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January 05, 2005
Another Tsunami Aftermath Dispatch From India by Kate Hall
Kate Hall, an InsideOut Travel Magazine contributor, sends this tsunami aftermath dispatch from India where she works for a social development organisation.
Sharana has currently suspended all its day-to-day programs (English and homework classes) to focus directly on tsunami relief for the families affected in our area.
In Kuruchipuram, the district in the north of Pondicherry closest to the sea, Sharana is working with approximately 120 affected families, some of which include sponsored children. About 70 of these families lost half or more of their homes, while the others suffered damage and lost possessions such as clothes and school materials in the flooding. Some houses were flooded by seawater, some when the seawater caused Pondy’s open sewers to overflow.
The families are now mostly living in government schools, which will remain closed for the next two weeks while the government decides what action to take. Last Friday it was announced that lunch and dinner would be provided for these families, but the meals have so far proved to be sporadic and inadequate. As these people currently have no way of cooking and are unable to provide for themselves, Sharana has taken the step of providing breakfast each morning for all the children from the affected district.
Last week, Sharana social workers undertook preliminary surveys of the area to find out who and how many had been affected by the tsunami—the estimated figure was about 400 children in our area.
On Monday morning, the first day of the program, some 160 children came to Sharana’s old office to receive a breakfast of a bread roll, boiled egg, milk and a banana. Yesterday, a similar number came. Today, word had spread and over 300 children came.
Much of our time has been taken up with making food stamps to ensure that the food is being distributed equally and fairly, and so Sharana can monitor which families are receiving aid. Each child receives a token and mothers/fathers can also take tokens for babies at home or children unable to come to the office because of sickness.
However, the schools cannot stay closed forever and the government is making plans to provide families with some form of housing. The current idea is to build government housing in an area away from the sea, a proposal that has social workers up in arms. As fishermen by trade, these families would struggle to make it if denied lodging on the coast. The beach provides space to spread out nets to dry, or to clean and repair them, a place to keep a boat, and of course, direct access to the sea. The government has also suggested it will provide funds for the purchase of new catamarans, as approximately 70% were destroyed by the waves. Whether this will be enough remains to be seen.
In the meantime, Sharana plans to extend its breakfast program at least until families have the facilities to cook for themselves. It is also collecting clothes, linens and utensils, the distribution of
which will take place on Friday.
If you’d like to donate to Sharana, you can do so in the following way. As Sharana is a very young charity, it is still awaiting its Indian charity number which allows it to accept international
donations. Until then, donations can be made through Sharana France (Treasurer: Toulis Francois), at the following address:
Name of Bank: Crédit Agricole Sub Méditerranee
Address of Bank: 30 rue Pierre Bretonneau, Perpignan, B.P. 243-F-66832 Perpignan Cédex
Account Number:185 164 83 000
Name of Holder: Sharana France
Holder’s Address: St. Paul, B.P. 09700, Le Vernet,France.
All donations will go directly to relief in the Pondicherry area, initially in providing emergency food, and later for provision of rice and subsidies towards new houses and fishing equipment.
And to finish…
While the districts which Sharana works with are within the boundaries of Pondicherry (autonomous),those which Voluntariat works with—my fellow volunteer Leila’s organisation—are in Tamil Nadu.
We originally feared that the Tamil Nadu government had banned all help from NGOs in the state, however it seems that this was misinformation and what they are actually doing is preventing unauthorized NGOs from entering the area. The trouble is, no one has ever dealt with a catastrophe of this scale before and everyone is
jumping in to help with almost no coordination.
Many NGOs are not from the affected areas, and the results have been that some villages get fed 10 times a day and others not at all.
Hopefully monitoring by the government will prevent this and ensure that everyone gets the help they need. Voluntariat is working on a long-term approach including water purification systems to prevent disease in the area.
Kate Hall
Are you interested in sharing news from tsunami-affected areas? Send dispatches to editor@insideoutmag.com.
Posted by insideoutmag at January 5, 2005 08:25 AM