Tsunami & After

Back to Index

Post-tsunami: rehab work begins

     Alappuzha (Kerala): A tiny village in the Alappuzha district that was almost completely destroyed by tsunami is rebuilding itself from the scratch. The hamlet, called Tharayil Kadavu till a few weeks back, has been renamed "Tsunami Junction" - a grim reminder for generations to come of the havoc it faced. At least 17 people died here on the morning of December 26, minutes after the high waves demolished homes and washed away boats. "There was lot of devastation in the area when tsunami hit the coast. Everything was destroyed so we named this village Tsunami Junction," Sunny Lal, a member of the village council, said. Locals say it was the sea that gave them the most horrific display of devastation they had ever seen or imagined and they want people to realise and respect nature. "The next generation will remember this place now. We hope that this never happens in the future, so we have named this as Tsunami Junction," said Ratish Kumar, a resident. People here simply want their life back the way it was. Most have begun with tatters - a couple of tin pots, plastic sheets and torn mattresses. They sleep on the sand and have only the clothes they are wearing. According to rough estimates made so far, the deadly waves rendered damage to the tune of 53.22 billion rupees. The four states that bore the brunt are Tamil Nadu, Andhra Pradesh, Kerala and Pondicherry.
- Jan 6, 2005

People return home to pick up pieces after tsunami (Go To Top)

     Thazhanguda: Dana Lakshmi is one of those several unfortunate people, whose life has been affected by the tsunami attacks that left behind a swathe of death and destruction across South and South East Asia. Badly affected by the waves, she just wants her life back the way it was. But all she has to rebuild it with are a couple of tin pots, a dog-eared Tamil history book and a single pink plastic rose. Anxious to get on with life after the Dec. 26 tsunami, Lakshmi and her fisherman husband, Raj Pitchvatham, have returned to their home. Or the very little of what little is left of it in this once idyllic south Indian village. They have piled up the bricks that were once their walls and made a tent out of some yellow plastic. They sleep on the sand and have only the clothes they are wearing. "We lost everything. We will go anywhere and are just staying at our home. Until this I was staying here. I sent my children to relief camps. But it's very difficult to stay here," she said. Lakshmi and her husband are the first to return to this tiny, picture postcard village, where waves as high as the towering coconut palms killed dozens of people and injured many more. The Tamil Nadu state government gave the couple and their four children 4,000 rupees to start a new life. It is already gone on one set of clothes each, the plastic tent and some kitchen utensils. Along the worst-hit parts of India's southern coast, people are slowly beginning to return to their homes, to patch up their fishing boats and to salvage whatever they can.

     Most of the relief camps set up in Hindu temples, mosques, churches and wedding halls are now empty during the day while people go home to start rebuilding their lives and homes. In Thazhanguda, Rama Lingam stands on all that's left of his house a concrete slab and a red and yellow painting seeking the blessing of the Tamil goddess Mariamman. His brother's leg was amputated and now, all he wants is help from the state government to open a small kiosk. "We are all fishermen, my brother doesn't even know how to read or write. We only know fishing. Now he cannot even do that because he has lost his leg and it has been amputated. We plan to open a shop now but government should help us in this regard," said Ramalingam. Some relief camps have even started closing at least one near here because the owner needed the space for a series of weddings and other functions that had been booked. Overwhelmed by the scale of the disaster, the government and aid groups are having trouble coordinating the massive aid effort. While donated clothes pile up on the streets like rubbish and there is more food than survivors in some areas, in other areas women are selling wedding jewellery for buying food. Incidentally, much of the aid comes from non-governmental agencies, businesses, traders groups and community associations.
- Jan 6, 2005

Asian children's nightmare continues after tsunami (Go To Top)

     New York: Even as last week's tsunami waves have left thousands of people dead and homeless, for the young helpless children in the affected counties the troubles are only just beginning. According to the reports filed by various non governmental organisations working in the region, not only are children being illegally 'adopted,' by strangers and distant family, they are also being sold for less than 50 dollars each, reports The New York Post. The problem came to light when a Thai hospital reported that a 12-year old Swedish boy, Kristian Walker, had been stolen from their premises where he was receiving treatment and had been given refuge. In Sri Lanka, staffers at the "Save the Children Fund" have revealed that they have evidence of children being purchased for less than 50 dollars apiece. In India also parentless kids are being kidnapped or are being taken in by relatives who want the government grants of 4,500 dollars which has been promised to each child and is supposed to be deposited in accounts the child can access at age 18. Relief workers fear that these children are at the risk of being sexually abused and could be passed on paedophiles or face other kinds of exploitation.
- Jan 5, 2005

India's tsunami orphans hold on to memories (Go To Top)

     Nagapattinam: Clenched fists gripping tightly the badly-torn teddy bears, pieces of their mother's saris, hairpins and other frugal belongings, children left orphaned in the Boxing Day tsunami attack are still to come to terms with the tragedy that tore them from their parents' arms leaving a void that can never be filled. Thirteen-year-old Ramaiya was one of those unfortunate children who watched in horror as her mother was overwhelmed by the waves while tucking her away to safety under a boat. Ramaiya survived the onslaught and wandered for days through her devastated village in Nagapattinam before being picked up by rescuers. Though now she lives in the safe confines of the orphanage, she knows her fisherman father is alive but like dozen others here does not know if he will ever come to take her back. Incoherent and still hazy about what really happened, she is clinging on to the only surety she had in life, her mother. "I lost my mother, I remember my mother, I lost my mother," Ramaiya said. Finally beginning to open up, she tries to piece together the events but the effect of the trauma is clear. Not a single of her sentences match with the other giving only a loose compilation of the devastation she witnessed. "My mother had taken me to the sea side market to buy fish. Only my father is alive now. The water came and he climbed up on the roof top of another building. Our house terrace was also demolished by the water," Ramaiya said.

     From fishing villages in south India to plush beach resorts in Thailand, too small and weak to run fast enough, to swim or to hold on to safety, kids are the biggest and most tragic victims of the tsunami. UNICEF estimates at least 50,000 of the 144,000 dead are kids. In some of the worst-hit areas, at least three of every four children died, wiping out virtually an entire generation. And even as the children are picking the pieces in relief homes, doctors have been literally swamped by the onslaught and the sheer scale of the trauma. While play has proven as an effective therapy, it is not enough. Though completely normal during day time, most of the children here still cry themselves to sleep, missing the lullabies, bed time stories of their mothers and the pillow fights with their siblings. Doctors also fear that the children could end up silently re- enacting scenes of the catastrophe in their minds and avoid anything which reminds them of the disaster, such as going to the beach or watching television news.

     Counsellors from across the world have rushed to the region to somehow stop the children from being scarred for life. Prakash Gurnami, a child psychiatrist with the UNICEF, says while individual attention is critical, initially a comprehensive counselling package is first being filtered down to all the child relief centres to arrest immediate damage. "We have developed a comprehensive programme. In the initial phase itself when people are doing relief measures, they realise that this is an important aspect so with the National Institute of Mental Health, we have developed a complete counselling package which is a basic counselling package which is going down to the relief shelter and the orphanages to ensure that these children come back to normal surroundings," Gurnami said. Psychiatrists add the survivors will suffer emotional turmoil and grief for months, even years, and efforts should be on to get them into the mainstream like going to school, at the earliest, which they say will help them cope better.
- Jan 5, 2005

---