As part of its mission to help communities in distress, PRASAD responds to natural and manmade disasters by providing food, shelter, medical supplies and emergency services immediately and, over the long term, by helping survivors and those affected rebuild their lives.

Whether it’s been earthquakes, tsunamis or hurricanes, teams of PRASAD volunteers have rushed to the sites of calamities and provided relief, hope and courage to those affected. PRASAD's most recent disaster relief work has been in response to the tsunami that struck Southeast Asia in late 2004 and the Katrina/ Rita hurricanes (along the US Gulf Coast) that occurred in the summer of 2005.

Tsunami in Southeast Asia

In the aftermath of the massive earthquake and tsunami that struck Southeast Asia in December 2004, PRASAD received thousands of financial contributions for relief efforts in the region. Funds for immediate relief aid were distributed through Direct Relief International, a not-for-profit organization based in Santa Barbara, California. PRASAD and Direct Relief International have a long association, having worked together since 1977 to improve the quality and availability of healthcare services in Maharashtra, India.

After the tsunami, Direct Relief International flew emergency aid and medical supplies into Sri Lanka and South India on a daily basis in response to direct requests from organizations on the ground. PRASAD volunteers also worked closely with local organizations, such as The Round Table, in Pondicherry, India, who provided canned food and rice as well as stoves and cooking supplies to thousands of families living in relief camps, and with Help for the Helpless, in Sri Lanka, who specialized in helping fishing villages recover from the disaster.

In Northeast Sri Lanka, PRASAD sponsored a team of volunteer doctors from Mt. Sinai Hospital in New York that provided medical care to tsunami refugees living in temporary camps in and around Thirukkovil. The team set up a mobile clinic, in partnership with another non-government relief agency funded by Oxfam Australia, to offer medical care to the people – especially the children - living in temporary camps. They regularly visited five camps (a different one each day) with hundreds of children in each. The team also set up nutritional clinics and offered trainings to local health workers to enhance and expand their skills.

In Welligama, Sri Lanka, several hundred people died and thousands of homes were damaged or completely destroyed. There, PRASAD supported the efforts of local PRASAD volunteers to help find bodies, rescue people swept into the jungle by the waves, and evacuate many tsunami survivors to Colombo, the capital of Sri Lanka. The volunteers also distributed food, water, medicines and clothing to those in need and helped set up temporary camps to shelter people who had lost their homes.

In addition to providing immediate relief, PRASAD’s practice has been to work with communities over a period of time until they are back on their feet and living in a sustainable way. One example of this approach was in the village of Kovalam, in Southern India, where PRASAD helped the village fishermen to repair and rebuild their damaged fishing boats and to obtain good quality fishing nets. A local PRASAD volunteer, along with other aid workers and the non-government organization, Help for the Helpless, coordinated closely with the village fishermen to accomplish this goal. As a result of this collective effort, the fishermen were back on the water within just a month of the disaster.

Hurricanes Katrina and Rita, U.S.

As in Southeast Asia, after Hurricanes Katrina and Rita struck along the U.S. Gulf Coast in the summer of 2005, PRASAD once again partnered with Direct Relief International to distribute emergency aid to where it was most needed. Texas and Louisiana health clinics that were serving evacuees from the affected regions were identified, and much-needed medicine and other supplies were provided to those facilities.

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