Overseas volunteers scramble to locate COVID supplies for family, friends, strangers

India's global diaspora has a long record of mobilising during times of crisis. Temples, mosques, gurdwaras and churches; regional and business associations; family groups and informal networks - they all spring into action when a typhoon or flood strikes. But few disasters have been quite so testing as the current coronavirus outbreak engulfing the nation. No matter how much money is raised, empty drug store shelves can't be magically refilled. Oxygen generators and concentrators have to be located, ordered and shipped before they can start saving lives. A shattered healthcare system cannot be rebuilt overnight.

"This crisis is just insane," she told AFP by phone, detailing how her father's close friend recently died. "His wife couldn't even attend his cremation because she is also down with Covid," she added. Sharma's family is in Chandigarh, a city hit hard by infections. "I feel impotent right now. I can't do anything about it," she said, adding she was also angry. "We had time to prepare for a second wave but the government did not do anything and now we can see the repercussions."

Judy Naresh, who runs Ask Abu Dhabi, a 15,000-strong Facebook community forum for women from the city's Indian community, said she has been inundated with requests for help. "Many of our members have lost their parents and other family," Naresh, from Mumbai, told AFP. "Some are battling it out in hospitals and are in want of medicines and oxygen. I am afraid to open my WhatsApp because I feel helpless." She said her group was coordinating help and arranging injections of remdesivir, widely used in India in the treatment of Covid. Last week the cost of a shot -- usually $12 -- was $120. Two days ago it was $600. Now her group simply can't find any.

But there are successes that make the toil worth it. Battles are won, aid is getting through. Devgan's Whatsapp volunteer group has grown to some 257 numbers, mostly Indians in Singapore, who have become inadvertent experts at sourcing supplies. They have raised SGD$100,000 ($75,000) and sent at least 60 oxygen concentrators to India. Another 200 machines have been ordered, mostly from China. With the help of an NGO in Delhi they have built up a network to link people with plasma donors, remdesivir, food, Covid-19 tests, hospital beds, doctors and ambulances.