Members of Agneya, a Facebook collective of Malayali women, had a busy time when Kerala reeled under floods and landslides recently.

For, they were co-ordinating relief and rescue activities, from different parts of the World.

Formed in 2016, the 750-member group was known as Adukkalakkappuram, meaning beyond the kitchen, before being renamed Agneya in 2018.

The group organises freewheeling discussions and encourages members to write articles, opinions and memoirs on its Facebook page.

After 2018 Kerala floods, the group launched relief and rescue operations.

Since August 8, Agneya members were seen in action in landslide-hit Wayanad and Malappuram and flood-hit Kottayam and Alappuzha.

They collected goods from all districts to distribute in flood survivors' shelters and persuaded people to contribute money to the Chief Minister's Distress Relief Fund.

The group worked like a well-oiled machine for two weeks.

Many members worked on the ground. It set up a help desk to receive distress calls and a verification desk to check the authenticity of the requests.

The efforts were co-ordinated by its administrators from three time zones -- Dhanya Mohan in Kuwait, Deepa Ram in the United States and Smitha Vinod in Malappuram in Kerala.

“We attended hundreds of distress calls from different parts of Kerala during the last two weeks,” said Amrutha, who worked at the help desk, from her home in Thiruvananthapuram.

Simple work pattern

“We followed a simple work pattern,” said Athira, who worked at the help desk.

“But we rigorously checked the veracity of the calls,” she said.

The person at the help desk would enter the details of distress calls in a log book. “Soon, our volunteers Asha Baby and Amrutha would verify the calls. If the request was found to be genuine, they would pass the call details to Agneya volunteers on the ground and government officials. The task did not end there. Preetha would follow up each case to ensure the people in distress got the required help,” Athira explained.

Gratifying experience

Now, Agneya members say they are happy to help people in distress.

Athira said Agneya volunteers were in tears after helping landslide survivors in Malappuram.

“Members of nine families were relocated to a local auditorium,” she said. “Since it was not a registered relief camp, they did not get food and other relief materials. They were starving. When we came to know about it, we supplied food packets with in an hour,” she said.

“Our volunteers cried when they thanked them.”

On August 13, Amrutha came to know about 20 people stranded in flood-hit Veeyapuram in Alappuzha district. They had climbed to the terrace when the flood waters rose.

After receiving the call at 11.30, Amrutha alerted the flood control room and the district police chief.

“And they were rescued at 2am on August 14,” Amrutha said.

After the successful relief efforts, the group now plans to collect funds to support flood-hit families. “We will take a decision soon,” Amrutha said.