CASA, Caritas India, CRS step up tsunami relief operations

Chennai – In the light of the devastating tsunami that ravaged the coastlines of southern India, massive relief programs for the panic–stricken survivors have been taken–up by Christian relief and rehabilitation agencies like Church's Auxiliary for Social Action (CASA), Caritas India and Catholic Relief Services (CRS) in Tamilnadu, Andhra Pradesh, Kerala and the archipelago of Andaman and Nicobar and are currently helping rebuild the lives of nearly half a million displaced survivors in the southern coastal regions of India.

CASA, the Protestant aid group, is providing food, basic supplies and tarpaulin kits as part of its emergency response to a target group of 50,000 families, explained Sushant Agarwal, director, CASA.

"It is the most historic, biggest relief operation undertaken by CASA in its 57 years," Agarwal said. The agency has already deployed 70 of its personnel in the field and plans to recruit 54 more people to work in Tamil Nadu, he added.

CASA is building 805 independent temporary shelter units and has plans to build 3,000 new homes in 24 villages of Tamil Nadu and Kerala, and to provide them with necessary infrastructure such as roads, water and drainage, Agarwal said.

The agency also plans to provide livelihood support in terms of boats and nets to 600 fisher families, besides helping 800 other families to start small businesses such as selling fish.

Another 1,000 families would receive tools, seeds and fertilizer to resume agriculture. Additionally, it plans to provide 600 families with goats and 100 families a pair of cows each to help start life anew, Agarwal said.

CASA also plans to repair 50 schools and build 30 multipurpose shelters. It will also give books and uniforms to some 2,000 children and construct 35 children's parks to help provide trauma counseling to children.

Caritas India, in collaboration with CRS and in partnership with the 23 local partners in Tamilnadu, Andhra Pradesh, Kerala and the archipelago of Andaman and Nicobar is busy repairing houses, providing water, sanitation and other basic facilities in the affected areas.

Fr. John Noronha, executive director of Caritas India remarked, “In Tamil Nadu 153,000 displaced persons have been provided with food kits, water and other basic amenities through the relief camps. 1,800 temporary shelters are being constructed for the displaced families.”

“The coordination with the district administration and Government of India is in progress towards acquiring permissions to relocate people in temporary shelters, restore their livelihood and thereon to initiate permanent rehabilitation,” said Fr. Varghese Mattamana, the assistant director of Caritas India.

The governments of Tamil Nadu and Pondicherry have allowed Caritas to begin construction of temporary shelters.

In Andhra Pradesh, Caritas India has provided medical assistance, counselling, blankets and cooking utensils to over 128,000 displaced persons, while in Kerala, the focus is on providing trauma counselling to the 150,000 displaced persons living in the relief camps, especially the children.

In the archipelago of Andaman and Nicobar, the diocesan team has organized a relief camp in Nirmala School, Port Blair, where about 1,500 evacuated persons from the Little Andaman, Car Nicobar, Katchal, Kamorta, Nan Cowry and Great Nicobar Islands have taken refuge. Blankets, tents, medical supplies and counseling are being provided to them.

Authorities in the archipelago have allowed the Caritas team to use an Indian military aircraft to reach remote islands.

"In Car Nicobar we want to go in and take up construction work and other activities for rehabilitation," Father Mattamana said. Car Nicobar is at the southern end of the territory, closest to the epicenter of the earthquake near Indonesia's Sumatra Island that triggered the tsunami.

As on January 25, the organisations have provided relief of over about to the tune of Rs. 12 crores and in the long run, Caritas India and her partners plan to repair the damaged schools, provide books and uniforms to school–going children, re–build permanent safe houses and community centers, teach the survivors about disaster preparedness and environmental protection and restore the livelihood of the families.

Caritas India has allocated over Rs. 200 crores towards relief and rehabilitation efforts and it is working through "local diocesan social–service societies," which have links with local NGOs. This helps coordination work, "especially in construction of shelters and trauma counseling," said Fr. Mattamana.

The World Health Organization has asked CBCI’s St. John’s Medical National Academy of Health Sciences based in Bangalore to set up a disease surveillance cell for the Nicobar Islands.

Indo–Global Social Service Society and Action for Food Production are the other Catholic–related organizations involved in the relief and rehabilitation of the affected.