Some say it took 30 odd years for Mumbai City to witness its first natural disaster i.e. the Mumbai Floods on 26th July, 2005. The city came to a grinding halt for nearly two days. 150,000 people were stranded in railways stations alone. Mumbai suffered an estimated loss of 2,500 crore rupees. 1 million people were left homeless. 5 million mobile and land lines crashed. In certain areas of the city there was no electricity for 5 days.

What came out of this tragedy was awareness that there was no systematic system in place to respond when a disaster occurs. An effective response to a disaster ensures that people think “Disaster” not just when it occurs but also during peace time. Communities that were affected did not know whom to approach for help and were not educated or geared with adequate disaster management know on how to cope with such a situation.  Also, citizens did not know how to get in touch with their local ward officers, police stations or hospitals to seek help. Other than one citywide telephone directory service, there was really no system in place that would provide all this relevant information. Local NGOs and citizen's groups had only a minimal or non-existent platform to network and optimize their energies and competencies.

A disaster can only be addressed at ground zero level as the geographic areas may be cut off. There needs to be squads of assistance and relief that work locally and immediately.

The Corporate Ward Adoption Program will have an overarching city focus as well a specific focus on each of the 24 Municipal Wards which the city is divided into. Local Ward Resource Centers would be set up in each ward which will house a local helpline where the local citizens can call up in times of need. The Ward Resource Center will function as a Helpline for everyday needs and more importantly act as a hub for organizing the various voluntary organizations and individuals all of whom can come together and leverage their strengths. This network will be engaged in understanding Disaster Management and respond in times of need.

Mumbai Helpline encourages corporates to adopt wards and help set-up and facilitate Citizen's WRCs with the objective of facilitating and strengthening the efforts of citizens groups, NGOs and BMC to help transform wards into tangibly cleaner and more organized sustainable places to live in, and also simultaneously creating a network on the ground that is trained and aligned with each other to help address any disaster in the future.

The Corporate WRC would provide opportunities for citizens to come together and work together towards acting as catalyst of sustainable change in their communities.

These Ward Resource Centers will be started in key wards in the city where we have achieved significant momentum of volunteering efforts of citizens supported by consistent actions and interest in the civic issues of their ward.

The CWAP picked steam in November 2006. JPMorgan was the first corporate to participate and adopted K(E) ward which covers Jogeshwari(E), Andheri(E), and Vile Parle(E). There was a lot of excitement at Mumbai Helpline. After months of ideating one ward had finally kicked of!!

We are currently focusing all our energy on the two above mentioned wards.