Free calls to flooded Chennai through Skype

After Facebook and Google, Skype has come forward to help flooded Chennai, as company is offering free international calls to landline and mobile into Tamil Nadu for the next few days. The city of nearly 5 million people is experiencing its worst rainfall in over 100 years.

Microsoft-owned Skype is an application that helps users makes video and audio calls. On a Skype blog post published on December 3, the Skype team writes:

"In light of the devastating floods in Chennai - and the subsequent impact to the local communications infrastructure - with immediate effect we are making all international calls to landlines and mobiles into Tamil Nadu free of charge for the next few days.

Since we don't know the full extent of the devastation, we want to help provide people with alternative methods of communication to reach friends and family in the region during this difficult time." Users can call landlines and mobiles through the Skype app on their smartphones."

According to Hindustan Times, Help continues to flow in from all corners of the world. Facebook has activated the safety check feature for the region, Google has a crisis response page with resources, tweets, news and helpline numbers and now Microsoft has roped in Skype to ensure all communication channels to-and-from the area are free of charge.

According to India Today, companies like Zomato, Paytm, Ola and Practo have also come forward to help people of Chennai with their relief projects. Telecoms like BSNL, Airtel and Paytm are providing free recharges in the city. Food ordering app Zomato has started meal plan where every meal a user buys for Chennai, company adds one more and sends for two. Meanwhile health app Practo released a verified list of doctors and hospitals while Ola, the cab service app is running free services in water logged areas.

Skype offered similar services last month during the Paris Attacks and the earthquake in Nepal this year. I hope this gesture from Skype can help people confirm that their loved-ones are safe and sound.