Minutes of Cuddalore Resource Centre Formation Meeting

Date: 21/01/2006

Parivelan

A formal meeting took place in the context of formation of Cuddalore Resource Centre (CRC) on 21 January 2006 at KTR Conference Hall, Cuddalore, to discuss the (a) rationale, (b) nature and scope, (c) objectives and tasks, (d) methodologies, (e) identifying potential members for Core Group and (f) role allocation.

I Participants of the meeting:
Cuddalore District Administration - M.S.Shanmugam
IGSSS - T. Antony Joseph
CARE - R.Devasalan
World Vision India - S.J.I.Jayakumar
EFICOR - Winston.R
ADRA-India - M.Satchithananda Valan
ADRA-India - A.Annal Manimazhy
LEAD - R.Ravindran
Save the children - Prabhat Kumar
Life Help - P.Rajan
Life Help - Blaze Kannan
CASA - V.Poul Luther
Lutheran World Service- India - J.Gananiah Reuben
PMSSS - C.Packiaraj
SASY - S.Mohan
ICMA - S.Rajalakshmi
ICMA - R.Poornima
UNV - Uma
UNDP - Rahul Pandit
TNTRC - K.M. Parivelan

II Main points of the discussion:

Having had a round a self introduction from all the participants of the meeting, it started with discussion on rationale and objectives of CRC. All the participants unanimously gave the consent and suggestion that an independent ‘Centre’ is pertinently required for collecting various data/ information pertaining to recovery process. It was also made clear that all recovery players in the district including local NGOs should collectively take part in the formation and functioning of CRC, so that joint ownership and sustainability could be achieved.

The Mr. Shanmugam, DRO-RR, opined that CRC will be of major value to the Cuddalore district both in the recovery process as well as in future developmental activities. He suggested that CRC could become a platform for bringing coordination among NGOs and act as bridge between district administration and civil society organisations. In addition, he proposed that the following activities could be carried out by CRC:

Ø The CRC could verify, analyse and authenticate the existing data available with district administration and various NGOs. Thus the data collected becomes useful for all recovery players as policy input.
Ø Village mapping.
Ø CRC could prevent duplication of the work and avoid one sided reports.
Ø The CRC should move beyond taking up tasks like collection of data and compilation to the level of becoming an active forum for dialogue, debate and discussion on recovery issues.
Ø Regular meetings should be held for exchange of information and identification of key issues.
Ø Identified recovery issues should be regularly updated through newsletter and through a website.
Ø The activities and plan of action of NGOs to be regularly recorded.
Ø Role of district administration: Provide and share data/ information, facilitate to sort out any problems identified by NGOs.

The representatives of various organisations gave their suggestions and opinion vis-à-vis CRC role in the following lines:

Ø Capacity building programmes and workshops.
Ø Gathering all the relief, rehabilitation and reconstruction information retrospectively, to get the comprehensive picture, this can act as impetus for recovery process.
Ø Knowledge expertise to be shared.
Ø Disaster management – emergency response plan, contingency plan etc.
Ø Vulnerability planning- organisations like ICMA to share available data and methodologies for strengthening CRC data repository.
Ø Gather data of all NGOs, their activities, future plans, etc.
Ø Community based disaster/ emergency response plan.
Ø Collection of information and data on social equity measures.
Ø Information sharing and exchange with other district resource centres via TNTRC.
Ø Studies, reports, newsletters circulated by the other agencies to be collected.
Ø Act as a forum for conflict resolution and mediation among NGOs.


III Budget, Logistics and Infrastructure:

(a) Venue: One conference hall for conducting meetings (to accommodate around 20 to 25 persons) and a room for two/ three staff members is required.

(b)Infrastructure: Computer with internet connection, printer, telephone, etc.
(c) Estimated cost approximately around to 7.5 to 8 Lakhs (per year)

IV Members of the core group:

Around 10 organisations present during the meeting and DRO volunteered to be part of the Core Group, which will aid, support and facilitate the CRC formation and functioning. The Core Group can act as steering committee for CRC activities.

V Tentative Responsibilities

v Venue identification will be taken care of by IGSSS
v Village information centre formation and links with CRC to be initiated by CARE India.
v Workshops/ trainings to initiated and organised by ADRA and Save the Children.
v Inauguration processes - Life help and IGSSS
v Data collection methodology – World Vision and ICMA


The meeting concluded with the note that tentatively by 10th February 2006, CRC should start functioning. All the required things like venue finalisation, human resource, infrastructure, etc. to be geared up in the mean time.

Women’s livelihoods: The focus of UN Volunteers

Gurraidho,Maldives: Haleema Mohamed sits in a swing chair on the island of Gurraidho in the tsunami-hit Maldives. She says she is bored.

Scattered around the 48-year-old mother of 11 is a pile of wrecked pots and other fish processing equipment, such as smokers and stoves, which have lain dormant since the tsunami flattened much of her island in December 2004.

“I have stopped processing fish because the tsunami washed away most of my equipment along with the harbour. No fishermen stop in to sell their catch anymore, and the island’s fishing fleet was damaged,” she says. “The tsunami not only took away my house, but also my family’s main source of income.”

Haleema is not alone in the Maldives. More than 11,000 Maldivians have had their incomes severely disrupted and are still in immediate need of assistance to get back on their feet following the tsunami.

“Women are particularly vulnerable to the loss of income in this country because of a higher-than-usual divorce rate,” says Kanti Risal, a UN Volunteer working with UNDP to help boost women’s livelihoods. “Up to 42 percent of people in the Maldives live in female-headed households. Women and children on the islands need support to become independent, so tsunami reconstruction here means specifically helping women begin to regenerate income following the losses caused by the tsunami.”

Kanti, from Nepal, has been with the UNDP project for the last six months. Working with the gender ministry in the small island nation, she is part of a team that distributes grants to women who want to start small businesses in tailoring, fish processing or anything else that will help restart their lives and escape poverty. Her work is part of a US$5 million UNDP programme to help tsunami-affected families restore livelihoods across the Maldives.

“We are concentrating on home-based activities, which women can easily take up without much extra training,” says Kanti. “Informal home-based activities were often not registered with any formal government institutions; therefore, such activities were left out of other assessments following the tsunami. We are also helping community groups to establish schemes that will help everyone on their respective islands. This might include helping establish an Internet café or providing English language training to women who want to take greater part in the tourism industry. This country is lucky in the sense that it has a well-educated and literate female population—but, unfortunately, women are still far from enjoying equality and equity, especially in an economic and social sense.”

About United Nations Volunteers:Based in Bonn, Germany, UNV is the UN organization that supports sustainable human development globally through the promotion of volunteerism, including the mobilization of volunteers. In 2004, more than 7,000 skilled and experienced professionals, 70 percent coming from developing countries, supported peace, relief and development initiatives in some 150 countries. It also engages thousands of other individuals in the work of the United Nations through www.onlinevolunteering.org, and manages the WorldVolunteerWeb, a global volunteering portal that serves as a knowledge resource base for campaigning, advocacy, information dissemination and networking.

For more information, contact:UNV programme: Edward Mishaud, Communications Officer; tel: (49 228) 815 2223; email: edward.mishaud@unvolunteers.org

Source:

http://www.unvolunteers.org/infobase/news_releases/2005/

Micro-enterprise loan disbursement reaches completion: Sri Lanka

By Kirsten Hongisto, communications manager-Asia for Christian Children's Fund

Just one year after the Indian Ocean Tsunami, CCF-Sri Lanka has completed distribution of micro-enterprise loans in two of the hardest hit districts: Galle and Trincomalee.

"I believe the families are now improving their incomes, said Wimal Liyannarachchi, manager of CCF's micro-enterprise development program in Sri Lanka. "This directly and positively affects the nutritional level of the children and the children's school attendance. It also helps the families repair their homes and purchase essential materials for their daily lives. Most importantly, it helps build up their mental happiness."

To reach this goal in December 2005, 323 tsunami-affected families received loans in the Galle District, located in southern Sri Lanka. Women in the families received training for the following and other related skills:

- 20 women trained to improve the quality of their coir -- the stiff fiber from the outside of the coconut shell -- products, such as rope or door mats, and the selling of the products in local markets. Coir fiber production is particularly important within Sri Lanka, which produces 36 percent of the world's brown fiber output, most of which is consumed on the domestic market.

- 25 women learned to make laundry soap, five of whom are already selling soap on the local market. The production of laundry soap requires only a small space for manufacture and readily available ingredients. An item of daily necessity, laundry soap is essentially a mass consumption item.

- 32 women trained to make candles. They are currently exploring marketing opportunities in tourist areas. Tourism figures in Sri Lanka continue to rise as people return to the destination.
In addition to these new enterprises, many of the women participating in the micro-enterprise program are hoping to restart businesses lost in the tsunami or expand existing ones.
Wayposts and Milemarkers

At a glance, the micro-enterprise program targeting tsunami affected families in Sri Lanka has already reached a number of milestones, including:

- In Galle, 14 community village banks have been established.

- A total of US $49,340 has been given as loans to 323 families participating in the program in Galle District.

- In Trincomalee, 42 are now running in the conflict and tsunami affected district of Trincomalee.

- A total of US $152,650 has been given as loans to 1,015 families participating in the program in Trincomalee District.

- More than US $145,000 of this money has been lent as working capital, an essential part of getting a new business off the ground.

Providing micro business opportunities to tsunami affected families has not been without its challenges. Families have relocated to new areas as they recover from the disaster, while micro credit loan groups require cohesion and relationships built over time.

Renewed fighting in the north and east of the country is creating concern among tsunami survivors, leading some families to relocate to other parts of the country or even India. The magnitude of the disaster itself created great vulnerabilities and urgency, particularly as government subsidy programs come to an end. The normal marketing channels were destroyed or severely disrupted by the disaster as well.

The CCF-Sri Lanka staff members found new and creative ways to help women to develop new techniques for their work and business management skills so that they could start generating income for their families again. Finding a way to resume providing a sufficient and sustainable income for their families has been an important goal of the micro-enterprise program.

Source:

http://www.reliefweb.int/rw/RWB.NSF/db900SID/RMOI-6L83NX?OpenDocument

Governments must do more to reduce the impact of natural disasters – UN body

Sálvano Briceño

18 January 2006

Marking the one year anniversary of an international agreement aimed at reducing the impact of natural disasters, a senior United Nations official today called on countries to speed up their efforts to make risk reduction a national priority.

Salvano Briceno, Director of the International Strategy for Disaster Reduction (ISDR), said that since the signing of the Hyogo Framework in January 2005, some 40 countries had put disaster risk reduction at the top of their political agendas. While this progress is essential, he called for further actions to strengthen prevention systems.

“These are very positive steps forward but governments must accelerate their efforts. We cannot reduce the impact of natural hazards if policies and legislation are not in place,” Mr. Briceno said in a news release.

The head of the Geneva-based ISDR praised new strategies and laws to make disaster risk reduction a priority in several countries, including Sri Lanka which was hit by last year’s devastating tsunami, but warned that with environmental degradation, global warming and other problems “the next natural hazard is just a matter of time.”

“The current drought in Kenya and Ethiopia is a tragic yet preventable example of a natural hazard that has turned into a serious food crisis with some 11 million people across the region in desperate need of food aid,” said Mr. Briceno.

The Hyogo Framework for Action, which runs from 2005-2015, calls on governments to invest in measures such as national and local risk assessments, early warning systems, public awareness and education, better urban planning and safer building construction codes.

Source:

http://www.un.org/apps/news/story.asp?NewsID=17198&Cr=ISDR&Cr1=disaster

UN tsunami envoy Bill Clinton urges immediate steps to prevent disaster

Special Envoy Bill Clinton20 January 2006 – Thousands of lives and billions of dollars lost in the devastating Indian Ocean tsunami in 2004 could have been saved if disaster reduction strategies had been in place, United Nations tsunami envoy former United States President Bill Clinton said today, highlighting the urgent need to implement these measures.

In a statement marking the one-year anniversary of an international agreement aimed at reducing the impact of natural disasters – known as the Hyogo Framework for Action – Mr. Clinton urged all governments and international institutions to act on its recommendations immediately.

“Disaster risk awareness education needs to be incorporated into school curricula, communities should be informed about potential hazards, and new construction must adhere to safer building-standards,” Mr. Clinton said.

“These achievable goals were adopted by 168 governments at the World Conference on Disaster Reduction which took place in January 2005, one month after the tsunami struck the region,” he said, emphasizing that there was no time to lose.

The Hyogo Framework, which runs from 2005-2015, calls on governments to invest in measures such as national and local risk assessments, early warning systems, public awareness and education, better urban planning and safer building construction codes.

On Wednesday, Sálvano Briceño, Director of the International Strategy for Disaster Reduction (ISDR), said that since the signing of the Framework in January 2005, some 40 countries had put disaster risk reduction at the top of their political agendas, but he called for further actions to strengthen prevention systems.

The 26 December 2004 tsunami disaster killed over 230,000 people and displaced some 1.5 million in more than 12 countries.

Source:

http://www.un.org/apps/news/story.asp?NewsID=17231&Cr=disaster&Cr1

Mr. Francis Xavier, NUNV, District Recovery Facilitator, UNTRS-TN, UNDP recieving award from District Administration-Kanyakumari on behalf of UNDP for the best services done (along with other NGO's) for the Tsunami Relief and Rehabilitation in Kanyakumari District

PHOTOS TAKEN IN PERMANENT HOUSING HAMLET, DEVANAMPATTINAM HAMLET, CUDDALORE DISTRICT

The struggle goes on

After the initial hullabaloo, nothing has changed much for the tsunami affected

RAKESH MEHAR

Although the tsunami relief efforts received extensive coverage in the media in the immediate aftermath of the disaster, not much was really said about the dismal state of rehabilitation efforts in India. For the most part, the media either carried glowing stories of effective rehabilitation or wrote one off pieces on the problems involved, neglecting to outline the extent of failure of these efforts.

K.P. Sasi's The Time After Tsunami, a 38-minute documentary produced by Visual Search and Actionaid India in association with Voices from the Margins, seeks to set the record straight. The documentary is largely based on the testimonials and findings gathered by the People's Tribunal on Post Tsunami Challenges and Responses, which included eminent persons such as retired Justices H. Suresh (former judge of the Mumbai High Court) and D. Sreedevi (former judge of the Kerala High Court), former Chairperson, National Women's Commission Dr. V. Mohini Giri and Dr. Gopal Guru (professor, Jawaharlal Nehru University) and was assisted by a 13-member expert panel.

Speaking solely through expert opinion and statements of victims, it raises urgent questions on caste and religious discrimination, neglect of ancillary trades, victims' rights to dignity and proper living conditions, ownership of natural resources such as beaches and the larger issue of lack of transparency in disaster management efforts. While these questions have been raised before, their attribution to individual victims brings a dramatic immediacy to them. Seeing children play in puddles of sewage water and faeces in the relief camps, for example, drives home the point of horrible living conditions of the victims.

The documentary is stark and minimalistic, and has a raw, unpolished quality that works well in its favour. Juxtaposing expert comments with on-ground pictures, Sasi lets the facts speak for themselves, rather than telling the audience anything himself. Every testimonial is also excellently interspersed with montages of the worst hit areas, with images like broken catamarans and ruinous shells of houses that imprint themselves on the mind. Even if one were to forget the factual information presented in the documentary, the images are almost impossible to get out of one's head. One recurrent sequence of a fisherman struggling to row through the tide, in particular, embodies the struggle that continues for these victims a whole year after the disaster struck. The background score keeps with the starkness of the documentary, with a single female voice singing a wordless tune through most of the documentary.

However, while The Time After Tsunami lucidly outlines the problems involved, it does not attempt to provide any solutions, particularly to the larger, more universal problem of lack of transparency. Most of the suggestions that do come through are stopgap measures that deal with the problem at hand, but do not provide a model for future situations. In that sense, it fails to rise above the present conflict and address the larger perspective.

Irrespective of this minor failing, however, K.P. Sasi's The Time After Tsunami is an excellent film, beginning where the mainstream media and the interest of the nation left off.

For copies of the CD, email: http://www.visualsearch.org/ or info@visualsearch.org

Source: http://www.hindu.com/thehindu

Copyright © 2006, The Hindu

"WISH YOU ALL

A HAPPY & PROSPEROUS

PONGAL"

TSUNAMI GREETING CARDS

TSUNAMI GREETING CARD - PAINTED BY TSUNAMI AFFECTED CHILDREN IN CUDDALORE DISTRICT

PONGAL WISHES FROM DRDA - CUDDALORE

CITYLINKS PROGRAM – A PROGRAM OF ICMA & USAID

In May 1997, ICMA and USAID inaugurated the Resource Cities Program (RCP). The RCP and its successor, the CityLinks Program, are based on the simple premise that effective local governance is critical to addressing urban management and public service delivery challenges, and that local government leaders and managers can benefit greatly by sharing experiences and expertise.

Through the RCP and CityLinks Program, ICMA and USAID are able to bring pro-bono technical and management expertise from U.S. cities, counties, other pubic institutions and municipal associations to bear on pressing management and service issues in developing and transitional countries, and to build long-term in developing and transitional countries, and to build long-term professional relationships between U.S. urban managers and their international peers.

CityLinks Program, TamilNadu:Cuddalore & Nagapattinam Muncipalities with Florida Cities, US

The CityLinks Partnership Program will provide technical assistance to the Municipalities of Cuddalore and Nagapattinam, the Districts of Cuddalore and Nagapattinam, the State of TamilNadu, and relevant state and national ministries engaged in coastal management and tsunami recovery.

By providing hands-on technical assistance, training and focused exchanges with other cities, complemented by small and targeted project assistance funding, USAID/India’s goal to support the recovery of Indian communities will be accomplished.

The CityLinks program will build more sustainable and self-dependent communities that will be able to address the chronic economic development needs of their citizens.

Proposed list of activities:

Disaster Preparation and Response Plan
Coastal Management
Develop and Implement Financial Management Strategies
Land Re-use
Park Redevelopment
Port Development
Small Investment Projects

Contact Details:

Ms. S. Rajalakshmi,
Senior Project Coordinator,ICMA
email: srajalakshmi@icma.org

Activities carried out by Karunalaya Social Service Society for Tsunami Relief and Recovery

Karunalaya Social Service Society has been catering to the needs of the fishermen community of North Chennai and caring for street children for past ten years. The on-going services to the fishermen community became more vital after the community was struck by the tsunami of 2004.

Transport services to School going children

The fishermen who lost their houses in North Chennai were shifted to temporary shelters in Kargilnagar. Due to water logging and the fire accidents, the affected families had to be again shifted to interim shelters at Ernavur. Due to these constant shifts, the worst affected are school going children whose schools are almost more than 12 kilometers of distance. Children could not travel and the risk of discontinuation of education was felt. At this juncture Karunalaya came forward to provide transport facilities by way of providing three buses. This facility is utilized by 3000 children. Towards the end of December, 2005 due to the scarcity of the bus availability, the district administration’s help was sought to arrange for the same facilities with the help of Metro Transport Corporation.

Other Activities to Affected Children

* Ballwadi for the children aged between 2-5 years. Nearly 100 children attend every day.
* Nutritious food like milk, biscuits, egg and sundal are provided to 1000 children on a daily basis.
* Uniforms, notebooks, geometry boxes and other education materials were distributed to 3000 children. Education fees as well was given.
* 10 days camp was conducted for the children.
* A trip to V.G.P Universal Kingdom was undertaken.
* 280 children were enrolled for academic pursuits during this academic year.
* Evening coaching classes are conducted to enable the students to study better. Their talents are identified through children’s clubs activities and they are given opportunities and incentives to nurture them.

compiled by Mr. John Packiaraj

WORKSHOP ON PSYCHO SOCIAL CARE FOR SURVIVORS OF TSUNAMI
KANNIYAKUMARI DISTRICT RESPONSES

Hotel Udipi International
9.1.06

DRAFT RECOMMENDATIONS OF THE WORKSHOP

The governmental organization departments of health, education, welfare and the NGO groups representative totaling 60 members convened and shared their experiences of working with the tsunami survivors in the Kanniyakumari deliberated for the entire day and brain stormed in group sessions and group recommends the following:

Psychosocial support for disaster survivors:

1. The group appreciates the efforts of the GO and NGO sectors in providing psychosocial care for the tsunami survivors and strongly recommends that the psycho social care activities need to be continued over a long period of time taking into consideration the varying need at the current point of time of rehabilitation.

2. The psycho social care services need to reach out to specific vulnerable groups like the men, youth, disabled, women, children and the aged who had been neglected in the initial phase of the work.

3. Psycho social care services should not be a stand alone service of counseling but a spectrum of care as has been practiced by a large number of organization.

4. There is a need to integrate, institutionalize the psychosocial care activities in the field areas.

5. Reach out to the survivor community need to be area specific as has been currently formulated with ‘anbiams’, panchayats, hamlets, ‘jamat Kanas’ as geographical boundaries.

6. While caring for the affected community there is need to ‘caring for the carers’ as they are highly distressed.

7. Psychosocial care programme needs to be sensitized through the women and children group members of ICDS centres in the community, parent teacher association in the schools and during the RTI/STI camp activities the out patient or the PHC facilities of the health sector, youth club activities in the field by NYK volunteers.

8. On a long term there is a need to create ‘counseling centres for the children in the schools’, anganwadi centres and ‘drop in counseling centres’ in the panchayats run by NGOs.

9. Net work between, GO and NGO sectors while providing care for the survivor population.

10. Animation and formation programmes are needed at community level.

11. Community reactivation through group activities than individual counseling programme.

TRAINING:

The group unanimously felt that training for the local volunteers helps more than the trained counselors.

1. People not trained in psycho social care service provision like DRDA, DRM, Education, health and ICDS need to be trained at the earliest.

2. Need for follow up and support of the trained persons in the community or review of activities in a periodic manner.

3. Need to sensitise / train the community level leaders, religious groups on the need for psychosocial care.

4. There is a larger presentation of the emotional reactions as somatic problems. There is a need to train the PHC doctors in psychosocial care need to be taken up as a priority.

5. Need to create a larger pool of trained personnel in the community before the disaster and during the immediate phase of the disaster.

6. Coverage of the population needs to be not only to the immediately affected community but also to the larger population and the entire community.

7. Need to train in psychosocial preparedness and life skills education as promotive programmes for the children and the youth.

8. Need for a unified, well-defined training module and content to be made available by the professionals. The differences in professional ideologies need not be reflected at the community level.

9. District, block and village level training programme for various functionaries need to be carried out.

10. Need for refresher training for trained personnel, TOTs carrying out peer trainings.

11. Disaster preparedness training to be imparted to the children and the community.

12. Social skills development, technical skills development of the women needs to be developed and imparted.

13. Develop a pool of trainers of trainees at the District level for impact training with long standing NGOs and GOs in the District.

14. Importance of need assessment before training.

Co-ordination and net working:

The group unanimously felt the declining nature of participation, funding and presence of INGOs and NGOs during the rehabilitation phase of the disaster and expressed concern in continuation of the psychosocial care activities.

1. The duplication of work and declining participation of NGOs in village level coordination was noted with concern and as it provided better coordination at the micro unit level, periodic coordination and consultation meeting at the village, block, and the district level has been suggested.

2. Problems of life issues subsequent to the disaster are on the rise ex. Suicides, alcohol, family violence, decline in values and so on. There is a need for consented and coordinated activity among the GO and NGO sectors in tackling the same.

3. Co ordination needs to be based on scientific data and a general understanding of psycho social support needs to be created.

4. Lead NGOs to be open for cooperation with small NGOs and community groups on psychosocial care.

5. Coordination needs to be started at the village level through anbiams at the local village, followed by NGOs, lead NGOs and then the District level coordination agency.

6. Networking needs to be initiated with participation at the village level and then taken to the local NGOs, lead NGOs, and major institutions.

7. In order to sustain the networking there is a need to formulate a long term strategy through membership creation of the local NGOs during non emergency period.

8. Coordinate the forums for the children, women at the village level.

9. NIMHANS in coordination with KRRC and kanyakumari NGOs and GO to continue to coordinate the PSC activities both at the village level, block and the District level.

After the Tsunami‚ A Drive to Reverse Tubal Ligations in Tamil Nadu

by Margot Cohen
Margot Cohen is a journalist based in Bangalore, India.

(July 2005) When India accelerated its nationwide family planning program in the 1970s, the southern state of Tamil Nadu was quick to respond. Government officials set up a wide network of primary health centers and spread the message that tubal ligation (also known as tubectomy) meant permanent birth control with no fuss.

The campaign brought dramatic results: By 2002, nearly 44 percent of Tamil Nadu's women had borne two children and been sterilized before their 27th birthday. And the state's total fertility rate dropped from 3.8 in 1976 to 2.0 in 2002.

But after last December's Indian Ocean tsunami killed over 2,300 children under age 18 in Tamil Nadu, the state government began offering free reversals of tubal ligation for women there who wish to conceive again. So far, 189 women have signed up for the microsurgery, which is known as recanalization.

"In countering the depression of losing a child, this is a very intelligent option," says Dr. J. Radhakrishnan, the district collector (or top civil servant) of Nagapattinam, a coastal district of 1.4 million people where the tsunami left 6,065 dead, including 1,776 children. "They feel guilty that they survived but could not save the child," he says of the bereaved parents.

The issues raised by Tamil Nadu's recanalization program, however, reach well beyond parents directly affected by the tsunami. Nationwide, more than two-thirds of India's female contraceptive users rely on tubectomy. And for some family planning experts, the new initiative is a stark reminder that India's health bureaucracy has failed to devote sufficient counseling and other resources to promote easily reversible contraceptive methods such as pills, IUDs, and condoms—especially for young women in their 20s.

"Choice has been very limited for [India's] women," says Dr. Saroj Pachauri, regional director for South and East Asia at the New York-based Population Council.

No Hard Sell Needed for Tubectomies

In Tamil Nadu, just 3 percent of women are relying on IUDs, with 1 percent turning to the pill and 1.5 percent using condoms, according to a 2004 report from the Directorate of Family Welfare in Chennai, the state capital. But while annual targets for tubectomies have been officially abandoned, local governments such as Tamil Nadu's still strive to meet what they call each district's "expected demand" for sterilization. Between April 1, 2004 and April 1, 2005, doctors in Tamil Nadu performed more than 416,000 tubectomies, up from roughly 370,000 in the same period five years earlier.

Dr. G. Venkatachalam, joint director of medical services at the government hospital in Nagapattinam, says Indian women are advised to undergo a tubectomy immediately after delivering their second child. "If prolonged for two or three months, the mother might not come to the hospital for sterilization,” he cautions. “Or she might conceive again."

After more than two decades of high-profile campaigns, though, the government no longer needs to make a hard sell for tubal ligation. "Women feel very comfortable with tubectomy," says Sheela Rani Chunkath, secretary of the Health and Family Welfare Department in Tamil Nadu. "They feel they don't want to mess with the hormones." Compounding the trend are continued complaints of excessive bleeding after IUD insertion and nationwide worries among women that pills bring side effects that include pronounced fatigue.

But Chunkath also emphasizes that the government is now seeking to promote vasectomies, which have only occurred sporadically in recent years due to broad male distaste for the method. "This gender imbalance, we really need to correct it," she says. "We think the man should also be responsible."

"Choice has been very limited for [India's] women," says Dr. Saroj Pachauri, regional director for South and East Asia at the New York-based Population Council.

The Right of a Woman to Choose, or Just More Gender Discrimination?

More than a dozen tsumani survivors in Tamil Nadu have already had recanalization, but most of the other patients are expected to undergo the procedure in late June and July. Tamil Nadu's flamboyant chief minister, Selvi J. Jayalalithaa, added a political gloss to the drive by appearing on television to publicize an executive order that promised either free recanalizations at government hospitals or 25,000 rupees ($595) in compensation for those who opt for private clinics.

Some analysts think the initiative protects the reproductive rights of Tamil Nadu's women. "The recanalization approach is in fact in keeping with the right of women to choose the timing of the birth of their children as per their emotional needs,” says Madhu Bala Nath, South Asia regional director of the International Planned Parenthood Federation.

But other observers are expressing concern that the high-profile program feeds into broad cultural biases that only validate women if they bear children. In India, childless women generally live in fear that their husbands will remarry in the search to continue the family line—often at the prodding of their own mothers. Economic dependence only deepens such fears.

"This is about societal pressure on a childless parent. And that's not the right reason to have a child," says Sujatha Natarajan, vice president of the Family Planning Association of India.

There is also no guarantee that all of these operations will result in healthy pregnancies: One public hospital in Chennai that specializes in the procedure reports that just 47 percent of its recanalization patients eventually gave birth again. In fact, Chunkath says that many reversals could be doomed because government doctors often cut too much of the fallopian tube during the original tubectomy in order to forestall legal claims of method failure.

'Without Children, We Feel So Lonely and Lost'

Still, officials believe that recanalization will bring fresh hope to bereaved couples. At Kilpauk Medical College Hospital in Chennai, surgeon A. Kalaichelvi considers 24-year old Sumathy, a fish vendor from the town of Mahabalipuram, one of the lucky ones. Sumathy, who lost her 7-year-old son to the tsunami, had her recanalization performed by Kalaichelvi a month ago.

"I feel at peace," says Sumathy, perched on a blue hospital mattress. "My mother-in-law said, in future, when you grow old, you need a child to be there."

Sumathy says she has no particular preference for a boy or a girl—feelings that are echoed by many other tsunami survivors, according to Dr. Pinagapany Manorama, director of the Community Health Education Society, a Chennai-based NGO that conducted counseling in tsunami-affected villages. Such sentiments are unusual in a country where couples have long harbored a strong preference for boys, who ultimately inherit property and perform last rites for their parents.

Indeed, India appears to be fighting a losing battle against abortions of female fetuses, despite a measure that outlaws doctors from disclosing the sex of a fetus following prenatal scans. Tamil Nadu is no exception: The state's sex ratio among children up to 6 years old was 939 girls per 1,000 boys—a significant drop from the 948 females per 1,000 males recorded in 1991. In seven of the state's districts, the ratio has dipped below 930, with Salem district reaching an alarming 826 girls ages 6 and under for every 1,000 boys.

But in the ramshackle tsunami relief camps erected near the coast, some couples appear desperate for any sort of companionship. "Without children, we feel so lonely and lost," confesses Moorthy, a 29-year-old fisherman whose son and daughter died in the tsunami. His wife, 24-year old Indira, became in January one of the first survivors to undergo recanalization. But the couple is still restlessly awaiting pregnancy.

Like most other bereaved parents in this traditional coastal community, they have no interest in adopting any of the surviving orphans, reflecting the unpopularity of formal adoption in India. "It's nothing like having your own child," says Indira, who was feeding her toddlers when the waves swept over their coastal hut.

While many health experts doubt that the tsunami will significantly alter the Indian government's longstanding focus on tubectomy, they feel the disaster could prompt some second thoughts among coastal dwellers. Says Dr. Manorama: "They may think, why get sterilized? A tsunami might come again."


References

1. Government of Tamil Nadu, Department of Health and Family Welfare, Directorate of Family Welfare, 2002 Annual Report (Chennai, India: Government of Tamil Nadu, 2003).
2. Office of the Registrar General, India, Sample Registration Statistical Report2002 (New Delhi, India, 2004).
3. International Institute for Population Sciences, National Family Health Survey (NFHS-2) 1998-99 (Mumbai, India: International Institute for Population Sciences and ORC Macro, 2000), accessed online at www.nfhsindia.org, on June 24, 2005.
4. Injectables do not feature on India's contraceptive menu, partly due to concerns raised by local women's groups six years ago that the national government was not obtaining informed consent for experimental trials for the drugs.
5. Government of Tamil Nadu, Department of Health and Family Welfare, Directorate of Family Welfare, 2004 Annual Report (Chennai, India: Government of Tamil Nadu, 2005).
6. Government of Tamil Nadu, Department of Health and Family Welfare, Directorate of Family Welfare, Monthly Bulletin On Family Welfare Performance Tamil Nadu April 2005 (Chennai, India: Government of Tamil Nadu). Venkatesh Athreya, "Census 2001: The Tamil Nadu Picture," Frontline 18, no. 29 (May 11, 2001), accessed online at www.frontlineonnet.com, on June 24, 2005

Restoration of Women Headed Households

“A human social order based on truth, justice, freedom, equity and integrity of the whole of creation, in which basic human rights and the dignity of every individual are uphold, in which the integrity of the family as a basic unit of the community is strengthened, where power, resource and the fruits of development are shared by all.” is a vision of IGSSS.

Indo Global Social Service Society is a National development support organization working for Tsunami Rehabilitation Programme in cuddalore and Kanyakumari. Response to Tsunami in restoration of livelihood, reconstruction of village infrastructure, Child development programme, Income Generation programme and Disaster Preparedness and mitigation.

Our major achievement in restoration of women headed households in our target village Pattaraiyadi, Chidambaram, Cuddalore District. When we say women headed house holds, they fall in the following criteria

Before : Tribal women who are involved in fish catching by hand without any equipment
After : Now they have adequate and comfortable fish catching.

Before : widow women who are labour and head load vendors

After : Widow Women and children who are finished their schooling are involved in fish catching.

Before : Women who are labour and head load vendors

After : Women are directly involved in fish catching with a support of their
Husband


After Tsunami these women are involved in fish catching, marketing, and maintenance of family and equipments mostly earning of livelihood is women supported by men.

IGSSS have provided 61 Fiber Thoni in which indirectly 244 family member gets benefit in fish related activities. Currently all women headed households are self depended and earning monthly Rs.2500/- and save Rs.500/- per month.

Coastal map of Villupuram District

Source: Auroville

ECHO Boats bring smile on the faces of People of Devanampattinam

Devanampattinam, one of the hardest hit villages of Cuddalore district, Tamil Nadu saw the first glimpse of happiness when the ECHO funded boats (96 repaired and some new boats) returned with 8 tons of fish on 05May, 2005 for the first the time after the tsunami of 26th December 2004. The community danced with joy and celebrated the huge catch.

ECHO supported Caritas-Germany to develop a boat-building workshop where 40 apprentice boat builders gain life-skills, and where 130 fishing boats were constructed and 96 repaired. The boats are shared between 5 beneficiaries. The boat workshop is still in operation for Caritas to support other communities from their own funding. The total production so far is 202 boats.

The livelihood support is complemented by psychosocial support to the affected communities. Caritas implements several components under psychosocial care i.e. trauma counselling, garments making for the women, computer training for the youths, strengthening of SHGs (Self Help Groups) and playschool activities for the children. ECHO supports the trauma counselling and the human resource for the project.

In Campbell Bay of Great Nicobar Islands, ANI (Andaman & Nicobar Islands) ECHO supported Caritas to construct 700 temporary Interim Shelters, which is completed, and the families live in the shelters toady. Caritas are in the process of delivering 25 Fishing Wooden Boats in ANI complemented with psychosocial activities in Great Nicobar and Little Andaman Islands.

ECHO is also financing CARITAS for additional fishing Nets to the beneficiaries in Tamil Nadu. Thus the objective to support the tsunami affected 14550 families to resume their normal livelihood in their place of origin has been timely addressed.

Source : ECHO website

BOOK RELEASE on 26th December 2005: Tsunami and a year after

Responding to a year of natural disaster

By Paul Reynolds World Affairs correspondent, BBC News website

It has been a year of so many major natural disasters - the aftermath of the tsunami in Asia, the earthquake in Kashmir, the hurricane in New Orleans - that philosophers in the Middle Ages would have concluded that God was angry and man was being punished.

In our day, with the exception of some fundamentalist preachers, we tend not to judge ourselves by the disasters themselves but by the way we respond to them.

And as far as the biggest disaster, the tsunami - in which about a quarter of a million people died - was concerned, the world responded better than some people, myself included, had feared.

There are still some serious problems, especially those of reconstruction, but the immediate relief effort was huge and the money raised both by governments and individuals was significant.

"The tsunami started in the most dramatic way possible, with nature at its worst and humanity at its best," said the UN emergency relief coordinator Jan Egeland.

"It was a year where we by and large rose to the challenge like never before. The speed with which people got food, water, medical relief and emergency shelters was very impressive."

He summed up: "I think the world was great in the tsunami."

Money talks

Now you can argue with that and say that humanity is not at its best when it fails to put warning systems into place - and at one stage monitors in the Pacific and a meteorologist in Thailand knew what was happening but did not know who to call.

And inevitably there were failures to get help where it was needed quickly, but Mr Egeland's judgement will probably not be seriously challenged a year on.

A particular phenomenon was the way in which money from ordinary people was sometimes larger than the amounts given by their government The money alone tells its own story.

According to figures complied by Reuters, about $7bn (£4bn) was raised by governments and more than $5 billion by private donations. \nThe United States ($2.337bn) led the donors, followed by Germany ($1.307bn), Britain ($1.108bn), Australia ($1.023bn), with collective contributions from the Asia Development Bank, the EU and the World Bank and substantial sums from Japan, Canada, the Netherlands, France and others.

A particular phenomenon was the way in which money from ordinary people was sometimes larger than the amounts given by their governments.

The US government gave $857m (the largest of any government donation) and $1.48bn came from individuals. The same was true for Germany ($643m from government and $663m from citizens) and Britain ($445m and $663m), France ($182m and $405m) and Sweden, which lost many people in Thailand ($90m and $137m).

In some other countries, especially the Netherlands and Canada, citizen donors ran their government contributions close.

Road to recovery

The tsunami moved money as well as emotions. The large amounts show how powerful an issue aid and development has become in Western societies.

But, and it is a big but, if the world has got better at sending immediate help, there is still a lot to do when it comes to reconstruction.

Oxfam International issued a report recently stating that "providing shelter for those displaced is proving the toughest challenge one year on."

However, in a more encouraging second report, it said: "More than half the people are back to work and economies are fast returning to normal."

Rebuilding is an old problem in the provision of aid. "Recovery is far more difficult than relief," said Eric Schwartz, the UN's deputy special envoy for tsunami recovery.

A UN team reported: "We are concerned that a year later, reconstruction efforts are plagued by serious delays and have not been awarded the priority they so urgently warrant."

Many victims, probably a majority of the estimated 1.8 million who were left homeless, are still living in temporary shelters, especially in Sri Lanka and Indonesia, the worst-hit countries.

Kashmir quake

This is even truer of the second worst disaster, the earthquake in Kashmir in October, which affected mainly the Pakistani side of the Line of Control and killed about 87,000 people.

Here the relief effort was not quite so quick, perhaps partly because of the mountains. The United States again provided the most aid and brought in helicopters, which are still there. Britain sent some as well, but the old political rivalry with India prevented the arrival of substantial help from Pakistan's neighbour.

And again there has been a great deal of individual giving, for example from the hundreds of thousands of Kashmiris who live in Britain.

But it is touch and go whether enough has been done to stop people from freezing in the forthcoming winter.

Jan Egeland is not so optimistic about this relief effort. He said that hundreds of thousands of lives were at stake.

There has been one organisational improvement. The UN has just set up a $500m fund for immediate disaster relief, something Mr Egeland has long been arguing for.

A word about New Orleans: here the portrait of quick relief and delayed reconstruction was reversed. The problem in New Orleans was the slow response - at all levels of government - but here is no issue about reconstruction.

The money available is immense. The US Congress has appropriated $62bn and the eventual sum, some conservative budget-watchers fear, could run to $200bn.

And there is no doubt of the ambition. The levees will be rebuilt and strengthened and the city will be repopulated.

Paul.Reynolds-INTERNET@bbc.co.uk

After the Tsunami: Lessons from Reconstruction

By: Paul McMahon, Thomas Nyheim and Adam Schwarz, 01/06/06
From The McKinsey
Quarterly, by special arrangement.

Of the 14 countries struck by the massive tsunami of 2004, Indonesia and Sri Lanka were the hardest hit. In the aftermath, both faced the overwhelming task of reconstructing their societies, coordinating hundreds of agencies, and administering billions of dollars in aid.

Reviewing the experience of the first year could offer indispensable lessons for governments responding to future disasters. One key lesson learned by both Indonesia and Sri Lanka: establishing a national reconstruction agency separate from existing ministries was essential. Indonesia created the Rehabilitation and Reconstruction Agency for Aceh and Nias (BRR), Sri Lanka the Task Force to Rebuild the Nation (Tafren). Consultants from McKinsey, which provided pro bono assistance to both agencies, discuss in this article some of the specific experiences and their implications for other reconstruction efforts in the wake of major disasters.

Unfortunately, such lessons are far more than academic, as the hurricanes along the US Gulf Coast and the devastating Kashmir earthquake in just the past 12 months have demonstrated.
The tsunami was blamed for more than 165,000 deaths in those two countries, with massive economic devastation and the destruction of housing and the physical infrastructure along the affected coastlines. The humanitarian response – just over $7 billion committed to Indonesia and $2.6 billion to Sri Lanka - has been equally massive. Reconstruction has involved coordinating the response of international NGOs, local NGOs, UN agencies, government agencies - a daunting task. Just knowing who was doing what, and where, was difficult.

After a disaster, information is the most valuable and often the most elusive asset. An agency must build an IT system to help gather information accurately and quickly from donors and affected communities; Tafren, for example, has adapted a standard, publicly accessible Web-based system for collecting, tracking, and analyzing data and for planning. By matching information from donors on how projects are progressing with feedback from a community on its remaining needs, reconstruction agencies can better align supply and demand and allocate resources more efficiently while monitoring the reconstruction effort's overall progress. Such systems do exist and can be leveraged throughout the world.

It became evident that, to function effectively, a reconstruction agency must define its role clearly, establish a lean organization, and quickly demonstrate its value to the reconstruction effort. A reconstruction agency can't succeed without support from the government and its ministries, national and multilateral donors, nongovernmental organizations, local authorities, and the private sector.

The reconstruction agencies provided skilled advisers, training, technology, funds, and planning tools to help local authorities improve their ability to coordinate and to make decisions. The agencies needed to identify and remove project-delaying bottlenecks - in many cases, simply by cutting through red tape.

The experiences of BRR and Tafren suggest the features a reconstruction agency needs to coordinate a rebuilding effort effectively. Yet even if the agency does everything right, certain external conditions must be in place if it is to complete its mission. Many different stakeholders should be partners in the reconstruction effort, which will only be successful if all participants play their proper roles.

One year out, there are numerous achievements and, sad to say, disappointments as well. Reviewing both is at once a laudable exercise in accountability, and a guide to designing and evaluating such complex projects in the future.

To read the full article, click on this link:
http://www.mckinseyquarterly.com/links/20233

Students' quake-resistant building model evokes interest

Source: Press Trust of India

Shashwat Gupta Ray

Mumbai, Jan 4, 2006 (PTI) A model of quake-resistant building prepared by two class X students from a school in Bilaspur, Chhatisgarh has evoked interest and the district administration is sending the same to central government.

The model has already been certified by the district administration and after making some modifications, it is being sent for Centre's approval."

The model of the multistoreyed building made by the students is designed with 'Isolated Bearings' at the corners of the building surface for the seismic areas, is earthquake resistant and is also safe and durable," Sub Divisional Officer, Irrigation Department Seepat, Bilaspur M I Khan says.

Made by Khushboo Sewak and Abhilasha Pandey, class X students from a school in Seepat, near Bilaspur, Chhatisgarh, the model was on display at the 18th Western India Science Fair organised by the Nehru Science Centre here.

"Base isolation technology design technique is most suitable for buildings and bridges in highly seismic areas. Under this method rubber isolation bearings are used," Khan says."

In case of an earthquake the isolation system does not absorb the earthquake energy, but rather deflects it through the dynamics of the system. The bearings are made by vulcanization bonding of sheets of rubber to thin steel reinforcing plates," he says. PTI

Human Rights and Tsunami Recovery

Source: UN Office of the Special Envoy for Tsunami Recovery

Background

Human-rights concerns are often overlooked in the aftermath of natural disasters. Yet by adopting a rights-based approach to their programs, the UN, other international organizations, governments, and NGOs can ensure that relief and reconstruction efforts are conducted within a framework that protects and promotes human rights. Such a stance could also promotes the effective delivery of humanitarian aid, a sustainable recovery effort, and accountability and transparency to beneficiaries.

International expertise should support and monitor national and local efforts to implement this rights-based approach. National human-rights commissions should be integrated into recovery plans at all levels since these bodies can receive and act on complaints and advise governments when policies and laws are discriminatory or inadequate. Support should also be given to efforts to create a regional monitoring system within the framework of the Asia Pacific Forum of National Human Rights Institutions. Governments, which should use the UN Guiding Principles on Internal Displacement (the first international standard for persons internally displaced by conflict or natural disasters), should be supported and encouraged to enforce existing legislation and policies to protect vulnerable groups.

From a human-rights perspective, the "build back better" strategy should be reflected in greater respect for human rights than existed prior to the tsunami, providing the necessary conditions for a lasting and successful recovery.

Human-Rights Concerns

* Non-discrimination in the distribution of aid. Assistance must be provided with impartiality and neutrality, on the basis of need and without discrimination on the basis of race, ethnicity, religion or caste, or whether persons live in camps, stay with host families, or live in rebel-held or areas of government control. Aid to those displaced by the tsunami must also be extended to populations uprooted by conflict or civil strife so inequities do not surface. Governments and aid organizations should strive to fight corruption, favoritism, and poor management in the distribution of aid; inequities in aid distribution not only violate humanitarian principles but also risk creating tensions that can threaten recovery.

* Gender. Gender-sensitive policies are needed to ensure that aid distribution and recovery programs involve women in distribution and decision-making processes. Efforts should also be made to recognize the special needs of female-headed households.

* Protecting Vulnerable Groups. Women, children, elderly, disabled, and other vulnerable groups are particularly at risk of violence and discrimination. Children and women are vulnerable to sexual and gender-based violence, including domestic violence and child abuse. Poor living conditions in temporary shelters increase the potential for sexual violence, alcohol abuse, and physical violence. In addition, the poorest and most marginalized should not be left out of reconstruction.

* Community Participation. The input and involvement of local communities is a prerequisite for accountability, social cohesion, and stability. Communities should be properly informed on actions that affect them. Governments, the UN system, donors, and NGOs involved in reconstruction should strive to develop consultative and transparent processes of decision-making and the means to communicate them. Exclusion from such decisions not only heightens helplessness but undermines aid's effectiveness.

* Property Rights. In some tsunami-affected countries, an estimated 70 to 90 percent of the survivors lost their identity documents and many landmarks and records were wiped out. In addition, many survivors never held formal titles to their property. The absence of such documents can lead to disputes over land ownership, opening the door to potential exploitation of the dispossessed, which can affect long-term stability. Governments must review property claims, ensure that non-traditional forms of ownership are recognized, assist people who lost their land and livelihoods, and guarantee that women do not face discrimination in regaining their homes and property. There must also be a clear and fair policy on compensation for those who have lost land and property.

Policy in Action

UN agencies and NGOs have worked with governments in the region to raise awareness of the tsunami's impact on human rights and have contributed to efforts to address these impacts. The Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights has participated in preparing a second-phase of needs assessment that include gender and human-rights concerns. The OHCHR has also made recommendations on human-rights issues in the recovery plans endorsed by governments.

The International Labor Organization has been paying special attention to vulnerable groups, particularly the many orphaned girls and boys, young people, and widows. It has also voiced particular concern for employers' and workers' organizations that lost human and financial capacity in the tsunami.

The UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) and UNICEF have developed a transitional shelter strategy that reflects the Guiding Principles on Internal Displacement. UNHCR is promoting a rights-based approach to land issues and property disputes, while UNICEF has integrated reporting mechanisms for protecting women and children in their camps.

The Human Rights Commissions of India, the Maldives, Sri Lanka, and Thailand have discussed how to address human rights issues in the recovery process. Sri Lanka's Commission has established a special disaster relief monitoring unit to keep track of laws and practices related to tsunami displacement, especially relating to women and children. It will also receive and act on complaints of human-rights violations, as well as promote transparency and accountability and ensure that relief is being distributed on an equitable basis.

Local organizations also have been strongly involved in promoting a rights-based approach to recovery, gathering information, focusing on women's needs, providing regular briefings, and engaging in advocacy with national governments and international agencies.

RECOVERY AT A GLANCE

HUMAN TOLL

• Number of fatalities: 9,330. (Source: Government of India, Ministry of Home Affairs Report, May 25, 2005.)

• Number of people missing: 3,077. (Source: Situation Report, No.32-5/2004-NDM-Government of India, Ministry of Home Affairs.)

• Number of people displaced: 647,599. (Source: Situation Report, No.32-5/2004-NDM-Government of India, Ministry of Home Affairs.)

IMPACT ON VULNERABLE POPULATIONS

• 75 percent of the fatalities were women and children.

• 787 women became widows and 480 children were orphaned. (Source for all figures: Government of India, Ministry of Home Affairs Report, May 25, 2005).

DAMAGES AND LOSSES

• An estimated 1,089 villages were affected in Andhra Pradesh, Kerala, Tamil Nadu, Pondicherry, and the Andaman and Nicobar Islands.

• An estimated 157,393 houses were destroyed.

• Approximately 730,000 individuals were forced to leave their homes.

• 83,788 boats were damaged or destroyed.

• 31,755 livestock were lost.

• 39,035 hectares of cropped area was damaged. (Source for all figures: Government of India, Ministry of Home Affairs Report, May 25, 2005.)

FINANCIAL IMPLICATIONS

• Total estimated value of damages: $2.56 billion.

• Total estimated needs for long-term recovery: $2.1 billion.

• Total funds secured for long-term recovery: $2.18 billion. (The Indian government’s portion of these funds amounts to an estimated $1.38 billion. Total international donor pledges to India’s recovery amount to approximately $800 million.) (Source: Government of India, June 2005. Includes estimates for the Andaman and Nicobar Islands as well as assistance to the shipping industry.)

Tsunami one year after: A joint UN report - India

Source: United Nations Country Team in India
Date: 20 Dec 2005

INTRODUCTION

At 6:58 a.m. on December 26, 2004, a massive earthquake of magnitude 9.0 on the Richter scale hit Indonesia off the West Coast of Northern Sumatra. At 9:51 a.m. (IST) the same day, another earthquake of magnitude 7.3 on the Richter scale occurred 81km west of Pulo Kunji (Great Nicobar, India). The high intensity earthquakes set off giant tsunamis between 3 and 10 meters high, travelling 2,000km across the Indian Ocean, the Bay of Bengal and beyond.

In the Indian sub continent, the Andaman & Nicobar Islands were the first to be hit, causing extensive damage. The tsunami then spread along a narrow strip of land on India's east coast and Sri Lanka's low-lying portions and to a lesser degree India's west coast. Tidal waves hit the coastal districts of Andhra Pradesh, Kerala, Tamil Nadu and the Union Territory of Pondicherry around 9:50 a.m. and penetrated up to 300 meters to 3km into the mainland, causing damage to lives and property. The tsunami affected a total of 2,260km of India's coastline besides the entire group of Nicobar Islands.

At Karaikal in Pondicherry and Nagapattinam in Tamil Nadu, the sea penetrated deep into the land affecting not only ports and fishing villages but also agricultural land. Besides the Andaman & Nicobar Islands, the most critical impact was felt in a few coastal districts of Tamil Nadu, Pondicherry and Kerala. On the west coast, Kerala was hit by a wave crest, travelling in a north-westerly direction as the tsunami diffracted off the southern tip of Sri Lanka and India.

The overall damage was estimated at approximately US$ 660 million and the losses were estimated to be approximately US$ 410 million(1).

In terms of mortality, taluks(2) in Nagapattinam district in Tamil Nadu were the hardest hit, followed by the Kanyakumari district. In Pondicherry, the Karaikal region had the highest toll as did the districts of Kollam and Alappuzha in Kerala.

According to the Government of India's Report to the Nation in June 2005, as many as 12,405 lives were lost: 8,009 in Tamil Nadu, 3,513 in Andaman & Nicobar Islands, 599 in Pondicherry, 177 in Kerala and 107 in Andhra Pradesh. The toll included 14 Indians overseas, including 13 in Sri Lanka and one in the Maldives.

RESPONSE OF GOVERNMENT AND CIVIL SOCIETY

The Government of India as well as all the affected state governments and union territories were caught unawares but their response to the situation was quick.

Government of India

A number of steps were taken at the national level. The Ministry of Home Affairs was designated the nodal agency for coordinating relief in the affected areas and it formed a control room with a helpline for the public. In addition, a National Crisis Management Committee was established under the chairmanship of the Cabinet Secretary. A National Crisis Management Group was formed under the chairmanship of the Secretary, Border Management and teams of representatives of various ministries led by a Joint Secretary, Ministry of Home Affairs, visited the affected states. Individual ministries also undertook ministry-specific efforts.

Based on the impact assessment, the Government of India released Rs. 700 crore (USD 155.5 million) to the affected states and union territories for carrying out immediate relief and response. This included Rs 250 crore (USD 55.5 million) for Tamil Nadu, Rs.200 crore (USD 44.4 million) for Andaman & Nicobar Islands, Rs.100 crore (USD 22.2 million) each for Andhra Pradesh and Kerala and Rs.50 crore (USD 11.1 million) for Pondicherry.

After an assessment by central teams, a special package amounting to Rs. 3644.05 crore (USD 809.5 million) was approved under the Rajiv Gandhi Rehabilitation Package for tsunami-affected areas. This covered assistance for immediate relief and response, revival of fishery and agriculture sectors, construction of temporary (intermediate) shelters and repair/restoration of infrastructure.

The Government of India set up a Core Group, in the Planning Commission, on Reconstruction, Management and Monitoring for tsunamiaffected areas to plan the reconstruction efforts. The Core Group prepared a comprehensive plan for rehabilitation and reconstruction of the tsunamiaffected states and union territories, with a financial outlay of Rs. 9,870.25 crore (USD 2,191.19 million). This plan is currently under revision and awaits approval of the Union Cabinet of Ministers.

Whereas no external assistance was required for immediate relief and response, Government approved external assistance from multi-lateral agencies like World Bank (WB), Asian Development Bank (ADB) and UN Agencies for long term rehabilitation/ reconstruction for tsunami-affected states/union territories. Bilateral assistance was also accepted if routed through the multi-lateral agencies. The external assistance mobilised from the World Bank is USD 528.5 million, USD 200 million from ADB, USD 34.4 million from the UN, USD 30 million from IFAD and USD 7.5 million from Japan Fund routed through World Bank and ADB. The support from World Bank is for rural water supply rehabilitation in Kerala, livelihood restoration in Andhra Pradesh, and housing and transport infrastructure restoration in Tamil Nadu and Pondicherry and support studies for longer-term coastal management. ADB is providing funds for rehabilitation of transportation infrastructure, village infrastructure and livelihood restoration in Tamil Nadu and Kerala. The UN Recovery Framework focuses on rebuilding livelihoods, shelter-habitat development, social reintegration, social equity and anti-trafficking measures, education, health, psychosocial support, capacity building for disaster risk management, policy support and coordination by development of ICT tools and establishment of knowledge networks etc.

State and union territories

The Chief Ministers of the respective states directed the officials of the Revenue departments under the Relief Commissioner to co-ordinate search, rescue and relief efforts through the District Collectors with assistance from the police, fire and rescue services, medical/health services and other associated departments. State Relief Commissioners opened control rooms to disseminate information to the public and state government web sites relating to tsunami rescue and relief operations were developed. Supported by the army, navy, air force, coast guard and senior civil servants deputed to affected areas, each district administration identified and disposed off the dead, removed debris, rescued and moved people to safer locations, worked to prevent an outbreak of epidemics and restore basic services such as power and drinking water.

NGO/Civil society response

Community members, individuals and nongovernmental organisations (NGOs) responded to the needs of the affected states and union territories. The work of the NGOs is being coordinated by Resource Centres established at the state level such as the Tamil Nadu Tsunami Resource Centre (TNTRC) in Chennai and at the district level such as the Nagapattinam Coordination and Resource Centre (NCRC). NGOs operating in the sectors of health, psychosocial counselling, shelter, sanitation, water, education, livelihood and environment came to the fore. They included agencies such as World Vision (India), CARE (India), Catholic Relief Services (India), Project Concern International, ECHO, Oxfam, Dhan Foundation, League for Education and Development, Tamil Nadu Voluntary Health Association and Jesuits in Social Action.

Private sector response

The affected areas received corporate donations and relief material on an unprecedented scale. It is estimated that the corporate sector in India contributed more than USD 8 million in cash, food and medicine, emergency relief supplies and other humanitarian services. In addition, Indian companies, including established business houses, banks, insurance, medical and IT companies and public sector entities, contributed over Rs. 400 million (USD 9.2 million) to the Prime Minister's National Relief Fund and made donations to established NGOs like Oxfam, CARE and Dhan Foundation.

Notes:

(1) Assessment figures taken from Joint Assessment Mission Report prepared by WB, ADB and UNCT, 2005.

(2) A taluk is an administrative division of the Indian state that falls under a district.

Tsunami communities reborn - Rebuilding livelihoods better than before

Source: Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO)
Date: 05 Jan 2006

For the fishers and farmers working along the Indian Ocean, extreme weather has long been an adversary. During the monsoon roads become flooded and impassable, and seaside communities are isolated from markets for their products. Deep-sea fishers brave storms in fragile craft to bring home their catch, and rice farmers suffer through seasons without rain. Drinking water is often scarce.

None of these hardships prepared poor fishers and farmers for the devastation wrought when a massive tsunami crashed without warning onto the shores of 12 Indian Ocean nations on 26 December 2004, ripping through towns and villages, killing 200 000 people and leaving nearly one million homeless.

Livelihoods were shattered, schools flattened and of.ces destroyed. Freighters were washed inland, harbours disappeared and fishing vessels snapped like matchsticks.

The geography of affected coastlines was transformed. In some areas as much as 98 percent of mangrove forests, breeding grounds for fish, crabs and prawns, disappeared. In others nature created new problems. In Sri Lanka, crocodiles invaded farms and rangeland, threatening humans and cattle.

The global response to the tsunami was one of the most generous in history. Funds and relief poured into Indonesia, Sri Lanka and Thailand the hardest hit countries. Non-governmental organizations (NGOs) launched operations in affected areas as far-flung as the Maldives atolls and Somalia. Governments allowed waves of foreign aircraft to land urgently needed medical supplies, tents and food. Only India was able to decline initial offers of assistance and even sent relief to Sri Lanka.

Some accuse authorities of failing to meet survivors’ expectations. At times internecine conflict has hampered the return to normal life. It is acknowledged that bureaucracy slowed down recovery in the initial stages, and frequently coordination between donors, ministries and other agencies was inadequate.

In the year after the carnage, however, significant progress has been made in feeding and housing survivors and clearing debris from fish ponds and fields to allow farmers to resume work. Much remains to be done as emphasis shifts from relief to reconstruction and development.

This booklet profiles the rebuilding of livelihoods in fisheries and agriculture in Indonesia, the Maldives, Sri Lanka and Thailand. In interviews with the men building new fishing boats and the women planting new trees in the orchards where their loved ones died, a story of rebirth and hope emerges, with the generosity of both the national and international public playing a major role.

The anatomy of a disaster

V. JAYANTH

The tsunami respected no boundaries and threw up

complex issues relating to disaster management

Disasters, irrespective of how severe they are, are generally localised events. The earthquake in Latur. The plague in Gujarat. The 94 cm of rainfall on a single day in Mumbai.

What happened on December 26, 2004, however, had no boundaries. In the damage it inflicted on this country, it was a truly national disaster.

Most of peninsular India, as well as the Andaman and Nicobar islands, was engulfed by the tsunami that Sunday morning. From Kanyakumari to mid-Andhra Pradesh in the east to parts of the Kerala in the west, the coastline was struck by giant tidal waves, of a scale never witnessed in recent history. The word "tsunami", confined earlier to science books and specialised articles, became the stuff of common parlance.

The waves were triggered by an earthquake, with its epicentre in the sea off the coast of Sumatra, that measured 8.6 on the Richter scale. Hence, tidal waves lashing coastlines from Indonesia to Africa, resulting in a gruesome toll of about three lakh lives.

Indonesia was the worst hit, accounting for nearly half the lives lost. But southern India was badly affected too, with the Andaman Islands and Tamil Nadu taking the worst beating. Over 10,000 bodies were recovered and close to 5,000 declared "missing" and presumed dead. About 75 per cent of the lives lost were those of women and children. In terms of human suffering and loss of property and assets, it was one of the worst calamities the country has recorded.

India stood tall

In monetary terms, the damage was estimated at about Rs. 11,544.91 crores — Rs. 342.67 crores in Andhra Pradesh, Rs. 2,371.02 crores in Kerala, Rs. 4,528.66 crores in Tamil Nadu, Rs. 466 crores in Pondicherry and Rs. 3,836.56 crores in the Andaman and Nicobar islands.

At a time when most of the tsunami-hit countries affected were unable to come to terms with reality and launch relief and restoration works, India stood tall in taking concerted action. Prime Minister Manmohan Singh politely told the international community that India could manage its own relief and rehabilitation programme; however, it would welcome technological support to meet the challenges. He told the nation: "I have been overwhelmed by the generous response of our people to efforts to raise funds for tsunami relief and rehabilitation. The flow of contributions to the `Prime Minister's National Relief Fund' so far has been unprecedented. These funds have helped in providing relief and succour to the victims of the disaster. Our Government is committed to rebuilding lives and livelihoods and offering a new ray of hope to the survivors of this disaster."

The Centre took a few and immediate steps like getting the defence forces to the affected States to assist in the rescue and relief operations, organising logistic support to the States to move relief material, and releasing Rs. 700 crores to the States for relief operations. Of course, it was left to the State Governments to respond to the immediate challenges. And most of the immediate problems were social and psychological — of food, clothing and shelter. It was at the peak of winter and interim arrangements had to be carried out swiftly.

Turning to NGOs

Once the immediate problems were tackled, the Central and State Governments had to deal with the more complex issues of livelihood and permanent housing. These posed major challenges. Traditionally, the fishing community, which was the worst hit by the tsunami, did not believe in either exploring options of banking or insurance. They raised the capital for fishing vessels through private channels and never bothered to insure them. So the loss of catamarans, boats and other motorised vessels meant a permanent loss to them.

The Centre came up with a "Rajiv Gandhi Rehabilitation Package", with a separate component for the restoration of livelihood. But the catch was that it involved the beneficiary going to the bank, securing a grant-cum-loan and also insuring the vessel. A majority of the fishermen rejected the scheme and turned instead to the non-government organisations which had moved to the affected districts and launched their own initiatives. Fortunately, the district administrations worked out a coordination effort that involved all the NGOs (especially in a State like Tamil Nadu).

As the damage in Andhra Pradesh and Kerala was limited, it was that much easier to organise relief and subsequently rehabilitation. In the Andaman islands, Tamil Nadu and Pondicherry, it was and still is a daunting task. The North-East monsoon has played spoilsport and delayed the completion of some projects. Basically, it is the resilience of the community affected, the untiring efforts of the administration and NGOs and the indomitable spirit of people that have helped overcome this major challenge.

Early warning system

The Government has now decided to set up a Tsunami Early Warning System in the Indian Ocean on its own, hoping to commission it by 2007 at a cost of Rs. 125 crores. A Disaster Management Authority has been set up at the national level, headed by the Prime Minister and will be constituted at the State and District levels before long. But the Centre has also to ensure that the funds promised are released to the States and all planned projects completed at least over the next two years. This is with the objective of bringing out a qualitative transformation in the lives of the coastal population that was crippled by the tsunami.

Copyright © 2005, The Hindu

Envirtech Tsunami Warning System (eTWS)

(This paper has been extracted by presentation to United Nation – Unescap - High level Expert Group Meeting on technical options for disaster management systems - Bangkok June 22, 2005)

Introduction:

In this technical sheet an innovative and reliable system able to forecast the arrival of a tsunami is described. It is the result of several experiences of the Italian company Envirtech SpA in marine project combining the company competence in the scientific/environmental field, the newest offshore technologies, the more advanced electronics and data communication solutions and the knowledge of logistic/operational aspects related to the installation of sea surface and underwater systems.

Architecture:

The system is composed of the following main parts:

* An underwater monitoring module (UM) installed at the seabed;
* A surface buoy (SB) moored in the area of the UM;
* An “in water” communication segment connecting the UM with SB;
* An onshore centre (OC) hosting a standard PC server;
* A satellite communication segment connecting SB and OC.

Two solutions are available:

TWS-M with a magneto-inductive data link between UM and SB: in this case a galvanized metal cable with a plastic cladding is used to connect SB and UM. This cable is used to deploy/recover UM and as mooring line for the SB: in this solution the UM hosts some ballasts to work also as anchor for the SB.

TWS-A with an acoustic data link between UM and SB: in this case the SB requires a proper nylon mooring line and dead weight whereas the UM is a free fall installation and pop up recovery system with a proper ballast, buoyancy and acoustic release.

The solution TWS-M is suitable for installation sites with water depth up to 3000m. For deeper sites it is suggested the TWS-A solution as the size of the metallic cable increases significantly and so the total cost of the system and related installation infrastructure.

The main advantages of the TWS-M solution respect to the TWS-A are:

* The availability of a quicker and more reliable “in water” data link;
* The possibility to use of a single cable for a controlled installation/recovery of the UM and the SB mooring;

In the TWS-M configuration the frame of the UM is made of stainless steel and its total weight has to be increased with additional ballast in order to assure its stability at the sea bed in case of movements of the SB and mooring cable induced by the water waves and currents.

For the TWS-A configuration the weight of the UM is minimised using an aluminium frame. Also in this case additional ballast at the bottom of the frame is required (~400 kg): it is released (on acoustic command from the surface) and left at the seabed at the recovery phase when a dedicated deep-water buoyancy system pops up the UM on surface. The buoyancy system is composed of the same high resistant foams used during the installation of the sub sea production systems in the offshore industry.

Underwater Module:

The UM is composed of an aluminium or stainless steel frame with four legs for a stable placement at the seabed. A 3D view of the UM is reported in picture where the following main parts of the system are showed:

* A titanium vessel containing the UM electronic Data Acquisition and Communication System (UM-DACS);
* A titanium vessel containing an high capacity and reliability primary Lithium battery pack: the frame is configured to host two battery vessels (the green ones) to increase the autonomy up to 42-48 months;
* The instrumentation composed of:
1. A heading sensor and tilts sensors inside the electronic vessel.
2. Two Paroscientific pressure sensors (1 ppm of resolution);
3. An hydrophone (optional);
4. A broadband three components seismometer (optional);
5. An altimeter (echo sounder) useful during the deployment phase;
* The “in water” telemetry system composed of a bi-directional magneto-inductive data link through the buoy mooring line or by a bi-directional multi-modulation acoustic link.

Surface Buoy:

The SB is composed by a metallic pole and a foam body having a diameter of 1.45 m. The main parts installed on the buoy are:

The electronic box containing the SB Data Acquisition and Communication System (SB-DACS) relied on the same type of electronics of the UM;

An autonomous power supply system composed of 3 photovoltaic panels (12V- 50W each) and a gel battery pack (12V- 400Ah);

A magneto-inductive surface modem or the acoustic modem for the data link with the underwater unit;

A satellite modem Inmarsat C for reliable data connection with the Onshore Centre (OC);

A meteorological station (optional);

A multi-parametric probe to monitor the main physical/chemical properties of the surface water layer (optional).

System Functionalities:

The TWS provides the main functionalities listed below:

F001: continuous measurement of the sea bottom pressure with a rate of 15s, 30s, 1min, 2min, 5min selectable be the user in the OC. Optional monitoring of earthquakes occurence.

F002: on line processing of the pressure data with a digital Kalman filter to detect a frequency component typical of a tsunami; the thresholds for the detection of tsunami waves can be configured by the OC user.

F003: the beginning of a possible event is automatically triggered by the pressure sensors (able to detect earthquake waves) and also by the hydrophone/seismometer if installed in UM.

F004: the UM can start the tsunami detection algorithm also on user request from the OC in case of identification of seismic activity in the interested area.

F005: daily synchronisation of the SB and UM clock with the GPS.

F006: self-diagnostic and periodical notification to the OC.

F007: internal logging in UM and SB of all acquired data, all detected events, all diagnostic status and exchanged messages (black box).

F008: remote configuration of the UM (change of communication settings, filtering parameters, on/off of sensors and devices, software updating).

F009: reception of commands from OC and notification of its execution;

F010: reception of data request from OC and reply with the requested data.

The main scenario in case of detection of an anomaly in the pressure signal is the following:

1. The UM-DACS in its standard operating mode IDLE MODE detects an unexpected variation in the pressure signal;

2. A notification message is sent to the OC and the UM-MODULE changes in the new status ALARM MODE;
3. In ALARM MODE the UM sends periodically a message to the OC: on request the user in the OC can transfer all pressure data acquired in ALARM MODE.
4. In case of detection of a tsunami events (frequency component in the range 0.01.0.0005Hz) an TSUNAMI DETECTION message is sent to the OC.
5. The user in the OC can verify the pressure data acquired during the ALARM MODE to validate the alarm condition and to verify its amplitude.
6. After the decrease of the tsunami wave components under some minimal threshold (parameter remotely configurable by the OC user) and after a period of some hours (parameter remotely configurable by the OC user), the UM chages from ALARM MODE to IDLE MODE.

Comparison with NOAA DART system:

Respect to the NOAA DART system, the Envirtech TWS implements more reliable and robust technologies/solutions: the main differences are summarised here below.

1. In the Envirtech TWS a dedicated mechanical frame for the UM has been designed and developed: in the DART system the supporting frame for sensors and electronics is a sort of simple table not able to protect adequately the devices;

2. Envirtech TWS does not use glass spheres that can be dangerous during the installation and recovery phase: the implosion of a glass sphere can damage the other devices;

3. Robust titanium vessels are used in Envirtech TWS.

4. High reliability and energy capacity primary Lithium battery are used in Envirtech TWS respect to the standard Alkaline D-Cell powering the DART.

5. The electronics of Envirtech TWS system is relied of ARM microprocessor with RISC architecture whereas the DART uses a Motorola 68332 that is becoming obsolete.

6. In the Envirtech solution a well-integrated seismometer can be used to implement event driven solutions capable to increase alarm reliability and tsunami-genic events models tuning.

Probably the cost of the hardware of a DART system is more convenient respect to an Envirtech TWS but the reliability of the whole system during the installation/recovery phases and during the working period at the seabed is not comparable with Envirtech TWS solution.

Taking into account the type of application of these systems (they are installed to save human life) and the high logistic costs for their installation and maintenance in open sea/ocean, a significant increase in the system reliability deserves higher priority respect to an initial partial reduction of materials expenditures.