friendly and to offer nature-based solutions to minimize the impact of floods. A technical team from SEEDS has been stationed in the state to make detailed assessments and identify houses and schools that need to be rebuilt. SEEDS had begun the groundwork for the project in Wayanad with focus on Mananthavady, Panamaram, Vythiri and Kottathara regions. In these areas, the damage primarily has been caused by landslides and flash floods affecting local tribesmen and communities from scheduled castes. “In the reconstruction process post-floods, SEEDS offered support to construct 1,000 houses in Wayanad, 14 wells have been cleaned and chlorinated, 443 Accredited Social Health Activists (Asha) and panchayat workers have been trained on well chlorination, 600 families have been given water purifier pouches and trained on household level usage, 2,753 patients have benefited from multi-specialty health camps and offered technical support including training and capacity building. We could mobilize Rs 9.4 crore from companies as part of corporate social responsibility, institutions and philanthropists,” said SEEDS co-founder Manu Gupta. “Since September, SEEDS is working with Unicef and SCERT Kerala to introduce disaster management (DM) component in school curriculum in the coming academic year,” he said. “SEEDS intends to repair and restore damaged schools and houses to make them safe, healthy, sustainable and a universally accessible child-friendly learning environment. Prototype houses are complete with inputs from the community and lists of beneficiaries are being finalized. Based on SEEDS assessment, school buildings are at the risk of collapsing, if appropriate measures aren’t taken immediately. SEEDS’ restoration plan is being governed by the UN’s Build Back Better model of intervention,” said Megnath Chawla, an official with SEEDS.
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