COVID-19 Relief Work continues with Phase 2 and 3 of “Kundapur Market COVID Ready” Project

COVID-19 Relief Work continues with Phase 2 and 3 of “Kundapur Market COVID Ready” Project

Hello friends,

While we’ve not been active on Social Media for the past few months, there’s quite a bit that’s been happening on the ground with regard to our programs and activities. We’ve been continuing with our COVID-19 Relief work, organizing workshops for our Sea Turtle Conservation program, strengthening community relationships and building partnerships with local Government agencies, among others. We hope to engage with you more frequently. Watch this space for regular updates and stories from our Team and the communities we work with.

Background of “Kundapur Market COVID Ready (KMR)” project

The “Kundapur Market COVID Ready (KMR)” project was launched with the main objective of containing the second wave of the COVID-19 pandemic by promoting awareness among the general public, specifically the business community on following COVID-19 guidelines. The support that we received from the office of the District Commissioner (DC – Udupi district), Shri. K. Raju (Assistant Commissioner of Police ACP – Kundapur), Shri. Nagabushan (Taluk Health Officer), and local volunteers from Junior Chambers (JC) and Clean Kundapura Project (CKP) helped in the successful execution of Phase 1 in the last week of June.

Our Team visited 600 shops and informed shop owners about the objective of KMR project. They distributed Government approved posters on “COVID-19 prevention and safe practices” that was displayed by the shop keepers in their premises for the benefit of employees and customers.

Phase 2 of KMR:

Following the positive feedback we received from local Govt. authorities and the shop keepers, we proceeded with Phase 2 of KMR. The activities and outcomes achieved under Phased 2 are:

  • WhatsApp group for shop owners:

Out of the 600 shops that we visited in Phase-1, 571 shop owners agreed to play an active role in our initiative, and have joined our WhatsApp group under Phase 2 of KMR. The WhatsApp group was effectively used to broadcast important audio-video information related to COVID-19 among shop owners.

  • Workshop for shop owners:

A “Workshop and Awareness session” was conducted by our Team for shop owners on July 28th and 29th at Bhandarkar’s College hall, Kundapur. The objective of the workshop was to:

1. Provide an update on the current COVID-19 situation

2. Create a safe business environment for the vendors and customers in Kundapur Market area

3. Work out a collaborative action plan in containing the spread of COVID-19

Shri Harish (Police Sub Inspector, Kundapur) gave an update on COVID-19 and the action being taken on containing COVID 19 by each department. He also laid down the expectations from the vendors to contain the spread which was followed by an Open Forum on the challenges and solutions to keep our Markets safe. The workshop covered topics on: COVID 19 Prevention and Safe practices to be followed ; Importance of frequent hand washing, especially after handling Currency ; Keeping the money counter clean ; Importance of Social Distancing ; Demonstration on Hand washing techniques, thermal gun usage, and social distancing ; Precautions to be taken during travel.

Phase 3 of KMR:

Phase 3 which was implemented from August onwards included promoting COVID-19 awareness by disseminating information to the general public through audio and video messages in public places including Bus Stands, Buses, Autos, Restaurants and Saloons.

  • COVID-19 Awareness among public transport drivers

On August 24th, following an inauguration by the ACP Kundapur, we started our COVID-19 awareness campaign for auto, tempo and car drivers. Our staff (Dinesh, Venkatesh, Nagarathna, Geetha, Shalini, Nagaraja) and 2 local volunteers (Sooraj and Shravan) covered 8 places in Kundapur town – Main bus stand and Old bus stand (Team 1); Junior college and Parijatha circle (Team 2); Hotel Hariprasad and Shasthri circle (Team 3); LIC and Basrur Murukai (Team 4).

We informed the drivers about precautionary measures to be observed with passengers and also distributed posters and stickers for display in their vehicles and public places like bus stands and auto stands.

  • Donation of PPE kits

Due to the increasing number of COVID-19 cases in September, we received a request from the DC office, Udupi district for PPE kits and medical equipment like ventilators. On September 15th, our Team accompanied by Shri. Praveen Kumar handed over a cheque to the DC for purchase of 100 PPE kits to be donated to the Health Dept. The funds for these PPE kits were raised from our crowd-funding campaign in May.

  • Mask distribution in Kundapur

Continuing with our COVID-19 awareness drive for the public, on 29th October our staff visited the auto stands in Kundapur and distributed more than 1,000 masks to auto drivers, taxi drivers and matador drivers encouraging them to the follow the safe practice of wearing masks.

Comments are closed.