Tsunami Survivors

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NGO offers tsunami-proof houses
 

A natural disaster-proof house constructed by a social service organization in Pettodai hamlet in Cuddalore district in Tamil Nadu

     Pettodai (Coimbatore): Isha Foundation, a non- governmental organisation (NGO) here, is actively engaged in tsunami relief work. It has offered to build the first-of-its- kind tsunami and natural-disaster resistant houses in villages in Nagapattinam and Cuddalore districts. The project to build 16 such houses is estimated to cost around one crore and 70 lakh rupees. "The house which is being designed is of a very unique design. Isha Foundation is the first to have designed a permanent house for the Tsunami victims.

This is mostly to replace the thatched huts that got washed away and broken during tsunami. The houses which are now being constructed are concrete structures, have integrated base and curved roofs," said Vinod Hari, member of the Isha Foundation. The structure of this natural disaster-proof house is designed by the Spiritual Master Jaggai Vasudev at Isha Foundation. The NGO is providing the basic necessities to the fishermen who lost everything in the Tsunami disaster. "After Tsunami, our boat, net and houses were severely damaged. At present I am left with nothing for fishing. The Isha Foundation provides house and other needs," said a fisherman. After Tsunami, the NGO adopted three villages Pettodai, Naikkar Pettai and Nangalingam in Cuddalore district and is continuously working to rehabilitate the tsunami victims.

Crops destroyed in tsunami hit areas of Tamilnadu

     Nagapattinam: Farmers in Tamilnadu may have escaped the wrath of the tsunamis last month but consider themselves no less miserable as it has rendered farming impossible for years to come. The tsunami, which struck the southeast coast of India, has not only damaged the standing paddy crops, but the brackish sea water which flooded the fields, has made the soil unsuitable for cultivation. Over 130,000 hectares of paddy crop farm land in Nagapattinam district of Tamil Nadu, the worst affected in the tsunami, has been affected. Tsunami has killed more than 17,000 people in India, 8,000 of them in Tamil Nadu alone. "The area grows single crop in a year. Now even this has been destroyed by the tsunami waves. Now what will we do?" wondered Kalyana Sundaram, a farmer. Aarumugam Kannar, another farmer said: "When the paddy crops were about to ripe, the tsunami water entered the fields and destroyed everything. This is a single crop area and we have even lost this now. Moreover, now the soil has also turned saline because of which it has become unfit for cultivation." Paddy crop on about 4,000 hectares was affected in Tamil Nadu's other coastal areas of Vedaranyam, Velankani and Sirkhazi in the December 26 tsunami.
- Jan 31, 2005

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