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RELIEF
AND REHABILITATION:
1. Too little, too late, Deccan Herald, Editorial, dated 30/12/04
Although
the central government has been quick in announcing Rs. 700 crore for
relief and rehabilitation efforts, the Central and state agencies have
been slow in responding to the immediate needs of the victims. Even three
days after the disaster struck, relief has still to reach many villages.
There have been reports of district administration officials wasting time
attending to arrangements for VIP visits, instead of helping the bereaved
to collect the bodies of their loved ones.
2.
Need for coordination in relief work, The Hindu dated 31/12/04
Reports from the tsunami-ravaged areas of the State point to the need
for greater coordination at the district-level, not only among the various
Government agencies at work, but also among the representatives of various
political parties and leading non-government organisations (NGOs) in the
region.
3. Not Charity, Editorial, The Times of India dated 31/12/04
Aid is not charity. The Bush administration has 'doubled' its aid commitment
to the tsunami-affected to $35 million, after its earlier pledge of $15
million provoked the UN Relief Coordinator to dub it as 'stingy'. The
US can keep these crumbs if it feels so pained to part with funds in the
face of what the UN terms the worst-ever disaster in terms of the scale
of relief required. It should also realise that its parsimonious instincts
do not serve its own interests.
4. The waves are gone, but their woes have begun, Deccan Herald dated
1/1/05.
The waves crashed my boat on the road. Before I take to the sea again,
I need to get it repaired. The engine is sand-logged. Repairing it would
cost me at least Rs. 15,000. Where do I raise that money? The government
relief for the repairs will take a long while. Till then, how do I survive?
5.
Focus on rehabilitation: NGOs, Deccan Herald dated 2/1/05
People do not want to live on charity. Because of their helplessness they
accept food and other things given to them initially. But slowly they
get used to it. Hence the Government should decide when it should stop
relief operations
6. ‘Centre will help in resettling fishermen’, Deccan Herald
dated 2/1/05
As the need of the hour to the tsunami-affected fishermen is resettlement
the Centre is ready to assist the State Government on setting up of temporary
tents in the coastal areas. However, the State government is yet to seek
any such demand from the Centre
7. Will they ever build by the sea again?, The New Indian Express dated
4/1/05
We
built everything by the sea - homes, churches, temples, bazaars, hotels.
It seemed just the right thing to do.
8.
ON WITH THE RELIEF, The Hindu, Editorial dated 10/1/05
The
extraordinary Jalkarta summit on the tsunami disaster has provided the
launch pad for a massive, coordinated international relief effort to help
the victims of Nature's fury across the Indian Ocean — from Indonesia
to Somalia. With the United Nations taking the lead and the United States
announcing the disbanding of an egregiously constituted `core group',
the decks have been cleared for an effective pooling of resources, expertise,
and solidarity by the international community.
9.
TSUNAMI’S CHILDREN, Editorial, Deccan Herald dated 14/1/05
Large
numbers of children perished because they could not run away from the
waves quickly enough or were unable to reach out to life-saving objects.
Children account for 40 per cent of those who died in Tamil Nadu.
10.
Govt charts out relief work norms for NGOs, The New Indian Express dated
17/1/05.
The
government, on Saturday, charted out a framework for non-governmental
organisations (NGOs) that are willing to partner with the State in permanently
relocating and rehabilitating the tsunami-affected people.
11.
Fishermen at sea, by S. Viswanathan, The Frontline dated 11/2/05.
The
tsunami exposes the vulnerabilities of the fishing community on the Tamil
Nadu coast. Now it is time to think beyond just rehabilitation - about
a long-term plan to reconstruct lives and livelihoods and also to save
the coast.
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1. Too little too late, Deccan Herald, Editorial, dated 30/12/04
Rescue
efforts have been slow and rehabilitation measures slower
The country is now facing the mammoth task of providing relief and rehabilitation
to the affected people in the tsunami-hit regions. With the death toll
rising to over 65,000 in the whole of South Asia and above 10,000 in India
alone, the horror of Sunday’s tragedy is only now slowly creeping
into our collective psyche.
There
is so much to be done and time is literally running out for the victims,
as epidemics like typhoid, diarrhoea and hepatitis are waiting to strike
the survivors of the disaster. Although the central government has been
quick in announcing Rs 700 crore for relief and rehabilitation efforts,
the Central and state agencies have been slow in responding to the immediate
needs of the victims. Even three days after the disaster struck, relief
has still to reach many villages.
There
have been reports of district administration officials wasting precious
time attending to arrangements for VIP visits, instead of helping the
bereaved collect the bodies of their loved ones. In Nagapattinam and Cuddalore,
there have been reports of hundreds of corpses lying strewn around on
the streets and the beaches and of locals and NGOs burying the dead in
mass graves.
What
is immediately needed is mobilisation of the massive and extensive machinery
under the control of governments for the relief effort. It has been left
to NGOs, groups of voluntary bodies and philanthropists to rush immediate
help to the affected people who are now housed in relief camps. The government
needs to speed up the clearance of putrefying bodies, and rush pre-cooked
food packets, safe drinking water, temporary toiletry items, slippers,
dry clothes, blankets, mats, portable lamps, disinfectants and most important
of all, medical supplies to the disaster victims.
Communication
links to remote areas need to be set up and an efficient network of hotlines
should be readily available for anxious relatives waiting for information.
And even as the disaster has horrified citizens and they have been quick
to respond with monetary contributions for the relief efforts, they must
be wary of unscrupulous elements using this opportunity to make some quick
money. It would help to check on the credentials and background of the
organisations before making any contributions. The government also has
the responsibility to lay down norms in this regard.
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2.
Need for coordination in relief work, The Hindu, dated 31/12/04
By V. Jayanth,
CHENNAI, DEC. 31 . Reports from the tsunami-ravaged areas of the State
point to the need for greater coordination at the district-level, not
only among the various Government agencies at work, but also among the
representatives of various political parties and leading non-government
organisations (NGOs) in the region.
Though political parties have made this demand before, there has been
no response from the authorities as yet. While the Prime Minister has
decided to convene an all-party conference to discuss the national disaster,
there has been no such effort in the State. Opposition leaders realise
that it will not happen at the State-level but suggest that at least the
District Collectors can do this to enlist the support of all parties and
their cadres for the relief and rehabilitation work that may go on for
sometime.
Role of District Collector
As there have been reports of "dumping" of old clothes, which
are not wanted, and also duplication of food supplies to the same relief
centres, NGOs too want greater coordination at the district level. "If
each Collector can come up with a list of what exactly are the major demands
of the district, we can certainly coordinate the effort and channel the
flow of articles to each area," says an NGO coordinator, Shanmugam,
who has just returned from Nagapattinam.
The suggestion is that the District Collector can organise a daily review,
sometime in the morning, to prioritise the relief work for the day. The
parties and NGOs can assign their volunteers based on the actual needs.
The medical and paramedical teams can also join the coordination exercise
to ensure that assistance reaches the people for whom it is intended.
And the volunteers may be in a position to brief them about the shortcomings
in each camp.
Involving Opposition
From the Government's viewpoint, instead of having to just listen to the
complaints, it may be useful to involve the Opposition parties in this
exercise so that they not only know what is happening, but also participate
in the crisis management. "We are not interested in politicising
the crisis. We want to work with the authorities and ensure that the people
are taken care of," says a senior Opposition leader. He says most
of the parties are already doing their own work in each district and it
was high time the Government stepped in to coordinate all these efforts
and provide a focus to the relief and rehabilitation work. He finds it
strange that only in Tamil Nadu this coordination, even during a crisis,
is not in place.
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3.
Not Charity, Editorial, The Times of India dated 31/12/04.
Aid
is not charity. This is the basic point that the West, particularly the
US, must realise. The Bush administration has 'doubled' its aid commitment
to the tsunami-affected to $35 million, after its earlier pledge of $15
million provoked the UN Relief Coordinator to dub it as 'stingy'. The
US can keep these crumbs if it feels so pained to part with funds in the
face of what the UN terms the worst-ever disaster in terms of the scale
of relief required. It should also realise that its parsimonious instincts
do not serve its own interests. In a globally integrated world, a catastrophe
in Phuket could affect Texas, where George W Bush prefers to locate himself
at this time of the year. With Thailand off the tourist map, US business
interests such as travel agencies, hotels and airlines would also be hit.
For too long has the US looked at aid as a lever to further its political
and economic interests, particularly in West Asia. But that paradigm,
apart from being cynical, is also outmoded in today's context. Since the
late eighties, there has been a marked shift in FDI flows from Europe
to Asia. The affected countries are not just anthropological curiosities,
but markets at the edge of prosperity. Aid to such societies to develop
their infrastructure and achieve a greater measure of social and economic
equity will not only help them but also the donors. The developed countries,
having reached consumption saturation point, must in order to maintain
their prosperity look for new markets in the developing world. Far from
realising this, the First World, and the US in particular, has been less
than generous in terms of economic assistance.
The UN cries itself hoarse over stagnant levels of aid to little effect.
Only four of the 22 industrial nations — Norway, Denmark, Sweden
and the Netherlands — meet the UN norm of putting aside at least
0.7 per cent of their gross national product for aid. These countries
cough up about $55 billion each year or 0.4 per cent of their GNP on an
average. The US is the largest donor in absolute terms, but by contributing
about 0.2 per cent of its national income, or $15 billion, ranks last
in this respect. The aid kitty rose to $68 billion in 2003, largely on
account of US aid to Iraq, where the US has spent close to $200 billion
since the war. The tsunami should provoke the US and others to redefine
the concept of aid and its recipients. Aid is trade, nothing more or less:
Accept the give-and-take and cut out the hypocrisy.
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4.
The waves are gone, but their woes have begun, Deccan Herald dated 1/1/05.
By Saptarshi Bhattacharya
CHENNAI, JAN. 1. Sitting in his boat, Kumar gazed at the blue horizon,
occasionally shaking his head as he recalled the fateful Sunday. "There
were no signs, no warnings. It was all over before we could make out what
was going on," he said.
Kumar from Nochikuppam here, along with other fishermen, was returning
with a fish catch, after a hard night's work. Around 9 a.m., he steered
his boat towards the shore and saw the beach just ahead.
As he and the others were preparing to tug the boat into the sands, Kumar
felt that the sea was swelling. "Surprisingly, the boat did not touch
the beach where it usually does. The waves did not break on the beach
but kept advancing into the sands, taking my boat along — right
to the place where our shacks stood," he said. "I jumped into
the water as my boat kept ramming other boats. As we swam, we saw the
waves sweeping our boats up to the road."
Huts swept
The seawater swept through their huts into the Slum Clearance Board tenements
behind, depositing several boats on the road between the beach and the
colony. While the shacks stood, their belongings inside were damaged.
The fishing nets were torn.
About an hour later, another big wave hit the coast, causing further panic,
sending the residents scampering to the main road. A third big wave, smaller
than the earlier ones, hit around noon. According to Kumar, only one person
from his colony died.
Sathyaseelan, another fisherman, joined in: "The boats cost us between
Rs. 60,000 and Rs. 1 lakh. They are made of fibre. We are very careful
and would not even let even a stone hit our boats."
The waves came and went, but Kumar's worries have only begun.
"The waves crashed my boat on the road. Before I take to the sea
again, I need to get it repaired. The engine is sand-logged. Repairing
it would cost me at least Rs. 15,000. Where do I raise that money? The
government relief for the repairs will take a long while. Till then, how
do I survive?"
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5.
Focus on rehabilitation: NGOs, Deccan Herald dated 2/1/05
By R.K. Radhakrishnan
CHENNAI, JAN. 2. Non-Governmental Organisations (NGOs) that have significant
experience in extending relief and rehabilitation to victims of natural
disasters today requested at a meeting here that the State Government
announce a date for stopping relief work and start focussing on rehabilitation.
"People do not want to live on charity. Because of their helplessness
they accept food and other things given to them initially. But slowly
they get used to it. Hence the Government should decide when it should
stop relief operations," said Sushma Iyengar of Abhiyan from Bhuj,
who had engaged in relief work after the Latur and Bhuj earthquakes.
"The more free food you pump in, the more dependence you create.
You need to announce a date for closure of relief," said Gagan Sethi
of Jan Vikas, Ahmedabad. There should be a grievance redressal machinery
right from the village level where people could approach when the damage
assessment process begins. "After Latur there were four levels of
assessment of damage. In Bhuj this was reduced to three. The fewer the
levels, the better it is," said Mr. Sethi.
He suggested appointment of an Ombudsman in each of the affected areas
so that the affected could get in touch with him/her to seek redressal
of their complaints on assessment of losses.
"From the Gujarat experience what we have learnt is that the mistakes
made in the initial 25 days tend to get repeated. The need to help overwhelms
the need for help," said Ms. Iyengar. She said that very few organisations
and volunteers were actually concentrating on talking to people. Right
now, hundreds of people were walking in and out of the affected villages
each day. This could create shock and anger, she said. "We need people
to be in villages for some length of time and merely talk to them and
listen to them. They don't need to be counsellors," she said. Women
volunteers were required in equal number for this task.
After the Latur and Bhuj disasters there was a surfeit of organisations
and business houses that wanted to adopt villages and areas. This, according
to the Gujarat NGOs, was a bad way to go about the task of rebuilding
and reconstruction. "Adoption should not be rushed. Partnership is
a better way... language at these times sets the mood for the things that
follow," she said.
The organisations that participated in the meeting organised by the Bhoomika
Trust include Christian Counselling Centre, Vellore; Abhiyan/KVMS from
Gujarat; NIMHANS from Bangalore; IIT-Madras; Indians for Collective Action,
U.S.A.; Association for India's Development, U.S.A.; The Banyan, SMILE
and Samanvaya, all based in Chennai, ActionAid, People's Watch and SIFFS
Tamil Nadu Fishermen's Society.
The Puthiya Tamizhagam president, K. Krishnasamy, who had set up medical
camps in some of the affected areas said that as much as 90 per cent of
the people had one health problem or the other. In a single camp, he had
come across 200 cases of indigestion, possibly because of the supply of
stale food. Better coordination was needed between the NGOs working in
the affected areas and the Government, he added.
C.V. Shankar, Officer on Special Duty to coordinate with NGOs and donors,
said that if NGOs had a problem in storage or transport, they could hand
over the materials to the Tamil Nadu Civil Supplies Corporation. (Ph:
2481 2404 - Virugambakkam). A senior officer from Gujarat, V. Thiruppugazh,
has arrived to coordinate efforts at the Government level. Efforts were
on to set up digital radio receiving stations in many of the affected
areas. If the NGOs wanted to communicate to all the affected, this could
be done from his office in the next few days, he added.
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6.
`Centre will help in resettling fishermen', Deccan Herald dated 2/1/05.
By Our Staff Reporter
NAGERCOIL, JAN. 2. As the need of the hour to the tsunami-affected fishermen
is resettlement the Centre is ready to assist the State Government on
setting up of temporary tents in the coastal areas. However, the State
government is yet to seek any such demand from the Centre, the Union Minister
for Shipping and Road Transport, T.R. Baalu, said today.
Speaking to presspersons here, the Minister said there was no constraint
of funds to carry out relief and rehabilitation work. The Centre has despatched
around 6,000 tents to the Andaman and Nicobar Islands, the worst affected
area in the country.
The Ministry of Shipping was transporting drinking water, medicine, clothes
and other essential items to the Andamans and other affected areas. Around
1,500 army personnel were deputed to the Andaman and Nicobar Islands.
Steps had already been taken to despatch essential items to Chennai, Cuddalore,
Nagapattinam and Kanyakumari districts.
The Centre would provide boats and other implements to the affected fishermen.
The fishermen in and around Chennai coast have demanded that the Chennai
Port Trust retrieve their mechanised boats, which were washed away. Around
69 boats had already been retrieved and steps would be taken to despatch
floating cranes to Cuddalore and Nagapattinam districts to retrieve mechanised
boats.
The Minster assured assistance for the construction of the Melamanakudi-Keelamanakudi
Bridge near Kanyakumari, which was washed away by the sea. A sum of Rs.
12 crores would be allotted for the construction of the new bridge. A
temporary bridge would be constructed within a month.
The tsunami, which hit the Andaman Port, caused heavy damage and the loss
was estimated at Rs. 200 crores. Similarly the loss was estimated at Rs.
12 crores for the Chennai port. The sea also washed away the recently-installed
digital global positioning system in the Andamans.
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7. Will they ever build by the sea again?, The New Indian Express dated
4/1/05
IANS
PORT BLAIR: For as long as they can remember, the people of this picturesque
archipelago have built houses along the seashore. One tsunami could have
changed that forever in the Andaman and Nicobar islands.
"You
can say that it was the specialty of the people here," said fisherman
S. Bala. "We built everything by the sea - homes, churches, temples,
bazaars, hotels. It seemed just the right thing to do.
"But
now no more. We've seen what the sea can do."
The
sentiment is echoed across the archipelago of 572 islands, islets and
rocks, which lost more than 800 people, with more than 5,000 more missing
after the killer tidal waves smashed through its shores.
The
final figures could be much more because authorities first announced that
more than 10,000 people were dead or missing, then suddenly, and dramatically,
reduced the figures. No explanation has yet been given for the reduction.
"Look
at the shores," said Bishop Alex Dias of the Stella Morris Cathedral
Church, the main Catholic church here. "Who wouldn't want to build
here? We used to feel very proud of the fact that we had such a beautiful
shores and lovely buildings on it.
"In
fact, in Car Nicobar, many of our churches were on the beach. Everything
was simply washed away." Car Nicobar was one of the worst-hit islands
by tidal waves caused by the 9 on Richter scale earthquake off the coast
of Indonesia Dec 26.
"Now
I don't anyone will ever think of building on the beach again," said
Dias. "It's too scary. We certainly won't rebuild our churches on
the beach."
This
fear is a great loss for the sea-loving people of the Andamans. It's like
the tsunami has turned their best friend into their worst enemy and robbed
the USP from their architecture.
Even
in Port Blair, the region's main town, which was relatively untouched
by the tsunami that all but drowned the southern islands of the archipelago,
the waves have left an indelible imprint.
The
waves smashed the main seashore park, destroyed the boundary walls and
lawns of a big school and the only college in town, causing them to close
down indefinitely.
"It's
been terrible," said schoolteacher N. Suresh. "There is a big
fear factor now. There is no question of anyone ever thinking of building
anything near the sea again.
"It's
too much of a risk."
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8. ON WITH THE RELIEF, The Hindu, Editorial dated 10/1/05
THE EXTRAORDINARY JAKARTA summit on the tsunami disaster has provided
the launch pad for a massive, coordinated international relief effort
to help the victims of Nature's fury across the Indian Ocean — from
Indonesia to Somalia. With the United Nations taking the lead and the
United States announcing the disbanding of an egregiously constituted
`core group', the decks have been cleared for an effective pooling of
resources, expertise, and solidarity by the international community. The
death toll is estimated to be in excess of 150,000, and as many as five
million families may have been displaced by the giant waves that struck
on December 26. United Nations Secretary-General Kofi Annan was spot on
when he asked donors who have pledged relief funds to meet their commitments
here and now — so that the victims can be helped before it is too
late, and past experience of failure to honour pledges is not repeated.
Indians can feel proud that their country has risen spiritedly and resourcefully
to the challenge, deciding to take care of its own relief and immediate
rehabilitation needs while joining in U.N.-led international solidarity.
Partly in consequence, international assistance can now be directed to
where it is needed most at this juncture: Indonesia and Sri Lanka above
all.
Although there have been abundant offers and pledges of aid — the
estimates range from $2 billion to $5 billion — the U.N. needs at
least $1 billion in hand to get seriously started. Mr. Annan has indicated
that $229 million will go towards food and agriculture, $122 million for
health care, $61 million for basic amenities, $222 million for shelter
and non-food items, and $110 million for early restoration of livelihoods.
Japan has emerged not just in its traditional role as leading donor, but
also as a regional leader in providing logistic support and expertise,
along with India, Australia, and the U.S. The Indian Navy has ventured
out to Sri Lanka and Indonesia to offer immediate relief and mobile health
services. What the international community needs to do is to rush the
equipment required to clear the mountains of debris, provide income-generating
employment to the affected families, rebuild the social infrastructure,
and enable the coastal communities to restart livelihood activities. All
this must be done in partnership with the national governments so that
the exercise is seen not as an intrusion, not as patronage, but as an
essay in unprecedented international solidarity.
Now that a Special Commissioner, an Emergency Relief Coordinator, and
a U.N. Development Group are in place, multilateral agencies and donor
countries must keep their word in pooling contributions and kick-starting
relief work without ifs and buts. In addition to providing food, water,
and temporary shelter, aid agencies must take preventive action to ensure
that no epidemic breaks out anywhere and that basic health and sanitation
are taken care of. Transport and communication constitute another imperative
and wherever they have been ruptured, they must be restored on an emergency
basis. The fate of the thousands of orphaned children poses the biggest
challenge of all. Social activists and non-government organisations have
warned of the risk, in certain tsunami-hit areas, from paedophiles on
the hunt for vulnerable children and stressed the need to exercise utmost
vigilance in processing applications for adoption. National and local
governments as well as international organisations bear the heavy responsibility
of securing the lives, well-being, and future of defenceless children
in areas targeted by paedophiles and also organisations such as the Liberation
Tigers of Tamil Eelam that are on the lookout for under-age recruits to
their depleted military ranks. The U.N., donor countries, and citizen
sector organisations certainly have their work cut out.
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9. TSUNAMI'S CHILDREN, Editorial, Deccan Herald dated 14/1/05
MORE THAN ANY natural disaster before it, the December 26 tsunami was
especially cruel on children. Large numbers of children perished because
they could not run away from the waves quickly enough or were unable to
reach out to life-saving objects. Children account for 40 per cent of
those who died in Tamil Nadu. Across the countries affected by the tsunami,
they are nearly one-third of the total number of dead. But it is not just
the dead. Children have also emerged as the most vulnerable and helpless
of the survivors. With a death toll in excess of 150,000, several thousand
boys and girls have been orphaned. Many are separated from their families.
Reports speak of children in shock and denial after the trauma of seeing
one or both parents swept away by the waves — and in many cases,
too young even to comprehend either the events of that day or their profoundly
altered life situation. The immediate priority has to be to provide for
their security, protection and basic needs. The risks of leaving defenceless
children uncared for — to market forces, as it were — would
be horrifying.
To their credit, the Governments of the affected countries have been quick
to grasp their responsibility. Sri Lanka, long a haunt of paedophiles,
at once put in place checks at airports to prevent child trafficking.
In India, in a socially and morally exemplary move, the Tamil Nadu Government
announced within days of the disaster that it would adopt all the children
orphaned by the tsunami; the administration has already begun acting upon
the decision by opening homes for the children. But as the focus shifts
from relief and immediate rehabilitation to ultimate rehabilitation, the
Government will soon need to think of long-term plans to rebuild the lives
of these boys and girls. Some experts argue that the first option must
be to reunite them with their relatives so that they can continue to grow
up in a familiar community and environment. But in a situation where entire
communities are affected, placing the children in the care of relatives
whose own lives may be in ruins, might not be the answer. The best solution
appears to be to consult the local communities, people close to the orphaned
children and, where applicable, the children themselves about their future.
Where appropriate, the search must be for families that can legally adopt
the children, and are well-equipped to bring them up. India, like Sri
Lanka, has long had stringent procedures to screen prospective adoptive
parents. In the wake of the tsunami, these procedures are likely to be
tightened. If the prescribed rules are observed strictly and there is
transparency and monitoring, there is no reason why adoption should not
be an option in a reasonable proportion of cases. The President of Sri
Lanka, Chandrika Kumaratunga, has shown the way by her inspiring decision
to adopt a Tamil child from the country's badly affected North-East.
For the immediate term, one of the best ways of giving the affected children
a sense of continuity and normality, as the United Nations International
Children's Fund (UNICEF) has pointed out, is to get them into a school
routine as soon as possible. Many schools have been damaged by the tsunami,
delaying their reopening in several places, but classes can be held even
in temporary structures. The secure environment of a school will help
children cope with the trauma by giving them activities that can rekindle
their optimism. Importantly, it will also help to keep them out of the
reach of unscrupulous adults. One of the best things altruistic individuals
and organisations with a social conscience can do for rebuilding the lives
of the children of the tsunami is to fund and support their schooling
and college education in well-conceived, effective, and sustained ways.
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10.
Govt charts out relief work norms for NGOs, The New Indian Express dated
17/1/05.
NAGAPATTINAM: The government, on Saturday, charted out a framework for
non-governmental organisations (NGOs) that are willing to partner with
the State in permanently relocating and rehabilitating the tsunami-affected
people.
According
to a Government Order dated January 13, issued to the media here on Saturday,
the following are the standards set by the government:
*
The NGOs, corporate houses and charitable institutions willing to participate
in the rehabilitation work should submit a proposal for at least 50 families.
For 50 families, the project estimate should be above Rs 75 lakh - Rs
25 lakh each towards developing houses, common infrastructure and livelihood
rehabilitation.
*
The government will provide house sites with area for common infrastructure
like roads.
*
The agencies, which are invited, have to send in a request for participation
to the District Collectors, along with a comprehensive proposal. The proposal
should consist details of permanent housing, livelihood rehabilitation,
community infrastructure such as roads, water supply, schools, health
facilities and others that the agencies plan to provide.
*
The NGOs are free to choose any habitation/habitations with a minimum
of 50 families. There is no upper limit for choosing the number of families.
*
The Collector will review and take a decision whether to accept or reject
the proposal. A district-level committee chaired by the Collector with
revenue officials as members will also examine the cost and engineering
aspects of the proposal before being sent to the village panchayat for
approval.
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11. Fishermen at sea, by S. Viswanathan, The Frontline dated 11/2/05.
The tsunami exposes the vulnerabilities of the fishing community on the
Tamil Nadu coast. Now it is time to think beyond just rehabilitation -
about a long-term plan to reconstruct lives and livelihoods and also to
save the coast. NEWSPAPERS carried a photograph on January 20 which showed
three Ministers of Tamil Nadu bathing in the sea at the Azhikkal beach
in Kanyakumari district. The stated purpose was "to reassure fisherfolk
who are reluctant to venture into the sea after the December 26 tsunami
strike". This "confidence-building exercise" lasted "10
minutes", according to the accompanying report. Pointing to this
picture, Satish, a fisherman of a coastal village, wondered why fishermen
would need lessons in swimming or why they should fear the sea on which
their livelihood depends. If the fisherfolk have not ventured into the
sea, he explains, it is not because of some new-found fear. "Some
fishermen got their craft repaired and went back to the sea. Most others
have no craft, catamarans or boats left to resume fishing." What
he and others of his ilk fear most is the safety of their family members
on the shore and the changes in the sea bottom that the tsunami has brought
about.
Satish, like other fishermen, is sure that within 10 days of receiving
the promised monetary assistance they will go back to the sea in fit-to-sail
craft with the needed tools. "It is for the Indian Institute of Oceanography
to undertake necessary studies and inform the fishermen of the changes,
if any, and of their possible impact on fishing," said V. Kumaravelu,
a research scholar from the fishing community, who has been actively involved
in relief operations in Nagapattinam district.
Nearly a month after the tsunami tore their homes apart, the people of
this generally brisk community could be seen idling away their time. Knots
of restless fishermen and fisherwomen stopped every government vehicle
that passed by to ask the officials when their homes would be ready, when
they would get their new ration cards, or when they could expect the promised
assistance to buy new craft and tools.
What is reassuring to the 7.37 lakh marine fishermen of the State, however,
is the Rs.2,262.65-crore relief and rehabilitation package that the State
government got from the Centre on January 19 following the talks between
Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and Chief Minister Jayalalithaa in Chennai
early in January. Union Finance Minister P. Chidambaram and Agriculture
Minister Sharad Pawar, who announced the package for Tamil Nadu, Kerala
(Rs.245.94 crores), Andhra Pradesh (Rs.68.99 crores) and Pondicherry (Rs.153.46
crores), said it was the first phase of the Central assistance and mainly
covered marine fisherfolk. This phase relates to the immediate needs of
the affected people - food and other materials, boats to resume work,
and permanent houses. The next package, expected soon, will cover the
reconstruction of infrastructure and will address the issue of removing
salinity from the agricultural land inundated by seawater.
Under the first package, fishermen who have lost their catamarans will
be provided a subsidy of Rs.32,000 each to buy new ones. Those who have
lost motor-fitted boats will be given 35 per cent of the cost and a loan
for the balance. This is for a vessel that may cost up to Rs.1.5 lakhs.
For mechanised boats, the subsidy will be 35 per cent subject to a ceiling
of Rs.5 lakhs; loan will be provided for the rest of the amount, up to
a unit cost of Rs.20 lakhs. For repairs of the fishing craft, a subsidy
of 60 per cent with a ceiling of Rs.3 lakhs will be given for mechanised
boats and full subsidy of up to Rs.10,000 for all other types of boats.
Tamil Nadu will get Rs.650 crores for building 1.5 lakh permanent houses,
Kerala and Pondicherry Rs.50 crores for 10,000 houses each, and Andhra
Pradesh Rs.2.3 crores for 500 houses. The allocations also provide for
the acquisition of land. Each house with a floor area of 250 sq.ft. is
estimated to cost Rs.40,000. For reconstruction of fishing harbours and
fishing craft landing palces, Tamil Nadu has been allocated Rs.9.4 crores,
Kerala Rs.13.07 crores, and Pondicherry Rs.20 lakhs.
THE final phase of rehabilitation and restoration of livelihood in the
affected districts has apparently received a big boost following the announcement
of the aid package. After three weeks of relief operations, Nagapattinam
has returned to normalcy. The district administration is active with the
third phase of relief operations, arranging to move the affected people
from the relief camps to temporary, individual shelters.
In several places, the work is nearing completion and in some areas the
affected families have already moved into new shelters. Each shelter,
constructed with tinplates, camp cloth or thatches, measures 12'x10' on
an average in most areas. Many private agencies and industrial houses
have undertaken the construction of these temporary structures in Kallar,
Serugur, Akkaraippettai and Keechankuppam, under a private-public sector
"participatory" programme. Families with three or more members
find the shelter inadequate, but they are prepared to bear with the "inconvenience"
for a few more months, until the permanent dwelling places are ready.
In some areas, the administration is said to have identified the land
to be acquired for the purpose of constructing permanent houses.
District secretary of the Communist Party of India (Marxist) and a former
Member of the Tamil Nadu Assembly, V. Thambusami, suggested the construction
of identical two-storeyed, concrete houses with easy access to the terrace
and cyclone control buildings, modelled on the ones provided by former
Chief Minister M.G. Ramachandran, in every fishing colony.
V. Marimuthu, CPI(M) district secretariat member, called for expediting
the construction of permanent houses as the temporary shelters would not
be adequate for big families.
Jesu Rethinam, director of Sneha, a Nagapattinam-based voluntary organisation,
said that the quality of the shelters and their location mattered most.
She said the fishermen were opposed to relocation from their fishing hamlets.
In many places the existing colonies are at a safe distance or at a higher
level from the sea and the fisherfolk do not want to forgo them. They
want to be near the beach to carry on their fishing activities such as
fish landing, sorting and auctioning and for drying nets. They also demanded
that the exemption to fishermen from the Coastal Regulation Zone stipulation
against construction within a distance of 500 metres from the coast should
be continued.
At Serugur, A. Ravichandran, one of the nine panchayatdars of the fishermen
community, said that the affected families were satisfied with the temporary
shelters, but their priority was the restoration of fishing operations.
He wanted the government to expedite the distribution of money needed
for buying or repairing fishing vessels so that they could get back to
the sea soon.
IN Cuddalore district, the construction of temporary shelters is in full
swing. A large number of families have moved into these hutments in the
affected villages of Devanampattinam, Sonankuppam, Singarathope and Akkaraigori.
At Devanampattinam, community panchayat president P. Sadasivam told newspersons
that the temporary shelters were not "fully satisfactory". He
said the government had identified two areas, situated some 750 metres
from the coast, to construct permanent houses for about 1,500 affected
families.
The families fear that they would be asked to vacate the temporary shelters
in two months as the temple in the vicinity would be celebrating its annual
festival. Sadasivam said the district administration had assured the community
panchayat leaders that the permanent houses would be ready by that time.
He also wanted the government to expedite the process of distributing
cash relief intended to buy new fishing vessels and to repair the existing
ones, wherever possible. He was all praise for the "excellent' work
done by District Collector Gagandeep Singh Bedi and his team of officials
in providing relief. He wanted the administration to provide some amount
of compensation for wage earners.
The government has undertaken the temporary shelter programme with the
assistance of a number of aid agencies from different parts of the country
and public and private sector companies. The most visible among the voluntary
organisations working in the district is the Rishikesh-based India Foundation,
founded and run by Swami Chidanand Saraswati. The Foundation has adopted
Devanampattinam and launched several ameliorative schemes under Project
Hope. Among the notable followers of this Foundation is the Hindi film
actor Vivek Oberoi, who rushed to the aid of the affected people within
days of the tsunami attack. He camped at Devanampattinam for a week and
helped Swami Chidanand Saraswati in a big way in organising relief. Project
coordinator Saroj Patel told Frontline that the Foundation had undertaken
similar projects before in areas affected by cyclones, earthquakes and
other natural disasters.
At Devanampattinam, the Foundation has been undertaking relief and rehabilitation
work in coordination with the State government. Apart from providing 200
temporary shelters, Project Hope has extended assistance to the victims
by providing medical aid, utensils, new clothes and other essentials.
It has plans to help the orphaned children of Devanampattinam and other
affected areas, besides adopting some children.
Gagandeep Singh Bedi told Frontline that the construction of permanent
houses and the provision of funds for buying and repairing fishing vessels
and tools would be taken up as soon as the modalities of the schemes were
available. He hoped to finish the construction work within 60 days from
the commencement of work possibly in the first week of February. He said
the houses would be earthquake-proof and cyclone-resistant.
The Collector was confident that fishing operations would be largely restored
within a month. He said that some fishermen had already set sail in new
boats, albeit provided by private agencies. In an innovative way, he arranged
for the registration of these vessels as jointly owned by groups of about
six persons each, who included a fisherman, a boat builder, a carpenter
and a fisherwoman widowed by the tsunami. The Collector said he had also
plans to help the fishworkers, fish traders and other low-income group
people in the area dependent on the fishing community for their survival.
A significant aspect of the relief operations in Cuddalore and Nagapattinam
districts is the contribution of medical and health personnel in providing
treatment to the injured and also in taking preventive measures against
the outbreak of epidemics. They seem to have succeeded to a large extent
in this respect. But for a few incidents of measles and chickenpox, which
had nothing to do with the tsunami, no major breakout of epidemic has
been reported.
One positive development noticed by observers is the interaction between
the inland community and the marine fishing community, which by the very
nature of its work had remained practically isolated from the mainstream.
The fishermen were overwhelmed by the spontaneous and generous flow of
aid and moral support from people all over the country. This apart, researcher
Kumaravelu has noted that the fishing community itself is more united
post-tsunami. The tsunami, in a sense, was a great leveller. It removed
the status-based divisions, having spared no section of the community.
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