January 10, 2007

CHENNAI, Tamil Nadu, India/GENEVA – "So many people lost their lives to the tsunami, hence we can't say the tsunami is good. But just as it has taken so much from us, it has also given us a lot. Even in our dreams we could not have imagined houses like this," remarks Revathi Balasubhramaniam, a resident of Nadukuppam village,Villupuram district, in India's southeastern state of Tamil Nadu.

Two years on, several other survivors of the December 2004 tidal wave that devastated Southeast Asia's coastline including several villages in Tamil Nadu express similar sentiments.

"The only houses we had known earlier were our traditional huts. It is the first time that we are seeing houses like this," says Anja Laxmi, from Ayyampettai village, Cuddalore district.

R. Sekhar from Thirumullaivasal village in Nagapattinam district believes their new houses can withstand a major disaster. "Now even if there is a tsunami, we can run to the terrace of our strong houses and save ourselves. There was no safe place before. The houses are also insured," he says.

Yet others like M. Amaravathi from the same village, who lost both her husband and father to the tsunami, is waiting to move into her new house to escape painful memories. "Here my husband's memory is haunting us all the time. When we go to the new house it will be good for me and the children," she says.

Restoring Homes, Livelihoods, Hope

With support from the global alliance of churches and their agencies, Action by Churches Together (ACT) International, the Lutheran World Federation (LWF) Department for World Service (DWS) program in India is constructing 850 permanent houses with cyclone, earthquake and tsunami-resistant features for survivors whose homes were partially damaged or washed away. Out of the 245 completed houses over 80 have been handed over to the villagers while another 315 are under various stages of construction.

Vasanthi Raji and her family were among the first families to move into their new home in a relocated site in Ayyampettai village. When the tsunami struck, they managed to run to a temple some 500 meters away, and later on took refuge in a warehouse for 15 days. But they lost all they owned including their livelihood – a tea stall run by Vasanthi's husband Raji. He has now managed to put up a tea stall again with the compensation money received from the government. Their son Vinod is a bus conductor, their eldest daughter Sarika has completed undergraduate studies, and her younger sister Sandhya is in upper primary school.

In another village in Villupuram district, Mathurambal, her husband Nagarajan and their two children have been granted house No. 39. Nagarajan, a fisherman, also received livelihood support from DWS India, which included one fiberglass boat and an engine, two types of nets and other accessories like ropes, leads and floats, which are given to fisher families' self-help groups.

Mathurambal earns 2,500 rupees (USD 55) per month from her work as supervisor of 30 local women involved in a doll-making project run by a non-governmental organization (NGO). Her husband earns 10-12,000 rupees (around USD 267) per year from fishing.

"We now have a house with electricity, running water and a [hygienic] toilet. Earlier we lived in a hut. We have bought a television set and gold ornaments for our daughter's marriage from our savings." Her husband agrees, adding, "the community as a whole is also more developed now."

Infrastructure Support

Apart from the reconstruction of houses, DWS India is also distributing fruit saplings to help communities set up orchards. Further assistance will include infrastructure support through the constructing community ce nters, reconditioning village roads, and restoring damaged drinking water systems. It is a participatory approach, and the community members have extended their individual houses and put up fences using their own resources.

But for many, what the tsunami and the sea took away can never be replaced. For K. Murgeswari in Thirumullaivasal village, misfortune did not stop with the tsunami. Her husband who managed to escape the killer waves could not, however, save himself from the sea. In November 2006, he died while out fishing after his boat capsized during a heavy downpour. As Murgeswari and her two-year-old son wait to move into an LWF-constructed house, they survive on the government's compensation money for her husband's death. DWS India staff visit her regularly to provide psychosocial support, and are seeking other NGOs' intervention for vocational training or income-generation ventures.

Lutheran World Information
By Rina Chunder, information & documentation officer, LWF/DWS India.