Tsunami
Survivors
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Sri
Lankan monks pray for tsunami dead
Peraliya
(Sri Lanka): As the sun set, people queued alongside
knee-high bamboo fences and lit small clay lamps and red
and yellow lanterns while the rhythmic chanting of centuries
old Buddhist mantras by saffron robed monks shattered the
ghostly silence that engulfed the area. Bells were rung
in temples at the exact time the tsunami hit, eight thirty
in the morning local time. The Sri Lankans gathered near
unmarked mass grave for a solemn ceremony to mark the passing
of three months since the tsunami disaster struck the Indian
Ocean region. Not far from the mass grave, hundreds of lamps
were placed on either side of the railway line where a train
was washed off the tracks, killing over 1,000 people. Lamps
also lit up three crushed carriages of the train 'Queen
of the Sea', now rusting on a parallel track, a shrine for
grieving relatives and friends of the people who were swallowed
by the giant waves of December 26 here and aboard the ill-fated
locomotive. Close to 2,500 people were swallowed by the
giant waves in Peraliya alone, the number dwarfed by a death
toll of around 40,000 people along the Indian Ocean island's
southern, eastern and northern shores. The sea breeze that
made the branches of the coconut palms sway gently made
the seemingly simple task of lighting a small lamp difficult
and frustrating for the mourners.
The
third month remembrance is an important Buddhist custom
as the religious service, even the lighting of a small oil
lamp can help ease the pain of those who suffered. Many
of those who survived the tsunami in Peraliya were living
in temporary wooden shacks built by aid workers but abandoned
them two days ago and made their way inland to live with
relatives and friends following rumours that giant waves
would strike the Indian ocean island's shores again on the
weekend. "A rumour started two three days ago that another
tsunami was coming. People got scared. The people suffered
once. They don't want to suffer a second time. So, they
took their children and went interior to their friends and
relatives houses" said local aid worker Amara Piyasena.
The camp for the displaced was empty except for a couple
of families who stayed back. "Our future was on my eldest
son. Once we lost him we have no reason to live. We cannot
commit suicide. If another tsunami comes and kills us all
we are happy. So, we are not scared of another tsunami.
That is why we stayed back" said H. Kalupahana, a retired
government clerk who lost his eldest son, a university student
on December 26. Sri Lanka has received nearly a billion
dollars in foreign aid pledges but the state has received
just 13 million dollars in cash to help tsunami survivors,
according to the Central Bank of Sri Lanka. The number of
people killed in tsunami waves caused by an earthquake which
devastated Indian Ocean coastlines across 11 countries has
shot up to more than 165,000. In India, 15689 people officially
are reported to be killed or missing along the southern
coast. WHO estimated that a total of 2260 km of coastal
land penetrating 300m to 3 km in South India was severely
affected. Tidal waves hit the coast of Tamilnadu, Andhra
Pradesh, Orissa, Kerala and Pondicherry and unto the Andaman
and Nicobar islands. Twenty six million people live in the
affected area. Thousands of people from affected villages
along the coastal belt are still living in relief camps.
- March 27, 2005
Surgery
comes to aid tsunami mums missing motherhood (Go
To Top)
Nagapattinam
(Tamil Nadu): Like hundreds of mothers on the south-eastern
coast, Vasantha lost all her children -- a son and two daughters
-- to the killer tsunami waves which struck the Indian ocean
nations on Dec. 26 last year. But unlike the others, the
25-year-old fisherwoman has not lost hope. Last month, Vasantha
persuaded her husband to part with 20,000 rupees from the
300,000 rupees compensation they received from the government
for their three dead children and had surgery to reverse
her sterilisation with a hope to have children again. "I
just could not live without my children. I want one child
at least. Of what use is all this money and wealth if we
have no one to enjoy it with? I just can't forget them.
After this operation, I believe we will be able to give
birth to our children again. Even if it is just one of them,"
the frail, petite woman said, sobbing over the memory of
her lost children. She is one of the six women in Nagapattinam,
the district worst hit by the tsunami in the country, who
have undergone surgery -- called recanalisation -- to reverse
the sterilisation carried out under a government-sponsored
family planning programme aimed at controlling the runaway
population growth. The women learnt about recanalisation
-- in which severed or tied up fallopian tubes are connected
again -- from paramedics who cited similar surgeries on
mothers who lost children in a fire accident in a school
in a neighbouring district last year.
As news of the surgery spread in the community, dozens of
women have registered at government clinics in fishing villages
to undergo recanalisation and state authorities have offered
to perform the surgery for free at state-run hospitals.
About 200 women are expected to undergo operation at the
Nagapattinam district hospital from next week, says head
doctor N Swathandran. "In the fishermen area many people
have lost almost two or three children during the tsunami.
Now they are without any children, now their main (quest)
is to have at least one child for their future. That is
the main request asked by the people," Swathandran said.
The tsunami waves killed at least 6,065 people in Nagapattinam
district alone, more than a third of them children. Among
the dead were Sindamani's boys, aged three and five. The
27-year-old fisherwoman says she can't wait to undergo surgery
and try to conceive again. On the cardboard wall of Sindamani's
dingy shack in a relief camp is a large garlanded photograph
of her older son with candies and grapes placed as offerings
in front. "I can't bear it when I see children from the
neighbourhood going to school or returning home. Every time
I see them I cry, I can't bear. Please help me get my voice
to the government. I want to have at least one child," she
said. A fairly complicated surgical procedure, recanalisation
has a success rate of less than 50 percent in women in their
active reproductive years. Much also depends on the health
and size of the fallopian tubes, gynaecologists say. For
most women it may be a slim chance, but it is still a chance.
- March 26, 2005
Three
months on, tsunami survivors still awaiting fast relief
(Go To Top)
Nagapattinam:
It's been weeks since the fishermen here got their swanky
new fishing boats - a much-awaited gift expected to have
spinned them back to normalcy but three months on, nothing
great has happened and life is still only limping back to
the mainstream. The fishermen are yet to take their boats
to sea as none of them has fishing nets. The men spend hours
sitting on the coast, cleaning and re- cleaning their boats.
Most having lost their wives and children and nothing to
look forward too, are desperate to get back to work, faintly
hoping that the rigours of fishing, their long trusted vocation,
would help dull the pain of loss. Tired of the sheer inaction
in their lives, - food comes aplenty at the relief camps
and the day ends with them sleeping or at least attempting
to sleep in their makeshift quarters - the men say they
are losing sanity. Devendran, a young fisherman, who used
to work 18 hours a day, says the relief is too slow and
appealed to the government to give them nets. "We have boats
now, they are being repaired but we have no nets. Till the
nets don't come we cannot get back into the water. The government
is yet to give us any nets," said Devendran, who has camped
alongside his new boat in Cuddalore. The Dec. 26 tsunami
hit country's fishing community hardest.
About
80 percent of the nearly 8,500 people killed on the mainland
were from fishing families. The tsunami also destroyed thousands
of houses. More than 10,000 homes were fully damaged and
another 1,000 were partly damaged in Nagapattinam district
alone. The camps here are bursting at their seams and families
are worried about the dwindling supplies. Though food right
now is plenty, there is acute water shortage and not all
families have a roof above their head. The initial money
packages are also being sapped up and frantic survivors
are rushing to hoard what they can save. Desperate for permanent
livelihood and homes, they are restless and itching to move
out of the camps. "I need a livelihood, I need my boats
to get back to work. Second I need a proper home, a place
to live and our greatest need is money. The government gave
us 4,000-5,000 rupees to tide over these three months but
now we need more to get on with our lives," said Arugam,
a fisherman. The over-burdened government on its part says
it's moving as fast as it can and as part of its rehabilitation
plan, is fully funding the cost of new catamarans -- small,
canoe-like boats that cost about 35,000 rupees and building
new tsunami-proof homes. J. Radhakrishnan, district collector
of Nagapattinam, said locals are panicking and want the
surety of immediate cash while the government is working
towards ensuring long-term stability, which was probably
resulting in the lacunae. "The desire of the government
is that there should be asset generation and not just giving
away money as cash. So that is perhaps the reason for the
slight lag between the money, which the 7,000-8,000 people
have obtained and actual utility," he said. The number of
people killed in tsunami waves caused by an earthquake which
devastated Indian Ocean coastlines across 11 countries has
shot up to more than 165,000. In India, 15689 people officially
are reported to be killed or missing along the Southern
coast. WHO estimated that a total of 2260 km of coastal
land penetrating 300m to 3 km in South India was severely
affected. Tidal waves hit the coast of Tamilnadu, Andhra
Pradesh, Orissa, Kerala and Pondicherry and unto the Andaman
and Nicobar islands. Twenty six million people live in the
affected area. Thousands of people from affected villages
along the coastal belt are still living in relief camps.
- March 26, 2005
Lankan
tsunami survivors rebuilding lives from scratch (Go
To Top)
Colombo:
Nearly three months after the killer tsunami waves hit
the Indian Ocean's shore and killed nearly 40, 000 people
and displaced another 500,000 in Sri Lanka, survivors are
struggling to rebuild their lives. A handful of fishing
boats are seen along the coast in the morning, and many
jobless fishermen rush to help the lucky ones who can still
work. In return, some of them receive a small bag of fish,
which they can either sell or eat themselves. One such fisherman
is Saeed Mohammed, who lost his wife, his three young children,
his home and his boat in the tsunami. With just a tent over
his head, and a small bag of donated fish a day, Mohammed
sits in his tent for hours, haunted by the memories of the
devastating day. "From the government, I received coupons,
five thousand rupees in the first month and two and a half
thousand rupees in the second month. I am waiting to see
what happens now," said Mohammed.
Farheena
Tharssim also suffered terrible losses in the tsunami tragedy.
"All lost, my family, my brother, daughter, son everybody
too much lost, and my home lost, three-wheeler lost, everything
is lost," said Tharssim. When Tharssim isn't cooking for
her family, she spends a lot of time praying with her husband
and two surviving children. Tharssim is anxiously awaiting
news of a house, and feels helpless with all the red tape
issues she hears about in the press. Her husband, Bakir,
who once drove a three-wheeler taxi, now sits at home. He
says he feels helpless, as since the initial monetary aid,
he has heard little more from the government. "Government
only give Rs 5000, Rs 2500 and ration card, only," said
Maulana. He says he needs much more, but they have not reached
out to him. Sri Lankan Member of Parliament, Sajith Premadasa,
who works for the United National Party of Sri Lanka, and
manages several Sri Lankan NGOs, says there is a gap between
the promises and the actual rebuilding of lives. "Well,
there are a lot of reports, and a lot of press statements,
press interviews, television news items, which tells a lot
of tsunami victims in Sri Lanka that a lot of money has
been raised by a lot of well wishers throughout the world,
but if you look at the ground situation, the hard facts,
they do not indicate the fact that the funds have arrived
to the real victims," said Premadasa. He added that the
political situation was making it very difficult for work
to be done. "It is a matter of stopping one capable politician
doing the work, just because they might get popular, a lot
of personalization of the tsunami relief program, a lot
of labelling, a lot of authorship that many politicians
try to give to relief programs. Premadasa says the politicians
should focus their efforts on immediate concerns and needs
such as infrastructure. The government says that the delay
in re-construction is due to delays in pledged donor aid
reaching affected areas. They estimate 1. 8 billion dollars
will be needed to rebuild the battered coastline, but only
dollars 100 million has come in so far. The number of people
killed in tsunami waves caused by an earthquake which devastated
Indian Ocean coastlines across 11 countries has shot up
to more than 165,000. In India, 15689 people officially
are reported to be killed or missing along the Southern
coast. WHO estimated that a total of 2260 km of coastal
land penetrating 300m to 3 km in South India was severely
affected. Tidal waves hit the coast of Tamilnadu, Andhra
Pradesh, Orissa, Kerala and Pondicherry and unto the Andaman
and Nicobar islands. Twenty six million people live in the
affected area. Thousands of people from affected villages
along the coastal belt are still living in relief camps.
- March 24, 2005
Life
after Tsunami, full of pain and agony (Go
To Top)
Puttur
(Tamil Nadu): The death of her three sons and a daughter
came as a nightmare for Laxmi, it took her weeks to believe
the fact that half of her family has been swept away by
the deadly Tsunami waves. Slowly, but as a matter of fact,
the tragedy sank in nearly three months later. But by then
she was down with depression, which was further supplemented
by the asthma attack s. The 30-year-old, who left eating
after the shock sank in, was admitted into a small private
hospital this week for treatment. "My four children have
died, I cannot eat. How can I eat? How can I live without
them?" she mumbles sitting on the bed of her hospital ward
in Puttur village, staring at the blank walls. Laxmi and
her husband Kolandavelu blame themselves for being unable
to save their children from the giant waves. On the 26th
of December, when the deadly waves struck India three of
Lakshmi's children were playing in front of their shack
on the beach and drowned. Lakshmi tried to flee with her
two-year-old son, Subhash, but the waves proved to be stronger
than her motherly affection and snatched her kid from her.
Luck favoured another of the couple's offspring, 10-year-old
Saranya-the fifth child of the family, as she her aunt dragged
her to safety at the last minute. Now, neither Laxmi nor
her husband wants to let Saranya out of their sight. Saranya
is giving company to her mother in the hospital, sleeping
besides her on a metal cot. The 10-year-old is not going
to her school to look after her ailing mother. Kolandavelu,
is now rather reconciled now, he is trying to forget the
last glimpses of his kids who were playing on the beach
before they were swept away by the waves. The family is
even not having a photograph of the kids, they lost nearly
everything they had to the waves.
After
the waves, the family was relocated to Seruthur, in a temporary
one-room arrangement, with a handful of groceries and some
basic utensils. The family had got some more clothes, besides
some utensils and 400,000 rupees as compensation from the
state government for the four dead children. The Central
government is also due to pay them with a compensation of
another 400,000 rupees, a huge sum for someone who worked
as a labourer on a fishing boat and earned barely 3,000
rupees a month. The family, however, is not happy with the
initial relief, 30 kg of rice and a thousand rupees in cash,
for expenses per month. Kolandavelu, now is worried about
the means to take care of the family after the monthly relief
comes to an end in April, as the only source of income for
him-fishing, is yet to resume as most damaged boats have
not been repaired or replaced. He is happy that her wife
is better now, but the pair is not going at their best.
There is discord brewing between the pair, with Lakshmi
trying to adopt some orphans, an idea which is not going
down well with Kolandavelu. "Adopted children will not have
the same blood. When they grow up, it's not the same blood.
We should have our own children. I have hope we will have
more children," he said. Doctor K. Dakshinamoorthy, head
of the private Nagai Hospital where Lakshmi is admitted,
said she had a mild asthmatic bronchitis. "She has a psychological
background because she has lost four children to tsunami
on 26 December. I am also under the impression that she
is under a psychogenic shock. I think she is recovering
well. At present she has one female child alive but still
she has to come out of that tsunami shock," he said.
- March 24, 2005
Tsunami
victims dream of building up life anew (Go
To Top)
Chinnakalapet
(Tamil Nadu): Sixty seconds was all that it took for
three generations of Vella's family to be wiped off the
face of the earth. It is such a great tragedy that she probably
can never come to terms with but the 42-year-old widow is
at least trying. Finding support in prayer and her only
surviving grandchild, the gutsy grandma is a symbol of thousands
like her in the country who have fought extreme grief and
pain to clutch on to life. Living in tiny ramshackle shanties
at a relief camp in Chinnakalapet, barely few kilometres
from the rubbles of their homes, she, like many others,
is struggling to maintain her sanity and now wants to be
back in the safety and warmth of a home. Though the government
has been quick in providing relief to these people, rehabilitation
has been slow with only a fraction being able to get back
to work. Others just while away their time at camps, unable
to settle into a routine or even plan for the future of
those who are left. But the grandma seems to be made of
different stuff. Vella saddled with the responsibility of
her grandson and illiterate daughter-in-law is keen to start
an eatery, send her child to school and also undertake a
much-wanted pilgrimage. Though the memories of those gone,
especially the last minutes of her helpless child, screaming
and shouting to be saved off the killer waves, still fill
her with tears and Vella says she is willing to give life
another shot but simply needs some help. "We are living
in great difficulty, all we have are tents. We want homes.
All people here like me only want a house. This is not safe.
The children are sacred to even go near water they say the
tsunami will come and take us away. We have lost everything,"
she said. Sadly, Vella is not alone in her tragedy. Hundreds
more like her have lost families and many of the sole survivors
lead a life of sorrow, agonised that they have been left
behind.
Over
60 lives have been lost in Chinnakalapet alone and nearby
villages have fared no better. Battered to ruins by the
killer waves, 600 homes across the three hamlets have been
completely destroyed, 50 lives lost and hundreds of fisherman
left without boats and nets -- their only livelihood. Subramanium,
who lost his wife, spend hours walking aimlessly on the
coast. Suffering from insomnia, common fallout after grief,
he is desperate to get a boat and get back into the sea.
Asked weather he feared about the killer waves striking
again, the otherwise steely-faced fisherman breaks into
a cynical smile. "Three months on I have no work. I want
a boat. The government is giving me food but with no work
how long can we survive like this," Subramanium said. Pegged
to cost over 1.2 billion dollars, reconstruction of the
Indian mainland are going to be anything but easy. The queues
are long and Subramanium knows it. Patiently waiting his
turn, he for now finds solace in the giggle and chatter
of tiny children in the camp. The first to bounce back to
normalcy, the toddlers have been the biggest healers with
their sheer innocence and zest for life giving hope to thousands
like him. The number of people killed in tsunami waves caused
by an earthquake which devastated Indian Ocean coastlines
across 11 countries has shot up to more than 165,000. In
India, 15689 people officially are reported to be killed
or missing along the Southern coast. WHO estimated that
a total of 2260 km of coastal land penetrating 300m to 3
km in South India was severely affected. Tidal waves hit
the coast of Tamilnadu, Andhra Pradesh, Orissa, Kerala and
Pondicherry and unto the Andaman and Nicobar islands. Twenty
six million people live in the affected area. Thousands
of people from affected villages along the coastal belt
are still living in relief camps.
- Mar 24, 2005
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