And their efforts have not gone in vain: the department has generated Rs 39 lakh worth relief in cash and kind, in little over a week.

Ridhi Gupta, a final-year student MA student of social work, though does not expect brownie points, for that is what, she said, the department is about. “Helping the needy is part of our curriculum,” she said, matter-of-factly.

The department has begun an initiative called UDAI — University for Developed Action and Integrated Learning — to provide relief to the flood victims, as also to bring back experience of the situation at Ground Zero to the university. On August 28, the department sent a volunteer team of seven students and a teacher to Bihar.

And on Sunday, a similar team was sent — this time with the relief material.

Dr Seema Sharma, a teacher at the department, said they received “generous amount of help” from NGOs, DU authorities, and RWAs. “We sent 65 sacks of material, each containing six boxes, with the students on Sunday,” Sharma said. “The team already there says the situation is worse than what is reported in the media.”

Those left behind are busy filing posts on the blog www.dswdu.blogspot.com and maintaining the 24-hour helpline. The site gives a detailed report of activities of the department, and also highlights stories of death and misery in the districts ravaged by the curse of Kosi.