October 29, 1999, saw cyclonic storms with winds of 200 km per hour ripping through India’s eastern coast. Orissa, like many times in the past, was at the receiving end of nature’s fury.

Few can forget newspaper photographs and television images of decomposed bodies floating around in the mass of water covering the state. In fact, a Times of India reporter had to wade through human corpses and animal carcasses to reach villagers living in makeshift camps.

The loss in the cyclone - later described as the century’s worst - was tremendous: 10,000 lives were lost, lakhs were rendered homeless and land-owners suffered incalculable losses. But Orissa’s darkest hour was further clouded by an outbreak of cholera and other communicable diseases. Food riots and bureaucratic bungling only accentuated the overall gloom.

As cyclone-affected citizens had to start life from scratch, The Times of India Group, along with a few like-minded organisations, decided to lay a proper pipeline for aid.

In Mumbai, Bombay Times joined hands with AGNI, a non-governmental organisation, Indianoil, and Central Railway to make it possible for the flood-affected to get the much-needed plastic sheets to create shelter, utensils, clothes, blankets and food. The aid route for this Times Assisted Project (TAP) was simple: Donations could be made at the Times of India office in Mumbai, or at 23 petrol pumps of Indian Oil in Mumbai. Members of Agni would coordinate the collection process, and Central Railway would transport the goods to Bhubaneshwar, from where Indianoil and local NGOs would assist in disbursing the aid.

The drive, which was started off with an initial contribution by Bennett Coleman & Co. Ltd, saw people delving deep into their resources and ensuring a huge collection. The drive was not without its heart-touching moments. A girl from suburban Mumbai donated her piggybank collections, while a lady stopped the collection truck at the last minute to hand over a cheque of Rs 10,000 as she didn't have time to buy anything. Taj Hotels and Holiday Inn gave linen, while mahila mandals in Mumbai went on door-to-door collection spree and deposited the goods at Times Relief Fund's collection centres. In the process, the fist consignment to Bhubneshwar had more than 250 metric tonnes of goods.

Apart from providing relief in the form of material aid to Orissa's cyclone - affected people, TOIRF has taken a long-term and lasting rehabilitation projects such as construction of school building-Bentakar High School. Plans are also afoot to adopt a village and rehabilitate it.