Volunteers

Pathanamthitta District witnessed a devastating flood in 2018. Massive mobilisations of
people were required during this time for rescue, control room management, food supply and
packing activities. Lot of youngsters were engaged in many voluntary activities which was a
strong support for the District Administration. During 2019, Kerala was again hit by a severe
flood. Even though Pathanamthitta was not severely affected, the District Administration sent
aid to the northern districts of Kerala in the form of food kits and other essential commodities
with the assistance of volunteers.
Involvement of volunteers in District Administrations’s activities were very crucial and
beneficial for the smooth and fast running of the works. Considering this rising need of
voluntary help from the public, a volunteer team was officially formed in 2020 as an initiative
of the District Collector Pathanamthitta. This volunteer team is commanded by the District
Collector and known by the name – District Collector’s Volunteer Team (DC Volunteers).
The volunteer team has been very active in the Covid’19 Management Activities since March
2020. The works done by the district administration, with the help of volunteers along with
the various departments, received attention from National and International levels. These
works mainly included border and transit point screening, contact tracing, quarantine
adherence, call centre, food supply, covid care centre management and other associated
activities. An action plan for flood mitigation was also prepared with the involvement of
volunteers with the District Disaster Management Authority. Emergency Response Teams are
also working with the involvement of DC volunteers to get field data about flood, landslides,
rain and local news very quickly during natural calamities. This enabled the administration to
deal with the disaster more efficiently. Currently the volunteers undertake various projects
for the betterment of people and eventually focusing on development of the district.