General Instructions to the Volunteers who are planning to visit the Relief Camps

General Instructions to the Volunteers who are planning to visit the Relief Camps

1. Gather as much information as possible well ahead, before you reach the camps. If possible have local volunteers for assessment and deciding the right place to ensure to provide right service
2. Please don’t take the very old/damaged clothes as they might be thrown off in the local Check posts. New cloths/neatly washed/ironed/packed cloths only recommended as suggested by the Govt / NGO parties
3. Please don’t carry the Cooked foods like Cooked Rice items / Chapathis / Parottas etc.,
4. Any material you carry to the camps will be screened by the local police stations / Check posts / Revenue department / District Collector Office. In our case, we used some political influence with the help of our local volunteer to carry all our collected/newly bought materials to the relief camps. The Agencies are not quite helpful and at times this could be frustrating
5. Volunteers should have the TT injection before they reach the camps. It is even recommended to take it in your place itself. If not, you could take it form the local Govt hospitals. You should also take the disposable needles as it would be out of stock in Govt hospitals (as happened in our case!)
6. Carry and keep the basic FIRST-AID medicines/ Masks / Dry food items / Sufficient water to the volunteers
7. As the crowd in camps/villages is very huge, it will be very difficult to distribute the materials/food items to the affected people if the number of volunteers is very less. In such case, you could also seek the local NGO volunteers' help.
8. For easy mobility to the Relief Camps, please go with the banners of Organization Names/location details, the registration copies of organization and the id cards of volunteers, if exists. Beware of the local brokers who might deviate your trip
9. Take sufficient quantity of food packs/materials/cloths in thousands (depends on the area) instead of variety of items. When you distribute the items, people expect everyone should get it Equally Distributed
10. Categorize and pack the items accordingly for the easy distribution. You could even make the sets to make your efforts less during the distribution.

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