It is late afternoon on the Valiathura beach, and Jose Augustine is helping push a boat out to sea. A resident of Valiathura, he says fishermen are venturing out to sea after days as the weather seems fine. “They had warned us of rain and wind on Wednesday, but nothing happened. Today, by evening, most boats will have set out.”
Peter, too old to go to sea and mostly dependant on pension, says some fishermen are venturing out to sea as families are going hungry. “A few boats set out on Wednesday. Today, there are some more. If fishermen don’t go to fish, there is nothing to eat. Next month, schools will reopen, and expenses will go up much more.”
Scared
Not everyone is risking the waves as yet. Says Kunjumon, a fisherman, “We are scared if something might happen? If the sea is like this now, we wonder what will happen when the rain sets in.”
His brother-in-law Varghese sits nearby. When waves pounded the coastline a few days ago, his was one of the houses where water had entered.
“But for the church authorities, no one has come to meet us since the Collector came here on Sunday.”
They wonder when they will get houses where they can be rehabilitated. “At the least, we want our houses to be protected so that they don’t topple over.”
But their wait for a house will be long, they fear. “People living in camps for years are still to move to houses built by the government.”
Lalamma, a fisherwoman who sits by the beach with nearly empty vessels, says it is very windy, and the boats are not going out far in case the weather takes a turn for the worse. “With little catch, and that too priced high, it is tough to earn anything.”
The sea continued to be rough at Shanghumuhgom and Valiathura. The Valiathura pier is barricaded and visitors are not being allowed. The field research station of the National Centre for Earth Science Studies near the pier suffered more damage on Thursday.
Facilities at relief camp
At the relief camp at Valiathura, a mobile toilet has been set up, providing some relief to the families living there.
Tahsildar Suresh Kumar said the toilets at the school had been cleaned and waste pumped out. A mobile toilet was also set up at the Buds school nearby.
The families were also provided with rice, gram, and provisions for a week, he said, though the families claimed to have got only rice and gram. Paperwork to provide compensation was under way, he said.
