Nine months after the tsunami struck, TRC's reconstruction and rehabilitation efforts are still going strong

The tsunami hit Indian shores on December 26, 2004. Nine months down the line, efforts to restore normalcy to the areas and people devastated by the Indian Ocean killer waves are still on. Spearheading the Tata Group's relief efforts is the Tata Relief Committee (TRC). The Committee has been utilising the resources collected from across the Group to address the varied needs of the tsunami-stricken communities of South India. TRC swung into action as soon as news of the tsunami broke, and has since then been assessing the most pressing needs and assigning resources, both human and material. Efforts have been concentrated on three of the most devastated areas of Tamil Nadu — Covelong, Nagapattinam, Kanyakumari.

Housing
In its effort to provide long-term rehabilitation to those who escaped with nothing but their lives, the TRC has undertaken a massive initiative to reconstruct villages and homes. The Committee will build 77 dwelling units of about 350 sq. ft. built-up area in Covelong. It has also supplied 160 street dustbins and two vehicles for garbage movement for better sanitation in the village.

The TRC has taken up the overall survey and development of Covelong village through the Loyola College, Chennai, under the college's outreach programme. The college appointed a social worker to conduct the survey. A team of its faculty members and students visit periodically to make a study. Post-graduate students of social work visit the village in batches to conduct one-to-one meetings with each family, assessing their skills and needs and suggesting measures for their overall uplift.

The TRC also organises medical camps in the village. It got its first batch of cataract cases identified and facilitated surgeries through the Sankara Nethralaya, Chennai.

In Nagapattinam, TRC has committed to construct 900 dwelling units with a built-up area of about 350 sq.ft. each. The land for dwelling units has already been made available by the Government.

The Collector for Nagapattinam has requested for two more desalination plants to be installed at the earliest in Tharangambadi and Velankanni villages, in addition to the plant that has been installed in Akkarapettai village. R.K. Krishnakumar, chairman of the steering committee, has approved this proposal in principle and is keen to get this done at the earliest in view of the high demand for this in the tsunami-affected areas.

Based on the district administration's resurvey of all the affected villages in Kanyakumari, TRC will construct 162 houses at new locations, 22 houses at old locations and 14 houses will be repaired in Keelamanakudi village. Land for the new houses has already been allotted.

The District Collector for Tirunelveli has allotted land for the construction of 88 dwelling units with an approximate built up area of 360 sq.ft. each in Kuttam panchayat (Kootapanai village). Construction of the houses will commence shortly.

Construction of multipurpose community centres cum rain shelters is also underway. Plans include one for Covelong and Nagapattinam each, and two each for Kanyakumari, Tirunelveli and Cuddalore.

Livelihoods
Putting the fishing communities of the region back on their feet has been one of the focus areas of TRC's efforts. The activity here has been primarily of providing boats to the fishermen who lost their only source of income to the tsunami. Covelong village has received 36 boats with outboard motors and fishing nets. Eighteen were handed over to the fishing community of Covelong on March 4, 2005, while the rest were delivered through the Collector of Kancheepuram on July 16, 2005.

In Nagapattinam, sample boats from four different manufacturers were transported to Akkraipettai for feedback and approval. Having obtained approval for one of the models, TRC has received a beneficiaries list for the supply of 60 boats. It intends to adopt the self-help group (SHG) method to ensure that the boats are optimally utilised.

The Collector for Kanyakumari has requested for assistance to 26 tsunami-affected fishermen families, including FRP boats and kattumarans with engines and nets. The TRC agreed to provide such assistance and supply 12 FRP boats and 14 kattumarans with engines and nets, in favour of self-help groups consisting of the tsunami-affected families, as certified by the Collector.

The Collector for Chennai has requested for 100 FRP boats with engines and nets for the tsunami-affected families in Chennai district. TRC has agreed in principle to take up the project by sharing 50 per cent of the cost with a matching contribution of 50 per cent cost from the Government and other financial institutions. Self-helps groups will be organised here as well.

The TRC proposes to initiate a livelihood programme for the non-fishing population of Covelong. As a part of the programme, seaweed culture has been identified. This will be taken up as a pilot project for this year with the assistance of the President's office, Aquaculture Foundation of India and a marketing tie-up with Pepsi.

Rural Knowledge Centres
TRC has set up Rural Knowledge Centres (RKC) in all three areas. The first was inaugurated on March 1, in Akkarapettai, Nagapattinam. President Abdul Kalam visited the Centre in June and appreciated the initiative that has more than 200 children regularly attending the Center. The second RKC opened it doors in Covelong on March 14, 2005, and has received a good response from the villagers, and so far over 1,500 people have availed of its facilities.

Kanyakumari has two RKCs, at Kilamanakudi village and Kadiayapattinam village, that were inaugurated in April 2005. Both Centres have received an encouraging response from their respective communities.

The objectives of the RKCs are:

• Training at least one woman and one man in each coastal village as climate and aquaculture managers (they will become Fellows of the Jamsetji Tata National Virtual Academy).
• Improving and sustaining fish productivity (sea farming, cage fishing) and livelihood opportunities (seaweed farming, aquaculture estates, pens culture in estuaries, edible oyster production, ornamental fish growing, etc.) among vulnerable communities through e-fish learning.
• Setting up a public address system network or community radio in tsunami-affected villages.
• The Rural Knowledge Centers may tie up with existing community radio networks like IGNOU (Gyan Vani) and other educational institutions and provide the early warning information to the fishing community. This information can also be spread through the local cable TV network.
• Enhancing information and knowledge flow among stakeholders on early warning system management.
• Generating awareness on the value of natural resources like mangroves, coral reefs, etc.
• Developing a fisheries management pocketbook which will contain procedures for claiming entitlements, schemes for induction of new technology / modernisation of seafood industry, schemes for augmenting export production (culture fisheries), schemes for development of capture fisheries, development of ornamental fisheries, schemes for quality improvement, assistance for marketing and market promotion activities, hygiene and quality maintenance, promotion of seafood export, insurance schemes, codex alimentarius for food safety standards, etc.
• Training for fish preservation and export for aged fishermen and women of the fishing community.
• Providing computer-aided learning to the children of the fishing community.
• Improving agricultural activities near the shore, for example, cultivation of thuvarai (pigeon pea).
• Exploring the possibility of setting up nutritional and medicinal products from marine organisms with the help of the Government, banks and private industries.
• Creating tutorials / trainer network for skills which are required at any crisis i.e. cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR), handling death, sanitation, etc.
• Establishing a virtual network of policy makers, researchers, educators, service providers and fishing communities.
• Conducting impact assessment based on surveys, participatory rural appraisal, and other appropriate methods of data gathering.

Local volunteers are attached to each Centre and function as Rural Knowledge Officers as well. As officers they disseminate required information in the villages that fall under each Centre's purview. So far 2,000 people have volunteered, out of which 100 have been identified and trained to be trainers.

Uploaded on September 19, 2005