Many of you may wonder why I titled my blog: The Climate Social Story of Kerala.
The main reason is the unprecedented social connect demonstrated by the local people and communities to reach out to the distressed, post-Wayanad tragedy.
Resilience
What caught my attention first was the cooperative approach of the community and the government to handling a climate incident of this scale. I was impressed by the fast pace of mobilization for search and rescue operations, medical support, and food and shelter.
Evolving social fabric
The second, and most important point for me was the human connect and compassion for the orphaned children and the elderly. This at a time when many families are ruthlessly shifting their parents to old age homes in the state.
Another thing that caught my attention was the manner in which people came forward to help the children and the elderly.
I am listing below three key examples:
- Breast-feeding infants
- Adopting orphaned children
- Adopting elderly people
The kindness no doubt manifests the significance of the S-factor of the social component in ESG, which is at play in this instance.
Unlike corporate compliance, which mandates enterprises conduct business ethically and socially responsibly or spend CSR funds for social good, this kindness wave was motiveless.
It was a perfect setting of how people in a tight-knit community can selflessly put others before them, open doors to neighbours on even strangers in this case who may have been washed in the torrent from far-off villages.
Beyond the blame game:
The third thing that impressed me was a united political soul, one bared of ideological and political differences.
The netas were united and concentrated on search and rescue during the tragedy instead of gaining political mileage.
This rare unity in politics empowered the chief minister to take quick decisions and focus on saving maximum lives (humans and animals), and other rescue efforts.
Ofcourse, as is the normal course in politics, there was a fall-out. But that was after the emergency had passed and the primary work was completed.
From my perspective, what is now required is hard-core action. And here are some of the immediate action points I can think about.
- Educate the local bodies and the communities about the impact of climate change.
- Widen the scope of discussion and include the communities to prepare for climate incidents.
- Use technology for prediction and mapping
- Create a social system that can spearhead rebuilding
- Create a dedicated fund for the entire activity outside the existing funds.
Our take:
The people of Kerala have set an example for the rest of the country and the world to follow. Such humanitarian acts go a long way in not just keeping the social fabric connected but also igniting HOPE in people that All’s not Lost yet.