Climate Action
Initiatives > Climate Action
& Emergency Response
Natural Disasters are reoccurring events that many people in India have simply had to deal with as a part of life.
When a life-changing event like this happens, a timely response is essential in saving lives as well as helping affected communities rebuild their everyday existence. The Hans Foundation has always been on the forefront of relief work when natural disasters strike – working with governments and specialized partners to effectively assist affected communities.
Protection of the Forests of Uttarakhand from Forest Fires
Almost 71% of Uttarakhand’s total geographical area is covered in forests. Since 2000, forest fires have affected over 48,000 hectares of the state. Uncontrolled fires contributed heavily to the depletion and exhaustion of natural forests, biodiversity, soil fertility and sustainable forest-based production. The Hans Foundation is working with the Forest Department of Uttarakhand on a pilot program, designed to alleviate this problem by sustainably reducing the incidence of forest fires in the targeted area of Garhwal by leveraging the involvement of the local community. THF works on Mitigation and Preparedness to complement the forest department’s work on Recovery.
Flood Relief in Affected Areas across India
Floods have become an annual recurring tragedy in many parts of the country, including Uttarakhand, Kerala, Bihar, and Assam. The Hans Foundation constantly monitors the on-ground situation during these disasters and works to provide humanitarian support and necessary relief material to affected people in flood struck areas. Working in coordination with local authorities the Foundation ensures essentials such as food, medicine, water purification tablets, blankets, tarpaulins, and hygiene kits to affected areas.
Setting up Oxygen Plants
The Hans Foundation has successfully set up Oxygen plants in UP, Jharkhand and Nagaland in collaboration with the respective state governments. These Oxygen Plants have been essential not only for the response to the pandemic but as part of strengthening the permanent public healthcare infrastructure at the state level.
Strengthening the Public COVID Response by various State Governments
During the peak of the pandemic, the Foundation worked in coordination with multiple state governments to ensure infrastructure to handle the increasing number of COVID patients. In Uttarakhand, the Hans Foundation supported setting up 135 quarantine centres that could accommodate up to 10,000 people. Besides this, the foundation assisted various state governments by providing a total number of 2,650 Oxygen concentrators, 5200 medical bedding sets and 1000 Oxygen flowmeters in Haryana, Madhya Pradesh, Delhi, Chhattisgarh, Rajasthan, Uttar Pradesh, Nagaland, Karnataka, Jharkhand and Odisha.
Distribution of Masks, Sanitation Kits, and Household Essentials
Working with governments, through grassroots partners and via own field staff, the Hans Foundation distributed more than 50,000 hygiene and sanitation kits, around 1,50,000 masks, gloves, face shields and 7000 litres of hand sanitiser in Delhi, Uttarakhand, Rajasthan and Himachal Pradesh during the peak of the crisis. Additionally, when the migrants started travelling back to their villages barefoot and hungry, THF along with its partners across India briskly moved into collaborative actions with the local authorities to deliver rations and other necessary commodities on large scale.
