The recent downpour and severe weather in Auckland and nearby cities, which led to flooding over the last weekend, has been a nightmare for many.
However, the Indian community organisations have come together to help as many Kiwi-Indians as possible in this emergency.
Narendra Bhana, President of the New Zealand Indian Central Association (NZICA), appreciated the Aucklanders' compassion during this time. Talking to Indian Weekender, he said, "Aucklanders have shown incredible resilience and kindness during the state of emergency. We have been in regular contact with the Civil Defence team, and they have informed us that the extent of the damage has not been fully assessed yet. We will continue our dialogue with the Civil Defence team and see how we can assist them.”
A team of dedicated volunteers from Auckland Indian Diaspora, Bhartiya Samaj Charitable Trust, and Roopa Aur Aap also sprang into action as soon as news reports of people getting affected by flash floods in Auckland surfaced last weekend.
Jeet Suchdev, Chairperson of Bhartiya Samaj Charitable Trust, gave details about the same, saying, "Our team has been busy identifying the need for emergency supplies and goods and providing the flood victims with whatever supplies they need. We have seen how people have suffered and endeavoured to help them at the earliest.”
The Bhartiya Samaj team has supplied several emergency supplies, including food, toiletries, sanitary products, cleaning supplies, cardboard boxes and car seats for children at Massey’s Albany Centre, St. Leonards Road School, Kelston Centre and the Wesley Primary School centre.
“The distribution of supplies has been made possible with the support and contribution from Foundation North, and volunteering team from Auckland Indian Diaspora, Bhartiya Samaj Charitable Trust, Roopa Aur Aap and The Parakeets," said Suchdev.
Suneel Kuncha, President of the New Zealand Telugu Association (NZTA), also revealed how most of the Kiwi-Telugu community is still in shock and slowly recovering from the losses caused by the flood, which was not heard or seen by a majority of the Indian community in Auckland.
“We at NZTA offered lunch packs to the affected people by dropping off the food at their doorstep. Moreover, we had been regularly updating the community on what's been happening with the flood situation and where to get immediate help from the government agencies. Thanks to the government officials who very sympathetically reacted and helped out of their way by giving payment cards to the community to buy food, clothing and bedding. I am very proud and have the utmost respect for our community as they offered shelter and food to needy people. For example, a pizza company owner based in Papakura offered to provide free pizzas to the needy.”
The Auckland Indian Association's President, Dhansukh Lal, also revealed how he got many calls from community members seeking help. He said, "Over the weekend, I sent out messages to all our members asking if anyone needed assistance. Both on Saturday and Sunday, I received several calls from members whose houses suffered some damage due to the flooding. Some were seeking advice about where to get help from. Luckily, none of our members needed to be evacuated. I went out to help friends in our neighbourhood clean up their garages.”
Daljit Singh, President of the New Zealand Central Sikh Association (NZCSA), which is a national body that brings together 25 Gurdwaras, Sikh sports clubs, Sikh associations and other bodies spread across NZ under a single umbrella, also appreciated how the community and volunteer came together in this time of crisis to help each other. He said, "It is heartening to see the Indian Sikh community coming together and helping each other and the wider community. Sikh Community started to help immediately after learning about the damage. We should be proud of this brotherhood and compassion as a community. It's not faith-based but instead is there as we all are New Zealanders and there to help our wider whanau. I rang on behalf of the NZCSA and Supreme Sikh Society to North Shorre and New Lynn Gurdwara to help immediately, and they have been doing so since then.”
Singh revealed that the central hub, Takanini Gurdwara, is supplying essentials and the preparation of food parcels about 1000 each day are also done by Takanini Gurdwara. “After the floods, while there were power cuts at many places, many people were unable to cook meals and therefore, hot food was in high demand, and we started to supply and work together immediately with individuals, BBM Mangere, MUMA, Whanau Ora Community Club, Kelston Community Club, Guru Nanak Kitchen in CBD, Pride Project and many more,” Singh added
According to Singh, government agencies are somehow not interested in dealing with Asian communities and do not work closely with them as they should. If they do, only the Sikh community could provide up to 50,000 meals a day in case of a disaster like this.
Shefali Mehta, a known community leader and an active member of Rotary, said how the Indian community coming together at this time of need is exemplary. Talking to Indian Weekender, she added, “It was devastating to see what some of the Aucklanders had to face in terms of damage due to the flooding and wild weather over the past few days. There was damage to property, cars and household materials due to water seeping in. As a community leader and a proud Rotarian, I have tried my best to provide food, clothes and other necessities to those who need them. We all worked as a family and came together to help the member of the Indian community and wider diaspora. I urge everyone to do their bit to help each other in whatever way they can, as we all need to stand with each other."
Even those who the deadly floods have impacted couldn't thank the community organisations for the incredible work they did during this time of crisis.
Revealing her story, one of the many impacted by the flooding said, “We were at Wesley Centre to have some food and take some emergency supplies to our temporary accommodation. We lost almost everything in flood. That is where we met a volunteer of Bhartiya Samaj. We told him he needed a car seat more than anything so that we could travel safely with the kids. We were so happy to see the car seat arriving in an hour. We want to thank the entire team of Auckland Indian Diaspora."