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Kovalam Before, During & After
the Tsunami
Prasad aid worker, Dr. V.R. Ranjit,
is currently in Kovalam assisting with relief efforts
in that village. He has written a detailed report describing
what Kovalam was like before the tsunami, how the disaster
affected the village, and the effectiveness of the relief
efforts.
Click on any one of the following
links to read excerpts from this report:
Kovalam Before the Tsunami
The Calamity
Damage to Homes
Damage to Fishing Equipment
Understanding the Community’s
Felt Needs
Occupational Rehabilitation
Kovalam Before the
Tsunami
Kovalam is a coastal fishing hamlet located about 18
miles south of Chennai City. The village has about 400
families and a population of 2,000 people. Before the
tsunami strike, the village was the venue of wholesale
fish purchase by most retail fish sellers and hotel-owners
coming from Chennai City and the suburban towns.
Fishing (and activities related to
it) is the main occupation of the people. The fishermen
went out to sea in two batches: the first batch set
out just past midnight and returned early morning; the
second batch set out to sea around 10. a.m., and returned
around 4.p.m.
The market functioned in two sessions
following this fishing schedule. The catch was auctioned
immediately on reaching the shore where several whole
sale and retail sellers waited for the boats to return.
There are women whose profession is to only auction.
Amongst those who didn't go to fish
there were several related activities, which depended
on the catch reaching the shore. There are people whose
entire job it was to clean the fish for the customers
who purchased them from the wholesale market. Many hoteliers
who bought the fish at the auction or from a wholesale
dealer on the shore took it away only after it was cleaned
and sliced.
There are women whose husbands or
brothers didn’t go out to sea for one reason or
the other. They supported their families by buying the
fish at a price from the wholesale people and selling
them at a retail rate in the neighboring villages.
There are other members of the village
who owned shops and stores that sold household materials
and other items to the fishermen. Their livelihood depends
on the economic health of the fishermen. There is a
man who made his living entirely by selling ginger tea
to the fishermen who had returned after the catch and
to those who visited the village to buy fish. Return
to top
The Calamity
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Tsunami
reduced this house
to a mass of rubble |
When the tsunami struck on the
26th December '04 around 9 a.m., most of the men folk
were on the beach doing their nets after having returned
from sea at dawn.
One of the fishermen related: “I
was on the beach with a hundred other fishermen doing
the nets having returned early in the morning with our
catch. The sea was as quiet as a pond. As we were doing
our jobs I first noticed the water advance a little
more than usual but I did not take it seriously, because
it was the full moon day and high tides are natural.
I was only a little surprised that it was happening
earlier than expected because the tides usually rise
by midday. The water receded and soon it came in again.
There was no turbulence as such; it was as smooth as
pouring water from a bucket. But the wave was supremely
fast, and advanced so much inward that we all got frightened.
We left our nets behind and began to run.”
Another said: “The wave was
faster than us. It submerged us and carried us with
great force inland. We managed to remain afloat and
I found myself clinging on to the leaves of a coconut
tree. The water had risen to the height of about 15
feet.”
Another said: “I managed to
cling on to a wall, which happened to be the parapet
wall of the second floor of a building. Behind us came
the catamarans and the boats. This wall collapsed because
the wave slammed a huge boat against it.”
A boy around the age of twelve -
a puny little fellow – was carried by the wave
all the way to the Muttukakkdu bridge where he was found.
This bridge is located about 1.8 miles away from the
village and overlies an inland water body formed by
the ocean extending inward. Surprisingly the fellow
was left with only a few scratch marks on his body.
The sea seems to have been both rough and gentle on
this little fellow.
But Prem was not so lucky. His two
children died when the sea entered their home. The fatalities
in this village have been fortunately small. Six people
died - two children, two women and two men. Return
to top
Damage to Homes
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Woman stands
on the roof of
what used to be her house |
As I was taken around the village
I saw the houses of the people. The ones that fringe the
eastern edge of the village overseeing the beach were
badly damaged. They were the ones that took the brunt
of the tsunami. Catamarans and boats slamming against
the walls caused a good part of the damage. I saw two
to three houses completely razed to the ground. One of
them was a mass of rubble!
“The girl in this house was
scheduled to get married two weeks from now,”
said my guide. “They had a dowry for her that
they spent years saving up. The sea took away everything.”
I asked, “What about the family?
Did anything happen to them?”
“No, fortunately they are safe,”
he said. “The moment the inhabitants of the houses
heard the fishermen on the beach shout and saw them
running towards this side with a huge wave behind them,
all of them ran out of their homes towards the west.
So they escaped death. But over there in that house
an elderly lady died because she could not run and the
house collapsed on her,” he said pointing to a
collapsed house.
Close by I see a lady standing on
a large sheet of concrete which two days ago was the
roof of her house. Now it lies like a large heavy mat
on the ground with the walls that supported it completely
gone!
Finding a concerned visitor in me
they insist that I see the inside of their homes. I
find them ravaged. Inside the first two to three rows
of houses, that fringe the eastern boundary of the village,
water seems to have risen to at least 5 or 6 feet, almost
submerging the rooms. It completely destroyed furniture,
and took away all that could be removed. Return
to top
Damage to Fishing
Equipment
 |
Badly damaged
fishing boat and nets |
The engines that power the catamarans
and the boats are kept on the beach after they are dismantled.
Each one of them weigh about 100 - 150 kgs. When the water
surged in it brought in tons of sand from the ocean floor
and these heavy machines were buried beneath the sand.
They were also tossed around with great force and they
banged against each other and were also hit by catamarans
and boats. After the wave receded the engines were excavated
from the beach. All of them had sea water and sand clogging
their insides and many had their parts damaged by the
violent jostling and the banging that they took.
The nets are always kept on the shore
after they are put together after a fishing expedition
into the sea. That day when the tsunami struck the men
were all on the beach putting their nets in order, and
the other nets of the second batch were all lying bundled
together to be taken out to the sea.
The entire lot of nets was dashed inland, and then washed
away by the wave when it receded. Whatever nets remained
were entangled in the trees and bushes. In the days
that followed the villagers foraged through the ruins
to retrieve whatever they could but the damage to the
nets was extensive; most lost almost all that they had.
Many catamarans were washed away
and were completely lost. Many others were found dismantled
with some of the logs retrievable and the others lost.
All the fishing boats were thrown inland. They were
taken to a height of about 15 feet by the wave and banged
against buildings, trees and against each other like
paper plates and scattered all over the place -- taken
at least a mile inland.
Return to top
Understanding the Community’s Felt Needs
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Understanding
the needs of the community |
During the first informal meeting
with the community’s core group, I told them, “It
is obvious that there has been a lot of damage to your
homes and equipment. It is clear that you are now unemployed
and dependent on outside help. We want to help you. Tell
me how we can help.”
I didn't have to wait too long for
an answer. They were all together in saying, “We
need help to get back to work. Please do something immediately
to save our engines from corrosion. Then provide help
for us to get equipment so that we can go back to fish
and earn our own living.”
I asked them “What about your
homes? Don't you want to rebuild your homes?”
To this they answered, “Between
our homes and our work, our work is top priority. We
are not saying that we don't want our homes to be rebuilt.
But that can come later after you have helped us to
get back to work.”
One other thing was becoming clear:
The fishermen's goal was to get back to work soon. Prasad
Chikitsa’s goal for the rehabilitation process
would then naturally have to be to get them back to
work as soon as possible. Return to top
Occupational Rehabilitation
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Restarting
fishing activity |
In partnership with Help for the
Helpless, a non governmental organization that rebuilds
fishing communities, and the villagers themselves, Prasad
Chikitsa set out to get the villagers functional fishing
equipment.
A community management group, made
up of people from the village, was formed. Under our
guidance and help, the group created a registry of those
who owned each kind of equipment on the day of the tsunami
i.e., those who owned engines, nets, catamarans and
boats. They enumerated each of the items needed to repair
and replace the boats, catamarans, engines and fishing
nets that had been destroyed by the tsunami. Local mechanics
also contributed their services to the relief efforts
and established a credit plan with the villagers to
repay their debts for the repaired engines.
As of January 21st, we have provided
over 1,000 components to 91 individuals in this village
to repair their damaged engines. A total of 1½
tons of nets are to be distributed in another 3-5 days.
Of a total of more than sixty catamarans that have to
be repaired or replaced more than 10 have been repaired,
and launched out to sea, and wood has been ordered for
another 20. Return to top
Other News:
From the Communications
Desk
PRASAD Returns
Fishermen to the Sea
PRASAD Gets
Medical Relief to Northeast Sri Lanka
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