In the aftermath of Cyclone Michaung on December 4, large parts of Chennai were heavily inundated with many stranded without access to even basic necessities. The scale of the waterlogging also delayed rescue attempts and quick access to emergency medical care. While the beleaguered city struggled to establish some level of normalcy, many of its citizens and public services alike went beyond the call of duty to help those who were the worst hit.
There are many such stories that have surfaced in the week since the cyclone and one such touching incident was of head constable Dayalan from Thoraipakkam Police station. The image of him wading through knee-deep water carefully cradling an infant while the child’s parents followed him weighed down by their belongings immediately went viral. Despite the bleak situation, Dayalan can also be seen smiling down at the rescued child in his arms. Taking cognisance of his efforts, he was felicitated by the Commissioner of Police (CoP) Sandeep R Rathore.
When a construction site in Velachery caved in on December 4, causing a person working in the site and four more in the vicinity to fall in, it was traffic head constable J Prabhakaran who called out two victims with the help of people around. Soon Traffic ACP Sudhakar joined him and rescued one more person amidst the heavy rain. They could however not save the two other men who fell inside. Naresh and Jayaseelan’s bodies were recovered December 8.
Meanwhile, the 108 public ambulance service staff put together make-shift rafts in order to reach patients in waterlogged areas and to carry out rescue operations. The rafts were constructed from plastic barrels and spine boards, The Hindu reported. These rafts were also used to transport oxygen cylinders for patients stranded in their homes. While their ingenuity has been widely praised, it does raise the question of why public emergency services are forced to take such measures in the absence of proper equipment.
Popular Tamil actor and comedian Bala stepped in to provide monetary aid to the residents of Pallavaram, Anakaputhur and Pammal. Bala gave a sum of Rs 1000 to 200 families in these areas, spending Rs 2 lakhs from his own savings. The actor also hit flood-hit neghbourhoods to prove relief material.
As was the case during the 2015 floods, it was Chennai’s fishermen who took their boats into inundated waters across the city alongside official rescue teams such as the National Disaster Relief Force (NDRF) and the State Disaster Response Force (SDRF). Commissioned by the state’s Fisheries Department, the fishermen carried out rescue operations in Meiyur, Kasimedu and Panaiyur areas.
Even fishermen who had not been officially commissioned and hailed from areas such as Urur Kuppam, Odai Kuppam and Thiruvanmiyur Kuppam went into the flood waters in Pallikaranai, Velachery, Thoraipakkam, Taramani and Thiruvanmiyur as early as December 5 morning to rescue stranded people, TNIE reports.
Similarly, fishermen from Ponneri have been transporting relief material and food to interior waterlogged villages near Pulicat lake for several days now. These villages, consisting mostly of Dalit and Adivasi communities, are among the worst hit in the area, but had not received adequate aid from the state government apparatus. Based on news from citizen activists, for example, at least until December 9, residents of Kadalkanni village near Pulicat had been cut off without even food or water for 6 days since the cyclone hit.
Funds for the relief material reaching these villages are being provided by the public including many like popular playback singer Chinmayi Sripada, Shantanu Bhagyaraj and others. Celebrities like RJ Vijay, VJ Anjana and Tenma amplified volunteer requests.
On December 7, SouthFirst reported how a lab technician identified as Munusamy, travelled 200 kilometres to help a 2-year-old cancer patient. A donor from the Andamans, unrelated to the child, had come forward to donate bone marrow for transplantation. However, the donor had to be provided with growth hormone injections in order for doctors to extract the required life-saving stem cells. According to SouthFirst, the donor had to receive his second injection on the day of the cyclone. Munusamy travelled 200 kilometres on his motorbike from his home in Kadambathur to Old Perangalathur, where the donor was staying for the duration of the medical process.
In the case of the Pulianthope tragedy, even though the baby’s life could not be saved, the neighbourhood came together to try and save the mother. When all attempts to bring an ambulance to the house were unsuccessful, neighbours not only helped with the delivery, they also transported the mother, Sowmya, to the hospital in a cycle rickshaw despite the heavy flooding in the area. Without any means to sever the umbilical cord and needing urgent medical attention, Sowmya was taken to Muthu Hospital, but was denied treatment. A trans woman from the neighbourhood argued with the hospital staff, desperately trying to ensure help for Sowmya. “I told them [the hospital staff] that I do not have any kids or family or any lineage. We are here to save this baby’s life. As a doctor, how can you send us away like this? Can’t you save us?”, she earlier told TNM.
Well-known Chennai-based activists and groups like Chennai Cares, Volunteer for India, Anonymous Chennai Volunteers, Vaishnavi Jayakumar, Shalin Maria Lawrence, Kuyil Mozhi, Divya Marunthaiah, Athisha, Sarayu Raghavan have been seen organising help through social media platforms and on the ground, ensuring that food, water and other basic essentials reach the most vulnerable sections of the city.