AN OFFICE DEVASTATED, A TEAM UNITED

An Office Devastated, A Team United Calamity has gripped the state of Kerala in the form of the worst floods to hit in over 120 years. All residents, rich and poor alike, are struggling with loss of life, home and property. All of our employees and their families have been impacted in one way or another by the unexpected lash of rains and the ensuing floods. Although lives were lost, countless lives were also saved by the efforts of the Indian Army, social workers, rescue professionals, fishermen and almost every general citizen. As of August 23, 2018, there are still over 700,000 people who are housed at various relief camps, their houses having suffered damages, which are in most cases, complete destruction. The sheer number of people who have lost everything including their houses, vehicles, and everything inside them, is devastating. We, as Ruby Seven Studios, have many employees who have suffered great loss at the hands of nature this last week. Thankfully everyone is safe, but some have had a considerable amount of damage to their possessions. We as a company are trying our best to raise internal funds to help them and their families get back on track. It also becomes our corporate responsibility to help the general situation in the state. Volunteers from our office have been working at various relief camps and villages ever since the tragedy stuck, and everyone else has been contributing to the efforts in any way they can. As a part of corporate social responsibility, we have been looking at ways we can help the community and we have come up with a plan to help the drinking water situation. Kochi, where Ruby Seven Studios is located, has many rural areas outside the main city which have been riddled with the problem of potable drinking water. There are villages who had to rely on a single water source for the entire population, and yet wait for transported drinking water (containers) for their day to day needs. With the floods, their water sources have been polluted and people in various places are struggling, and at times, fighting, for the arriving drinking water in tankers. This, we believe, is a problem we can help with. We are setting up an initiative of providing industry standard water filtering systems, which can filter and convert 500 Litres of regular flowing water to drinking water an hour, as mobile as well as permanent installations in affected areas. A manufacturer for the same has promised to provide us the units at only the manufacturing cost for our efforts. The plan is to first bring one or two installations as a MOBILE system, installed on the back of trucks, and do rapid visits at affected areas, connect the system to the local water sources, and provide immediate water relief to every locality in a matter of hours. The trucks can then move to a different locality and serve immediate purposes there, thereby helping with the contaminated water problem. Once the immediate problem is dealt with in the next few weeks, we intend to set up permanent installation at the most water-threatened sites in publicly accessible areas, so that it can provide clean drinking water to an entire village with its capacity. One water filtration unit of the above specification, while having a market value of INR 450,000, can be obtained for approximately INR 300,000. We will also have to arrange a truck for temporary installation and maintain the route and stops for at least 8 weeks. Some of our employees have come forward expressing interest in taking up this responsibility. The initial plan is to have one or two trucks mobile as soon as possible, and once the initial disease scare is subdued, identify locations to do permanent installations. We plan to install at least 5-10 installations, depending on the funds we manage to raise. Based on a rough estimate, we can fund this initiative for approximately INR 1,500,000 (Around USD 20,000). Any contributions you may choose to make to this humble venture will be greatly appreciated. And we strongly believe that the good Karma will come back to you when you need it the most. Please click here to donate: https://www.gofundme.com/help-kochi-flood-victims  Below are a few pictures of a similar initiative, but as of now, there is only one truck in service and the need for it is much bigger. We believe we will be able to add to it effectively. We humbly request all our friends, patrons and well-wishers, to help us bring this good deed to the people of Kerala. Any amount can be contributed, however small. And we promise to make sure that every penny is used to make a deserving person’s life better.