The Hindu Business Line : Cuddalore takes a lead in tsunami reconstruction

Two years down the line, Cuddalore stands out in Tamil Nadu as a district that has not only matched, but even surpassed its goals set to build back better after the tsunami.

Be it in reconstruction activity — housing, or livelihood rehabilitation, the district seems to have taken a lead in performance and achieving results in a short span of time.

But to get the right picture, it's essential to travel back in time, to the sequence of events, after December 26, 2004.

A relatively small district, but with a coastline of 57.5 km along the Bay of Bengal (comprising 51 hamlets) that was affected by the tsunami, Cuddalore, it became apparent in a few days after December 26, probably suffered damage only second to neighbouring Nagapattinam.

A total of 610 people died, including 214 children, 214 others were injured, 38 went missing and on the whole, 99,704 families were affected in one way or the other.

According to Cuddalore Collector Gagandeep Singh Bedi who has been at the helm of the short, medium and long term recovery efforts in the district, over 517 hectares of agricultural and horticultural land was rendered unusable and saline by the tsunami waves.

Over 5200 boats were fully damaged and over 1000 boats partially damaged in just one day.

Immediately after the tsunami, the district administration set up 38 relief camps to provide shelter, food and water to the affected in the coastal villages.

Mobilising food and water had to be done simultaneously with the process of evacuating villagers, performing mass burials and ensuring that there were no serious infectious diseases and outbreaks. Once these tasks were initiated, the administration had to simultaneously address the issue of building temporary shelters to house the fishermen and their families.

The long-term measures included building permanent houses for the fisherfolk, a task that was taken up on a war footing. Some 2300 new houses had to be built, over 100 acres had to be acquired for the purpose and the houses had to be designed with the consent of the community and provided basic electricity, water and sewerage facilities.

Today, in the district, over 4000 houses have been built with the help of a large number of NGOs, the State extending assistance to non-fisherfolk, including Dalits and the Irula tribes as well.

Educational infrastructure has been rebuilt, schools and orphanages being spruced up thanks to the intervention of agencies like UNICEF. The fisherfolk are back in business and measures have also been taken to wean their families from their dependence on the sea. Self-help group women have been trained in other trades and encouraged to seek a living from practicing them.

But Mr.Bedi still thinks there are miles to go before the district can rest.

Weekly meeting with the NGOs and the funding agencies continue with the Government in order to ensure co-ordination and avoid duplication.

Having built back better, he believes that this is essential to see that things stay that way.

Ramya Kannan

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