World Vision India team prepares for Cyclone Fani
World Vision India’s team is on the ground and ready to respond to Cyclone Fani, which continues to intensify, threatening millions of people in India.
Tropical storm Fani, (pronounced “foe-nee”) a severe cyclonic storm formed in the Bay of Bengal with wind gusts of up to 175 mph has completely moved to the land and the landfall processes have begun.
Several of the organisation’s program areas are in the direct path of Cyclone Fani. Thus it has activated the disaster preparedness plans in these locations at the community level as a precaution. Apart from the local staff in these locations, all twenty members of the disaster management team are ready for deployment. These include experts on child protection, health, WASH and shelter. As part of its immediate relief kit, around 150,000 PuR water purification sachets have been pre-positioned for distribution.
“World Vision India is monitoring and preparing to respond to Cyclone Fani. Our field teams are in touch with the District administration and coordinating with Inter-Agency Groups for a joint assessment and for a coordinated sectoral intervention and response to assess damages and needs, once the storm passes. The community-level disaster management taskforces who are the first responders and trained by WV India are also ready,” says Franklin Jones, Interim Head – Humanitarian and Emergency Affairs, WV India.
The Cyclone could affect local areas, including the coastal districts of Puri, Jagatsinghpur, Kendrapara, Bhadrak, Balasore, Mayurbhanj, Gajapati, Ganjam, Khordha, Cuttack and Jajpur.
The organisation prioritises investment in building community resilience and the resilience of children to cope with disasters. A prepared community makes for a resilient community. World Vision India is geared to provide a timely response that caters to needs of the most vulnerable communities, especially, children, if the need arises. It has also set aside 20% of its annual local programme budget to help start the response immediately after landfall.
As a humanitarian relief organization, in times of calamities and natural disasters like Tsunamis, earthquakes, floods and droughts, World Vision India not only provides immediate relief, it is committed to ensuring that the affected communities get back on their feet through long term rehabilitation initiatives. It is also a member of Sphere India, whose members include key nodal agencies from the Government of India, UN, INGOs, NGO Networks and National NGOs.
Local authorities in the areas of Andhra Pradesh, Odisha and West Bengal are taking necessary precautions to alert residents of the impending Cyclone which is predicted to cause heavy rainfall, strong winds and a storm surge. Over 850 shelters in the state are being made available to accommodate around 10 Lakhs of people.
