ASHA HONOR TSUNAMI: Kanyakumari District

UQE 2047

TSUNAMI - Kanyakumari District – Progress Report

Chandravel Chamy, Jeba Durai, Sathyapriya

I. Introduction

II. Problem

III. Government’s Tsunami Intervention in Kanyakumari District

IV. Contribution of NGOs

V. Asha’s contribution

VI. Visit made by Asha Volunteers to Kanyakumari District:

VII.Funding Details:

VIII. Future Needs:

I. Introduction

Kaniyakumari District is situated at the Southern most tip of IndianPeninsula. The coastline extends over 68km and is almost regular except for some points and land projecting into the sea at Kaniyakumari.

As Kanniyakumari occupies unique place among the tourist centres of India where water of three seas namely the Arabian Sea, the Indian Ocean and the Bay of Bengal. It is one of the most important pilgrims centres in India.

A massive sea earthquake measuring 8.5 on the Richter Scale struck the coastal village of Kaniyakumari district on 26.12.04 between 9.00 am to 10.00 am. Due to the formation of TSUNAMI tidal waves incalculable damage is caused to both lives and properties in the 33 coastal belt villages. Since the disaster hit the district soon after the grand festivity of Christmas and Suchindrum car festival most of the children and tourist from all over the country who came to Kaniyakumari became prey of natures most devastating furies.

The details of damages caused to the fisher folk by Tsunami in Kaniyakumari district and the quantum of department wise damages and relief measures taken thereafter areas detailed below:

II. Problem

Assessment from Village Panchayat Officialsof Kanyakumari District, 15th Feb 2005

Collected by Chandravel

IIa. DAMAGES:

1. No of villages affected33

2. Total fishermen population

in the affected villages1,87,680

3HUMAN LIVES

a. Total no of human lives lost817

b. No of bodies disposed so far817

c. No of person-missing including

fishermen232

d. No of fishermen missing193

e. No of other person missing39

f. No of persons sustained injured962

4. No of cattle cost3326

5. No of Kacha houses and washed away

estimated loss9367

6. No of pucca building damages

estimated loss7833

7. No of cases in which household

articles and personal belongings

damaged estimated loss13,800

8. No of families not directly affected

but lost their livelihood and stayed at

rescue camps13,901

IIb. DEPARTMENT-WISE TENTATIVE ASSESSMENT OF DAMAGES:

AGRICULTURE DEPARTMENT – DAMAGE TO CROPS

Name of cropArea/No of trees

Paddy6 Hec

Coconut below 5 yrs170

Coconut above 5 yrs62

Banana1250

ANIMAL HUSBANDRY

No of cattle lost3326

Poultry lost24835

FISHERIES DEPARTMENT

No of mechanized boats damaged346

No of mechanized boats missing5

No of country boats

1 Kattamaran8654

2. Vallams without OBM1822

3. Vallams with OBM2550

4. No of FRP Boats damaged44

5. No of Gillnets damaged19446

6. No of Trawl and shore shine nets

damaged140

DRINKING WATER SUPPLY (TWAD BOARD)

For restoration of drinking water system

ELEMENTARY EDUCATION (PRIMARY SCHOOL)

Destruction school building and compound wall

HEALTH (Public Health/Trauma/PHC)

Damages to building:

Building

Damages to PHC building2

Damages to HSC Building7

2. Equipments9

PUBLIC WORKS DEPARTMENT

Fishermen rest sheet2

Damages to PWD structure6

Restoration cost of silted river mouth2 places

TOURISM (PWD WORKS)

Because of the unprecedented destruction, tourism is badly affected in the district. The inflow of tourists gone down by 90% of the normal arrivals.

Damage to two ferries and jetty owned by Poompuhar
Thiruvalluvar Statue in Kaniyakumari
Kamarajar Mandapam at Kaniyakumari
Kamarajar Memorial at Kaniyakumari
Boat Jetty at Manakudikayal
Damages to ChothavilaiBeach

RURAL DEVELOPMENT/ LOCAL BODIES HOUSING (already estimated)

Fully damages954

Partly damages521

Fishermen Housing265

Village Panchayat (Basic Amenities)

No of assets damages1791

Quantum of damage To be ascertained

Town Panchayat (Basic Amenities)

No of assets damages272

Quantum of damage To be ascertained

Colachel Municipalities (Basic Amenities)

No of assets damages272

Quantum of damage To be ascertained

HIGHWAYS

Damage of Roads72.55 kms

Damage of Bridges2 Nos

III. Government’s Tsunami Intervention in Kanyakumari District

Tiding over Tsunami, Dec 26th, 2005, Govt of Tamilnadu

IV. Contribution of NGOs

* Auroville

* Bhoomika Trust

* Don Bosco, Trichy

* Gram Vikas

* ICSF

* IRMA alumni

* KDFSF

* Kutch Nav Nirman Abhiyan

* NFF/WFFP

* Praxis

* SNEHA

* Yuva Bombay

Donors

* ACTED

* Canadian High Commission

* Care Today

* Sir Dorabji Tata Trust

* Ford Foundation

* Good Gifts (UK)

* Development Fund, Norway

* Hivos

* ICICI Communities Trust

* Initiatives in Development Support

* Oxfam India

* Swiss Red Cross

* SIDBI

* TDH

Contributions in kind

* Bhoomika Trust

* Bosch

* NDDB

V. Asha’s contribution

Va. Distribution of booksets/toykits in Kanyakumari district:

S.No / School Name / Village Name / Number of sets
Book sets / Toy kits
1 / PunithaAntoniMiddle School / Kelamanagudi / 1 / 1
2 / Little FlowerHigh School / Melamanagudi / 1 / 1
3 / St.JosephSchool / Muttam / 1 / 1
4 / St.Antony school / Peruthuravu / 1 / 1
5 / GovtHigh School / Vavoothurai / 1 / 1

Vb. Tailoring unit:

Keelamanagudi village is situated near the coastal areas, most of people were fisherman community, and thepeople who are affected are stayed in camps. Thirty five people were died in this village.

There is link bridge between keelamankudi and Melamanakudi that is vanished by Tsunami, at present the peoples are going around 20km from this area. The bridge contains eight pillars, each pillar contains 800kg. The bridge is totally collapsed.

While working with the villagers in identifying the needs, we came to know from the girls group that the Government is ready to provide orders in school uniforms. So we planned to send the girls for the tailoring class to learn the course in order to take the orders from the Government later on.

Beneficiaries: Twenty four girlsare getting trainedcovering two villages. The following are the girls list undergoing tailoring training.

S.No / Name / Age / Village Name
1 / Babi / 21 / Kelamanagudi
2 / Shyni / 16 / Kelamanagudi
3 / Jansi / 16 / Kelamanagudi
4 / Premila / 19 / Kelamanagudi
5 / Delma / 19 / Kelamanagudi
6 / Kala / 16 / Kelamanagudi
7 / Saroja / 19 / Kelamanagudi
8 / Ajee / 17 / Kelamanagudi
9 / Ligiya / 19 / Kelamanagudi
10 / Seshu Mary / 19 / Kelamanagudi
11 / Jerlin Mary / 17 / Kelamanagudi
12 / Sabita / 17 / Kelamanagudi
13 / Alice / 16 / Melamanagudi
14 / Shyla / 19 / Melamanagudi
15 / Fathima / 16 / Melamanagudi
16 / Rejila / 16 / Melamanagudi
17 / Suji / 17 / Melamanagudi
18 / Priya / 19 / Melamanagudi
19 / Rubina / 21 / Melamanagudi
20 / Reeni / 19 / Melamanagudi
21 / Aainsi / 20 / Melamanagudi
22 / Seeni / 19 / Melamanagudi
23 / Subitha / 20 / Melamanagudi
24 / Alice / 20 / Melamanagudi

Girls under going tailoring course Meeting with the Tailoring girls

Vc. Counseling centers:

People have faced problems of natural calamities like earthquake, floods etc. People have more awareness about these natural calamities. It’s very first time people came to know about TSUNAMI. There were no disparities in loss of lives. Tsunami took lives from children to old age people. After tsunami hit, even Government doesn’t know what the next step to be is. Besides this, they provided food and clothes for the people. Asha volunteers visited three times to Kanyakumari affected villages. We observed the problems through working with the people and discussed with all grass root volunteers of prioritizing the needs. Basically, they need a counseling and moral support.

We are working in all these villages to set up counseling centers. The village names are as follows:

Keezhamanakudy
Melmanakudy
Azhikal
Pillaithoppu
Kottilpadu
Colachel

Tsunami Impact Assessment in the Coastal Villages of Kanyakumari District:

S.No / Villages / Population / No of families / Confirmed
Dead / Houses Destroyed / Fishing Crafts and Gears / OBM / Missing persons / Estimated Loss (Crores)
Boat / Vallam / Catamarans / Nets
1 / Keezhamanakudy / 2252 / 620 / 33 / 350 / - / 32 / 300 / 1500 / 64 / 5 / 12000
2 / Melmanakudy / 4420 / 1525 / 102 / 750 / - / 300 / 1000 / 3000 / 300 / 13 / 20000
3 / Azhikal / 2294 / 720 / 35 / 337 / - / - / 600 / 2535 / 480 / 3 / 14400
4 / Pillaithoppu / 1529 / 480 / 24 / 413 / - / 13 / 400 / 3965 / 320 / 2 / 9600
5 / Kottilpadu / 2319 / 800 / 197 / 580 / - / 13 / 100 / 200 / 100 / 22 / 7500
6 / Colachel / 13971 / 2500 / 338 / 900 / - / 300 / 1000 / 5000 / 400 / 34 / 20000

The main occupation of these six villages is fishing, coir-manufacturing, wood works using coconuts shell. Men go for fishing and women do coir manufacturing works.

Both of them are facing livelihood problems after tsunami occurrence. Children are psychologically affected due to tsunami.

Impact of counseling:

Men are facing lot of insecure feelings about going for fishing and survival after tsunami. So this moral support is very essential for them to remove such fear feelings.
To empower women and support them in overcoming their stressful fears and mental strain due to tsunami. Counseling would provide them a guidance to lead a life peacefully.
Children are undergoing traumatic situation mentally after tsunami.Counseling makes them more comfortable by removing their fears and to bring them in normal state of mind.

See also Asha Cleveland project page at

VI. Visit made by Asha Volunteers to Kanyakumari District:

Asha Cleveland: Ms. Smita Mandal

During her visit, she meets the villagers and interacted with the girls. Girls shared their experience regarding tsunami. She gave valuable suggestions of working together as a team by the village people in order to make the efforts taken more progressively.

Asha Arizon: Ms. Susan

She visited the counseling centre and expressed that it is very useful for women folks. For children, she suggested the group therapy and magic show to be conducted.

Asha Syracuse: Ms. Radha Ganesan

During her visit, she felt the ground reality and the efforts taken by grassroots volunteers.

VII.Funding Details:

S.No / Description / Received Date / Received Amount / Expenditure Amount / Balance amount / Target completion date / Chapter funded
1. / Amusement Park / 20th May 2005 / 50000 / Nil / 50000 / Midst of Feb / ARC voting
2. / Tailoring Unit / 20th May 2005 / 54000 / 24300 / 29700 / Work in progress / ARC Voting
3. / Counseling centre / 15th June
2005 / 264000 / 22500 / 241500 / Work in progress / Asha Cleveland

VIII. Future Needs:

With long intervention with the villagers in Kanyakumari district, community needs was identified and prioritized for implementation. We observed that

1. Scholarship is needed for children doing X-XII and higher studies.

2. Vocational training for youth.For e.g.: Driving class, Centering works training.

19th Jan 2006