First Month Update

Dear friends,
It has been a month since the occurrence of the flash floods in Ladakh. The appeal that we sent out to you in the beginning was met with an overwhelming response. Many, many of you have responded with individual contributions, and many others have passed along the message and helped spread the word. We would like to thank Sujatha, Savitha, Sanath and many others who relentlessly drove the fund raising campaign with friends and within professional circles.

There have also been a few collective initiatives that deserve special mention. In Belgium, Natalie Lycops, with the help of Niki Verschueren and Sophie Bataille, has helped raise around 7 Lakh rupees (10,000 euros) till now, of which 4 lakh (7,000 euros) have already been transferred to our bank (more information here). In Leh, the Himalayan Bikers organized a biking competition to the Khardungla top, and donated part of the participation fees to the LEDeG Relief Fund. In Berlin, Jenny Becker and her team at RESET have been collecting funds through their online fund-raising efforts. RESET India is also collecting money at their website.

Bangalore deserves a special mention. Some of the most interesting fundraising initiatives have been organized in the city are, the waste paper collection drive by a group of friends that raised Rs. 51,000 by collecting 6,000 Kgs of waste paper from institutions and friends (more information here), and the fundraising drive organized by Get Off Ur Ass, a travel company, including a photography exhibition to be held from the 17th-26th of September.

The total collection from the fund raiser drive that all of you have supported so generously stands at Rs 11,20,366.00 (Eleven lakhs, twenty thousand, three hundred and sixty six rupees) as of today. So, a big round of applause to all of you.

At our end, as the dust settles down, the road ahead becomes clearer, and we are realizing that there is still a long way to go. Most organizations have shifted gears from immediate relief work towards longer term reconstruction and rehabilitation. The district administration and the LAHDC have skillfully steered the various relief efforts into a concerted approach with sectoral specializations. After assessing the needs on ground and considering our organizational mission, LEDeG has decided to focus on the shelter reconstruction.

Along with all of you, SEEDS India and Habitat for Humanity are going to be our partners in this effort. Our common approach is based on our belief in providing solutions which are socially as well as environmentally sustainable. You can download our shelter strategy document here.

While shelter is clearly emerging as the biggest, most immediate concern, with winters fast approaching, it is also the sector that is most challenging to work in at the moment given the acute shortage of both labour and materials. So, while we are committed to reconstructing a larger number of core shelters in the spring, we have decided to push ourselves hard and provide about 50 shelters before winter to the most vulnerable and the neediest. Half of these would be new constructions for those whose houses were totally washed away and half would be retrofitting/repairing damaged houses that are not currently occupied. We also plan to assist some needy families with rent support until next spring when we will pick up construction again. Wherever needed, we would also provide warm beddings to beat the winter as well as solar lanterns to families without electricity connection.

As we stated in our initial fund appeal, we are very happy to commit to total transparency in what we do with your money. For now, we are putting up the list of donations we have received so far and will update it on a monthly basis. We shall send you details of the work as well fund utilization around November end or beginning of December once we are done with whatever we manage to pull up before the beginning of the winters. If you have any further queries, please feel free to contact us at ladakhfloods(at)ledeg(dot)org.

As of 9th of September, 2010, we would like to thank (chronologically):
RESET Berlin team, Savitha Balasubramanyam and friends, Sanath Kumar P.B and friends, Fiona Causfield, Get off your Ass Travel Pvt Ltd (Santosh Kumar’s clients, colleagues and friends), Jaap Langius, Alex Miller, Gaurav Pandit, Divya Badami, Mansi Narang, Georgia Lewis, Abhinava Chandra, Wolfgang & Gisela Schuermann, Oriole Henry, Clare Arni, Martin & Margot Henry, Aditya, John & Rae Sheridan, Sarah, Robin Darius, Kedar Sahasrabudhe, Anamika Mukherjee, Ajay Visvanathan, Anandhi Kumaraswamy, Balaji Ganesan, Shobitha Kedlaya & Sampath, Saumya Shanker, Ingo Hofmaier & friends, Alexander Abraham, Staff of CDD Society, Madhuvanti Anantharajan, Amrit Rao Pejawar, Anuradha Arjunwadkar, Pugmarks Ecotours, M.S. Padmanabhan, Radha Padmanabhan, Vasundara Bhalla, Sujatha Padmanabhan, Aasha Badami, Anirudh Dendukuri, Gaurav Jhajharia, Manoj Bobade, Erin Boydston, Aasha Badami, Jaideep Mukundan, Rakesh Agarwal, Thyagaraja Chittari, Savitha Nayak, Akansha Singh, Anjana & Sapna Nahar, Mallikarjun Javali, Himalayan Bikers Sonam & Celine & cycle friends in Leh, Manjari Ranasaria & Ladakh Winter Shelter Fund Raising Group, Dr. Vaishali Biniwale Amt, Natalie Lycops and friends, Leela Broome, Seema Bhatt, Samir & Anuradha Palnitkar, Mangesh & Aparna Kale, Radhika & Milind Joshi, Sudhir Kothari, A. Bhagwat, Jui Shankar, Milind & Nileem Shankar, Anisha Shankar, Sujata Raye, Anuja Kolhatkar and many other donors who have chosen to remain anonymous or did not send emails along with their donations.

LEDeG Team

Last changed: Sep 10 2010 at 7:45 AM