On January 26, while Republic Day was being commemorated across India, Gujarat was struck by a devastating earthquake. Even before the extent of the devastation could be estimated, Sanjay Pawar and Sameer Bhariok, two GIL managers from Valia, decided to go to the affected region and offer whatever help they could in their personal capacity. Shalabh Agarwal, a management trainee, A P Wadi, executive (security) and plant manager M S Mukherjee volunteered to join their two colleagues.

A meeting of colony residents was held at Ankleshwar colony and an appeal was made to all to contribute voluntarily towards helping the quake-affected. About Rs 9,000 and a jeep-load of blankets, clothes, medicines and food were collected from the 25 families staying in the colony. The GIL team left at around 9 pm on January 26, driving 650 kms through the night and reached Vondh village in Bhachau at 9:30 am the next morning. They were the first outsiders to reach this village.

There were around 350 injured people who needed immediate first aid in Vondh, among them 50 amputation cases. The team provided first aid to about 120 villagers before an ambulance with surgeons and some paramedics reached the village. The Valia team helped them shift injured villagers from different parts of the village to an open ground where medical help was being administered.

The amputation cases were shifted in trucks to the nearest undamaged hospital, which was 150 kms away. By 3 pm the GIL team had distributed all the supplies brought in the jeep. The team then moved to Bhuj, some 80 kms away. The devastation here was worse and the team decided to purchase more medicines and packed food for the people rendered homeless by the quake in Bhuj and nearby areas.

After a night halt on the outskirts of Morbi town, the team made its purchases on the morning of January 28 and moved to Rapar taluka. The team visited three villages and distributed medicines, bread and biscuits before starting their journey back. The team reached home on the morning of January 29 .

Meanwhile, a condolence meeting was held by the Valia complex employees on January 27. Each and every employee contributed from his or her salary and an amount of Rs 72,000 was collected within a day. Another relief team, comprising people from all departments, was constituted. The money collected was used for purchase of items which could be of immediate need to the quake-hit.

Essential items like dry milk powder, cooking oil, etc. were donated by GIL's corporate office, which provided 500 kg of milk powder, 1,000 litres of cooking oil, 1,000 cakes of AIICare soap and 1,000 Goodknight mosquito repellent coils. Around 350 small kits containing wheat flour, dal, sugar, milk powder, cooking oil, soap, tea, salt, matchboxes, chilly powder and candy were packed by residents of the Ankleshwar colony.

The second relief team was led by Sameer Bhariok, Sanjay Pawar and Shalabh Agarwal and included the following members: J P Bhatt (manager, logistics and excise), N B Solanki (assistant manager, quality control), R M Rathod, Bhagwan Singh and R P Patel (all security department), A D Vasava and K A Nizama (both safety department), V A Jani (electrical department), C P Parekh (production department), N V Patel (mechanical department), S Purshothaman (logistics), A. Suresh (administration) and Dr Deepak Dave.

The team left for Kutch on February 2 in a convoy consisting of a truckload of relief material, three Sumos and an ambulance (donated by the Pirojsha Godrej Foundation for community work in Valia and Kanerao villages). On the morning of February 3, the team reached Selan village in Rapar, where it was allowed to camp in a school ground.

The school was in shambles. Selan was home to 650 families and each and every house in the village had been razed to the ground. With the help of the school's principal and an elderly villager, the team distributed the kits it had brought along in this village and seven nearby ones.

All the eight villages were cut off from the main roads and highways and adequate help had not yet got there before the GIL arrived. The team was divided into two sub-teams and every morning till February 5, supplies were loaded onto the Sumos and taken from village to village, where food was distributed and medical help was provided to the injured.

The team was fortunate to have Dr Dave, the Valia factory's visiting doctor, accompany it despite his ill health. After spending three days and four nights in the area, the team returned to Ankleshwar on February 6. The team is sincerely indebted to the Godrej management, the Valia employees union and all those who directly and indirectly helped to organise this worthy and noble mission to serve the quake-hit people of Kutch.