Dotcoms get a lifeline — fund collections and food distribution for quake relief

“Thanks to this wonderful invention of Internet, we have already collected over Rs 300 crore from NRIs all over the world in the last three days; and our volunteers who have gone to the remotest of places in Kutch are constantly updating us on the latest list of survivors and the dead,” informs Shah who himself has not had proper sleep for the last 48 hours. In fact, rescue teams from Turkey and other countries have already arrived on request from Panjokutch (Our kutch).

Seven months ago when Shah’s engineer son, Pankaj Shah, had launched the site Panjokutch.com, the dotcom bubble was almost on the verge of collapse. But today, Pankaj Shah is happy that if not profit, at least the site is being `blessed by million hearts (hits) per day’ as it has become the most popular quake site today.

There are also several more private sites such as Kuthinfo.com, Ahmedabad.com and groma.org (of the Grain Rice Oilseeds Merchants Associations) that have also set up helplines on the Net, painstakingly collecting every little detail (including the names of buildings that have collapsed) which may be of some help to any individual in any corner of the world.

“We have been getting calls from the World Bank, General Motors, Wipro, and thousands of NRIs who wish to donate for the quake relief. In fact the most popular sites like Yahoo, CNN have also recommended our site for quake reference, and Rediff has sought our permission to carry the quake related info,” says Pankaj Shah, the managing director of Panjokutch.com. Of the Rs 300 crore collected by them, Rs 80 crore has come from Mumbai residents only.

In fact the avalanche of funds in cash and kind was getting out of hand for Panjokutch since Tuesday, and they had to ask the donors to stop sending food packets. “We had requested all the Kutchis to just send three `theplas’ (a type of Gujarati roti) and laddoos for the quake victims, as it can be enough for the relief measures. Our volunteers have also gone to all the city hospitals to report on the condition of the patients brought from Gujarat,” says Shah senior.

A member of Kutchinfo.com reveals that they have collected donations over US dollars 25,000 (roughly Rs 12.5 lakh) so far and their grassroot volunteers are constantly giving updates to the Mumbai base using satellite phone services. “The Net is really redifining its role now, and the quake has literally gone online. We are receiving nearly 3000 to 5000 messages in our Mumbai base,” he informs, adding that they have got minute details on the villages of Gundala, Bachau and Manfara among others.

For example, log on the Net and one can instantly know that Villages Andhoi and Anjar are fully devastated, Adipur is maximum affected, while Bhambhadai is safe. In Mothara, all houses damaged but no casualties while Halapur is heavily damaged.

While these private sites are literally zeal personified on the Net, the official Gujarat state government site: Gujaratindia.com is rather static. It basically gives the official telephone numbers of some of the bureaucrats handling the quake relief work and list of banks where donations are accepted all over the globe.