Choir helps Nicobarese refugees get back to life after tsunami

     Port Blair: If music be the soul of life, this small choir are trying to use it as a therapy to help heal the trauma of the survivors of the killer tsunamis. Huddled in a room at a relief camp in Merdeen village of Port Blair, capital of Andaman and Nicobar islands, they are among the 1,167 people from Nicobar who have taken shelter in this camp. The Nicobarese, as they are called, are among the most primitive tribes in the archipelago. Most of the inmates want to return to their homes and way of life but officials have advised them to wait as the devastation by the worst disaster in living history was widespread and the sea still unpredictable. "It is my land of birth, of course we will go back there but not till the situation gets better there. Right now we will stay here only. We have to make our homes again and all those things...we are prepared to do all that but only after we feel that things are safe and OK," said Lamwel Benjamin, a refugee. The remote islands were among the worst hit by the December 26 tsunami, accounting for almost half of India's death toll of more than 16,000. Most of the damage was in the Nicobar chain, which lay nearest the epicentre of the earthquake that caused the huge wave. Around 7,500 people have died or are presumed dead in the island chain, which had a population of more than 356,000. A large number of the refugees in the camp are children, including 32 orphaned by the tsunami. Camp officials conduct various therapies and encourage survivors to participate in art, culture, sports, Yoga and other pastimes to help them get over the trauma of losing their family, friends and homes. "In the morning session, small children take Yoga classes conducted by teachers of private organisations like Vivekananda institute. After breakfast, school children are taught by the teachers from government institutions," said Martin Luther.

Trees save coastal village in Kameshwaram (Go To Top)

     Kameshwaram (Tamil Nadu): Amongst the numerous survival stories, the one which stands from the rest is that of a village in Kameshwaram in the state's Nagapattinam district, as nature itself helped the village escape tsunami's wrath. While the district was worst hit, and suffered huge loss of life and property the village itself was saved from nature's wrath because of the coastal tree plantations. The plantation, mostly coconut trees, not only broke the tsunami waves but also shielded the hutments by creating a barrier to the boats and catamarans tossed around by the waves. "All the boats smashed away to the coast during high tide but these trees prevented them from getting in the village," said Nambiselvan, a villager. Another villager, Selvarani said: "These coastal trees saved our life when the high tides hit the coast. If these were not present, we would have definitely died. So the trees saved our life." There are about 210 fishermen families who live in the village and most of them have survived. The houses too have suffered minimum damage. UN Food and Agriculture Organisation has said that instead of erecting a sea wall along the coastline, a simple way of protecting the coastal areas from tsunamis could be achieved through protecting the mangrove forests. Experts have said that an aforestation drive is a rational solution than the 1,076-km-long sea wall along the coast proposed by Tamil Nadu Chief Minister Jayaram Jayalalithaa, to be built at a cost of 50 billion rupees.

Tsunami relief fund in Manipur (Go To Top)

     Aizawl: Putting aside its insurgency-related troubles, the state of Manipur has come forward in a big way to help victims of the December 26 tsunami disaster. Funds were raised for the rehabilitation of the tsunami victims in southern India and Andaman and Nicobar islands. The contributions came from across a cross section of society. A committee was set up to channelize the funds collected for the victims. This is not the first time that Manipur has taken the lead in the event of a national disaster. It had also contributed in a big way when a cyclone had hit Orissa a few years back.