The relief phase nobody funds

Relief distribution is the part of disaster work that is easy to fund, easy to photograph, and — measured over a year — the smaller half of the problem.

What the third week looks like

The water is down. The house is standing, or half of it. And the family discovers three things in the same afternoon: the seed stored for the next sowing has rotted, the goat that survived has nothing to eat, and the steel box holding the ration card, the land record and two school certificates has been under silt for nine days.

Without those documents, a family is invisible to every scheme designed for exactly this moment.

What phase two costs

Seed and fodder for one family: ₹2,400. A document-replacement camp serving 300 families: ₹1,10,000, most of which is people-hours — a coordinator sitting in a district office for five days per batch.

What we are asking for

Of the ₹30 lakh target for the Assam campaign, ₹11 lakh is phase two. It is the line that risks going unfunded, because by the time we spend it the news cycle has moved on.

If you are choosing where a gift goes, this is the least photogenic and most useful place to put it.