Caring For Life

Cipla Foundation along with our on-ground partners, Habitat for Humanity and Action Aid sprung into action to provide essential items in the immediate aftermath of the disaster.

Our relief efforts continued for 2 months ending in January 2016. Items such as dry food ration, utensils, blankets, clothes, water storage tanks and filters, Solar lanterns, tarpaulin sheets, mosquito nets, medicines, disinfectants, hygiene items and other essential products were handed over to families.

Soon after, our mid-term interventions were rolled out that continued for 6 months till July 2016.

Several health camps were set up across villages to assist children, women and elderly.

Cipla Foundation along with our on-ground partners, Habitat for Humanity and Action Aid sprung into action to provide essential items in the immediate aftermath of the disaster.

Our relief efforts continued for 2 months ending in January 2016. Items such as dry food ration, utensils, blankets, clothes, water storage tanks and filters, Solar lanterns, tarpaulin sheets, mosquito nets, medicines, disinfectants, hygiene items and other essential products were handed over to families.

Soon after, our mid-term interventions were rolled out that continued for 6 months till July 2016.

Community-managed child friendly spaces (CFS) were set up for children to safely recover from the trauma while their families attempted to restart their lives. Here, trained facilitators ran play and learning sessions, including those on sanitation, hygiene and child rights.

The floods not only washed away people's homes, but also their most valuable items, including their livelihoods. For people with disabilities, it was their life support - their crutches, wheelchairs and walking canes.

Cipla Foundation provided assistive devices to over 150 individuals with disabilities - these included smart canes, wheelchairs, tricycles, hearing aids, calipers and crutches. These devices gave people the comfort of mobility and the confidence to live with dignity. In addition, we supported livelihood training for women by skilling them in making jute products and quilts to help them restart a productive life.

Loss of home and shelters in disasters leads to long-term negative outcomes such as malnutrition, loss of livelihoods, migration from villages, increased poverty and enhanced social poverty and enhanced social disparities. The greater the vulnerability, the more severe the impact. As part of our long-term rehabilitation we focused on home reconstruction and repair. We prioritised people who were directly or indirectly coping with physical and intellectual disabilities as they face a much larger challenge to restore their lives. The process of reconstruction involved partial or complete relocation and rebuilding the essential physical infrastructure so that the vulnerability levels could be reduced. We rolled this out in the worst affected areas of Kancheepuram, Villupuram, Thiruvallur, Cuddalore and Tuticorin.

Building a new home is a time of celebration and gratitude. With great joy, communities organised a 'Bhoomi Poojan' ceremony to lay the foundation stone. With this, families also made a commitment to contribute their own physical labour towards the construction of their home.

DISABILITY-FRIENDLY Houses with ramps and railings that provide safety and accessibility.

SANITATION EQUIPPED Specially designed sanitation spaces inside the home to meet the needs of individuals with disabilities.

DISASTER RESILIENT Built with solid construction materials to withstand future disasters and tested for strength by Cipla trusted vendors.

LEGALLY ENTITLED House ownership and title paper drawn up for every house before being handed over to individuals. The houses comprise two rooms, a kitchen and a toilet.  

Over 2018-19, teams from across Cipla joined us in handling over 49 newly constructed homes to communities in Tamil Nadu. From contributing funds, sharing technical expertise to volunteering their time, Cipla teams have been part of this initiative in many ways. They have stood by Tamil Nadu.

Floods severely affected large parts of Assam, Mizoram and Bihar

Cipla Foundation together with local partners responded to the crisis. We reached out to over 10,000 individuals with immediate and mid-term relief to the affected communities.

We extended immediate relief to communities affected by landslide in Manipur, the floods in Kerala and Cyclone Gaja in Tamil Nadu.

In Kerala we donated medicines to the Indian Navy and reputed non-profit organizations during the floods. This benefitted 16,000+ patients. We also supported an innovative programme that integrated palliative care with disaster relief. In addition, assistance to dialysis patients for a period of three months, distributed education kit to 1000 children and handed over relief kits to over 500 families.

When Tamil Nadu was hit by Cyclone Gaja, we extended immediate relief through timely medicine donation and handed over tarpaulin sheets to over 550 families.

We reached out to the most remote places during the floods in Manipur. Our relief efforts ranged from handling over relief kits to distribution of utensils and tarpaulin sheets.

We have stood by Odisha and Maharashtra as it got hit by floods

During cyclone Fani, we reached out to communities in Odisha with ration, mosquito fogging machines and trampaulin sheets. In addition, we distributed seeds and undertook tree plantation drives to help farmers build back their life.

We have been supporting Maharashtra in the recent floods. 25,000 ORS packets have been donated to the Disaster Response Cell of State Government. Our mobile healthcare unit deployed for health camps, reached out to 1000+ families with free-of-cost health check-up.