An OYO member narrates his experience during the Chennai floods

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December 9th, 2015 by Abhijit Chakraborty

It all started on the night of 3rd December when we started an intra-company SOS group to get information about our Chennai employees amidst all the chaos. We were shocked to find that twenty-three out of our total city team of sixty-three had not been contactable for more than 48 hours. Two of them had been reportedly rescued on boats and at least one person was without food and water.

This shook us to the core and sparked a series of efforts planned and spearheaded by our Bangalore team. By 4th Dec morning we laid down a plan to send a truck of supplies full of voluntary contributions from OYO employees. Soon the news spread that OYO was sending in supplies and we saw people from IIM Bangalore, eBay, Bosch, Redcastle etc dropping in supplies and cash at our office. We decided to convert the office basement into a makeshift storage for supplies.

Within four hours we had more items than what a single truck could handle, so we ordered one more truck.

Finally, four of our employees along with four more of their friends left for Chennai with two trucks full of supplies – water, food, medicines, etc. The journey from Bangalore to Chennai was impacted by heavy rains at various points. The trucks stopped at Nungambakkam and thereafter, the teams split into two parts to aid faster distribution of supplies. One team went to Koyambedu and distributed the relief material. The major part of the supplies was taken to the Snapdeal godown in Ponnamalle where we unloaded the supplies for dispatch in further smaller vehicles.The other team went to Adampakkam and Mudichur where an NGO helped to distribute the supplies. The team also rescued a person who was stranded in water for more than 24 hours.

Next, our team went to a school in Thiruverkadu which was sheltering around 200 people and distributed the relief material. The entire relief team was supported by the local police and authorities which made the operations easier.

In all we covered following places – Manapakkam, Sembakkam, Thiruverkadu and areas around Porur lake.

Next we loaded the supplies back in a truck and headed to Spectrum Mall in Perambur based on a request received by IRS Officer Deputy commissioner Arun Prasad who guided us to the places where help was acutely needed.

Sunday morning saw the coming together of Deputy commissioner Arun Prasad IRS, Perambur Spectrum Mall owner Babu Citti and seven members from our Chennai Team. Mr Babu arranged for SUVs to help us dispatch supplies in low-lying areas. we gathered 8 SUVs and covered Manali, Thangal Perungulam, villages near Ponneri, Vyasarpadi, Thiru VK Nagar, Periyapalayam, Manimangalam, Thiruporur, Payanur, Vinayaka Mission College and areas near Chembarampakkam lake.

The items distributed included biscuits, rusk, bread, jam, water bottles, napkins, diapers, candles, match boxes, juice tetrapacks, some fruits, medicines, mosquito coils, etc.

To all the OYO Employees and many others who trusted our efforts, transferred their money and sent in their supplies with the single aim to help Chennai, we want to say, “Thank You”. We are still left with some money and we are planning to transfer to the same to a relief fund that will be used for rehabilitation work for the people of Chennai.

(Thanks to our team for sharing the above updates with us. Our special helpline number 7210108210 is still active and we are request anyone who still needs any help to immediately reach out to us.)

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