Even a decade after the tsunami left a trail of destruction along its coast, the rehabilitation of the affected in Ernakulam is yet to be completed.
Official statistics pegged the total loss in the devastating waves that lashed on December 26, 2004 at Rs. 98.58 crore, in addition to the death of 26 persons. The disaster directly affected about 40,183 families and about 249 houses were completely damaged while about 4,845 homes suffered partial damage.
Construction of houses was the single largest task for which the government disbursed Rs.3.75 crore to 287 families residing in the three coastal panchayats of Chellanam, Njarakkal and Elamkunnapuzha. Alongside, it also floated a special package of Rs.12.50 crore for the tsunami victims in Edavanakkad panchayat. The administration also expended Rs.3.89 crore on the construction of apartments in the Kuzhupilly, Nayarambalam and Edavanakkad panchayats.
The State government sanctioned construction of 287 houses under the in situ scheme, which envisages building of new homes at the locations where it previously existed and sanctioned a fund of Rs.2.5 lakh per family.
Dominic presentation, MLA, who co-chairs the district monitoring committee on tsunami rehabilitation programme, said the housing scheme for the tsunami victims were 95 per cent complete with the authority beginning to disburse the final instalment of the compensation package. “We are currently in the process of identifying the beneficiaries for the remaining 30-odd houses to be built while some apartments constructed in Elamkunnapuzha panchayat are yet to be occupied,” he said. The authorities had already disbursed an initial assistance of Rs.25,000 to the affected households while other reconstruction works such as erection of sea walls, provision for drinking water and roads along the coastal lines were completed a couple of years ago.
Official sources attributed the delay in fund disbursal to the delay in completing the construction works in a uniform manner.
A fresh batch of people, who claimed to have failed to submit the application for compensation, has approached the authorities. And they are still busy with the fundamental task of identifying the exact number of victims under the rehabilitation programme.
