After the Tsunami After the Tsunami
The President of Sri Lanka, speaking after the tsunami, said the aim must be
to build a better environment for the survivors. Of course for those who have
lost loved ones, families, and homes their losses can never be replaced, but
we can try to ensure a better world for the next generation.
Newspaper and television coverage showed us the devastating nature of the disaster,
and looked seriously at the long-term needs as well as the immediate catastrophe.
We live in a world where there are no longer any 'far away countries' inhabited
by 'people of whom we know nothing'. The generosity of people in Britain and
across the world has demonstrated this.
The response of local people to help their neighbours was also immense. In the
first few days those who themselves had little were sharing their food with
those who had lost everything. Individuals whose names we will never know provided
the vital support that kept others alive.
Local charities in the affected countries have also been at the forefront of
the relief effort. Here are some items about the work done by organisations
we at BOWL are associated with.
Some 7000 people
along the Tamil Nadu coast lost their lives when the wave struck at 8am and
many villages were devastated. Auroville itself, though very near the coast,
is on quite high ground so was not affected but took on a role in organising
relief. The Village Action Group was part of the Auroville Tsunami Relief Team
which by 12 noon had set up tents and a field kitchen for those made homeless.
By the evening of 26 December they were feeding 1,200 and distributing food
parcels to hundreds
more.
Once the immediate needs of those most affected were catered for teams were
sent to the coastal villages to assess their requirements - household utensils,
metal trunks for storage, clothing, blankets and exercise books for schoolchildren.
And more long term - housing, fishing nets and boats.
Then there was the sheer physical work of making the villages habitable again.
A relief worker said 'The impact of the waves in the classrooms has to be seen
to be believed. Chairs have been tossed around and are lying broken, the rooms
are filled by half a metre of sand and debris and all the books are wet and
often destroyed. It takes two hours to clean the schools and put the books to
dry in the sun. Then we start on a street, dragging debris to an area to be
burnt, sorting out the plastics and using the broken pillars to fill up trenches
created by the waves. We will come back again tomorrow, and the day after tomorrow,
until this village looks like a village again.'
One crucial contribution Auroville is making is the provision of an information
centre with computers to co-ordinate the relief work and the contributions made
by local NGOs. The centre is somewhere where people from all the different villages
can get advice and discuss problems. Further information on: www.auroville.org/tsunami
The other project
we are linked with, Gram Nirman Kendra and the organisation NBJK, is about 900
miles from Tamil Nadu. All the NBJK staff gave a day's pay towards relief for
those affected.
Action Village India (AVI) - the UK based charity which supports NBJK - has
several other partners in India including the ASSEFA project in Tamil Nadu.
ASSEFA works with very poor families across a large rural area trying to help
them increase their incomes.
The organisation started relief work straight away in the surrounding villages
where there had been loss of life and many were destitute. Initially it provided
food and food parcels together with cooking utensils. ASSEFA has been supporting
dairy projects for some years so they were also able to distribute milk to all
the affected families specially those with young children and pregnant women.
Plans have been drawn up for long-term social needs including: counselling and
advocacy, health care, rehabilitation of affected children in schools, adoption
of orphaned children and livelihoods for widows and vulnerable women. These
must accompany work on rebuilding homes and livelihoods including helping fishermen
to replace their nets.
ASSEFA has a large number of volunteer helpers. It is a well-established and
trusted Gandhian organisation which has been receiving support from AVI for
over 15 years. Ivan Nutbrown of AVI did an appeal for financial support for
their work on tsunami relief. This raised over £30,000 which is terrific.
The money will help people to restart their lives.
Rebuilding Sri Lanka is a charity that was formed by individuals on holiday in Bentota in Sri Lanka on 26 December 2004. Nick and Margaret Read, two of the people involved, live in Barnes and will be speaking at BOWL's April meeting. More about the organisation can be found on their website www.rebuildingsrilanka.org.uk. Working with local people, they started with the provision of food and water, medical aid and temporary shelters. Members of the group in the UK have done a great job fundraising and now they are helping with the rebuilding of homes and businesses in Bentota, re-equipping schools and rebuilding the sea defences.
At the end
of March, just 3 months after the devastating earthquake and tsunami of 26 December
2004, a further earthquake - 8.7 on the Richter scale - occurred off the coast
of Indonesia. Sadly hundreds of people lost their lives as buildings collapsed.
The tremors alerted people, this time warnings were given, and across the whole
region of SouthEast Asia terrified people fled to high ground. However mercifully
there was no tsunami.
April 2005 saw the launch of an early warning system for the Indian Ocean. This
should ensure that no such catastrophic loss of life is caused in the future.