How has life picked up for coastal inhabitants a decade after the tsunami and how have attitudes to development changed for beneficiaries of rehabilitation schemes?
One study, in fact, has revealed that women have gained a higher stake in socio-economic development action post the 2004 tsunami.
The study, ‘Weaving Hopes After Disaster: Linking Relief, Rehab and Development,’ was undertaken by the Indian Social Institute, Delhi, to assess the satisfaction levels among beneficiaries of the tsunami rehabilitation project by Caritas India (a social wing of the Catholic Church in India).
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The study revealed that the beneficiaries expect to have a higher stake in planning, implementation, monitoring and evaluation in rehabilitation.
The project had worked in relief and rehabilitation in Tamil Nadu, Puducherry, Kerala, Andhra Pradesh and Andaman and Nicobar Islands over the course of the last 10 years. The study revealed that 66 per cent of the beneficiaries had expressed satisfaction over the relief and rehabilitation measures.
At a two-day Tsunami Decennial Remembrance (March 5 and 6) being organised by Caritas India here, around 200 guests from partner NGOs, the United Nations, donor agencies, academic institutions, government agencies and other stakeholders have also been deliberating on improving the disaster response plan for the future.
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On Day One, participants asked for a ‘compulsory contingency plan to be in place for every region,’ said the organisers.
Father Romance, a member of Caritas India, said that NGOs need to advocate the government for the rights and dignity of people during times of disaster.
Among limitations of the rehabilitation project, it was revealed that 20 per cent of tsunami houses had changed hands due to poor economic conditions, as well as the practice of dowry. It has also increased dependency on NGOs among the beneficiaries, and that some people continued to feel ‘internal wound’ post disasters.
The study revealed that casteism continued to hold sway in the villages of Nellore, Andhra Pradesh, with around 20 per cent respondents saying that they could not participate in the disaster response because of their caste.
On the other hand, beneficiaries in Andhra Pradesh established high-income sources from the assistance provided, with a high satisfaction level of 89 per cent, according to the study. In livelihood training under the rehabilitation project, carpentry and masonry were found not too useful.
The study also has insights from the Odisha cyclone of 1999, floods in 2001 and 2003, Gujarat earthquake of 2001, and Bihar floods of 2007 and 2008. It will be used to introduce new learning to global humanitarian agencies working in emergencies, said the organisers of the event.
The research paper will be released by Chief Minister N. Rangasamy in the presence of Cardinal Cleemis, President, Catholic Bishops’ Conference of India on March 6.
We want to make the fishermen tech-savvy. They are more trusting of technology devices now than they were before the tsunami. ” T.M. Balakrishnan Nair, INCOIS