The people of the community joined hands and began to help one another under the leadership of young Prashant. They succeeded in pressurizing the merchant to part with his rice for the people in the shelter. They gathered branches from fallen trees and lit a fire, on which they cooked rice for all to eat.
When the military helicopter dropped some food parcels but did not return, the youth task force gathered empty utensils from the shelter and made the children lie in the sand with the utensils on their stomachs to communicate to the passing helicopters that they were hungry.
The message went through and the helicopter made regular rounds of the shelter, airdropping food and other basic needs. Women were mobilized to look after the orphans, while the men secured food and materials for the shelter. In spite of being grief-stricken, the women started working in the food-for-work programme started by an NGO.
