Extending a Helping Hand to Balasore Train Tragedy Survivors

At least 288 people died and over 1000 were injured in the tragic three-train accident at Bahanaga Bazar Station in the Balasore district of Odisha on June 2, 2023. 

How Your Donation Will Help Oxfam India:

1. Provision of psychosocial counselling & support: Oxfam India has experience of providing trauma counselling and psychosocial support to disaster-affected people. Oxfam India will activate its team of psychosocial counsellors from Odisha to reach Balasore to counsel the family/friends of those deceased and injured. 
2. Provision of referral and guidance: Arrangements are being made for providing timely and accurate information to people regarding available medical, transport and other required supports. Oxfam India will provide support to families/friends of injured and deceased passengers to locate, identify and transportation to their respective areas without much hassle. 
3. Provision of ‘ready to eat’ food: Oxfam India will make arrangements for food for survivors, their friends/relatives and locals actively engaged in rescue and other operations both at the location of the incident as well as at the hospitals. 
4. Provision of safe drinking water: Oxfam India will supply drinking water and provide hand washing facilities around the area of the accident as well as in hospitals treating the injured. 

About Oxfam India:

Oxfam first came to India in 1951 to provide famine relief in Bihar. Since then, it has participated in India’s nation-building process in different ways. Oxfam’s support to Amul, the dairy cooperative society based in Anand, Gujarat in the 1960s helped it to become the largest milk brand in India and one of the largest food products in the world. In 1971, it recruited doctors and medical students to provide medical assistance to refugees coming to India from East Pakistan. During the Kargil War, Oxfam provided crucial relief material to communities on the Indian side of the border. Oxfam was at the forefront of the rescue, relief and rehabilitation efforts after the Tsunami hit the Tamil Nadu coast in 2005. Oxfam India has in the last 70 years saved millions of people affected due to floods, cyclones, and earthquakes.

During the pandemic, since 2020, Oxfam India reached out to over half a million people with food, safety and hygiene kit, and over 10000 people with cash to help them with their immediate needs in 17 states. During the second wave, we set up 10 Oxygen generating plants and provided life-saving medical equipment and diagnostic kits to over 141 district-level hospitals, 171 Primary Health Centres, and 167 Community Health Centres. We trained and provided safety kits to nearly 70,000 ASHA workers in 9 states, who are the backbone of the primary healthcare system.

Oxfam India’s humanitarian team has been one of the first to respond to cyclones, floods, landslides, and earthquakes. Since 2021, we reached out to over 8000 people in Assam, Kerala, Uttarakhand, Bihar, and West Bengal. Since 2008, Oxfam India has provided relief to lakhs of people through its disaster relief response. This includes crucial food aid, water, hygiene kits, shelter kits and life-saving equipment.

In 2008, Oxfam India became an independent affiliate and an Indian NGO. Oxfam India is an autonomous Indian organisation and has staff and board members from within India. Oxfam India is a member of the global confederation of 21 Oxfams across the world. The government of India has registered Oxfam India as a non-profit organisation under Section 8 of the Indian Companies Act, 2013. (www.oxfamindia.org)

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