Indian Red Cross Society Vellore district branch in Tamil Nadu responded to heatwave in Vellore city when temperatures peaked above 40 deg C from the first week of March itself. The Indian Met department had issued an alert and the Dailies had carried the news to the people. Red Cross volunteers spread information and offered bottled buttermilk ( a local cooling drink made of fermented milk and water) and freshly cut, cool slices of watermelon to labourers, vendors and passers-by. The elderly were especially targeted.