NEW DELHI, INDIA, December 15, 2006: (HPI note: This article is written with the intent of attracting attention to the plight of the tsunami survivors. It is not, in the process, all that realistic about what is involved in reconstructing entire villages even in the best of conditions. The most efficient Hindu organizations involved in reconstruction in Tamil Nadu are only now nearing completion of their projects, what to say of the less efficient or those hampered by government regulations. That said, the article highlights the important issue that many survivors have yet to be rehabilitated, and we should not forget about them.)
It has been nearly two years (December 26, 2004) since a Tsunami devastated the coastal areas of the southern state of Tamil Nadu. Fishing communities (33 of them) in these areas were hit the hardest by the natural disaster. Reports from inside the country and internationally reflect that progress to revive these communities has fallen behind expectations. UN Special reporter Miloon Kothari says, “We found violations of human rights related to housing, work, health, food, water and security in the states of Tamil Nadu and Pondicherry. The government of Tamil Nadu seems to have relinquished its responsibility of rehabilitating tsunami-affected people because permanent houses are only being funded and coordinated by non-government organizations.”
The news release points out that state government statistics indicate that only 12,000 homes have been constructed to date of the 54,000 that were proposed. New Delhi-based NGO Housing and Land Rights Network associate director Shivani Chaudhry adds, “The government is not allowing fishing communities to set up permanent houses within 500 meters near the coastline citing Coastal Regulation Zone (CRZ) even as commercial development is taking place within that space. The Tamil Nadu government is even evicting fishing communities from the Marina Beach in Chennai even though this takes away jobs and employment from fishing folk. The houses have not been built because the government has not even acquired land. Most people are living in temporary shelters that are made of tin sheets and thatched roofs. These do not have privacy, are flooded during rains; there are no sanitation facilities and diseases like chikungunya have spread in these shelters. There is no electricity for shelters in Kanyakumari, many shelters in Pondicherry are almost on the road making these extremely unsafe for children. Even well-made houses do not have bathrooms, kitchens or have been constructed so far from the coastline that fishing communities have no use for these.” Kothari expounds further on the situation, “Many houses are lying vacant because the people have rejected these. Some of them have a side-entrance which is considered inauspicious while others are double-storied therefore fisher folk do not find these practical. In one such example, an NGO gave money to women in Nagapattinam to construct houses and these have a high level of acceptability within the fishing communities.”