On 22 July 2021, torrential rains battered six districts of Maharashtra Raigad, Ratnagiri, Sindhudurg Kolhapur Sangli and Jalgaon. Heavy rainfall triggered landslides in many places and flooded the rivers, resulting in flooding of vast areas affecting lakhs of people. More than 1020 villages were affected in these districts with no access to drinking water and disrupted power supply. Floods adversely impacted several houses and people were evacuated and shifted to safe places. Thousands of trucks were stuck on National Highway linking Mumbai and Bengaluru in Kolhapur district.
There was a need to provide immediate relief to the impacted people. Health and hygiene kits, safe drinking water, resting kits, shelter kits and vector protection kits were required. Having spent few days in contaminated water, flood affected communities were exposed to various diseases and there was an urgent need to provide them with primary health care services.
With support from Johnson & Johnson, AMERICARES conducted need assessment on the ground through primary and secondary data and support the procurement, packaging and transportation of relief kits. 6835 families from the flood affected districts were supported through this activity. The support provided to each family included Health and Hygiene Kits (oral kit, soap, sanitary pad, etc.), Resting Kits (Floor mat, bedsheets, Mosquito nets), Clean Water Kits (jerry cans, ORS, Purification tablets) & Shelter Kits (Tarpaulin for temporary shelter).