2004 Tsunami Relief
When a tsunami hit the south-east coast of India in December 2004, it resulted in utter devastation. Within 2 days Udhavum Ullangal volunteers had reached the affected areas and began relief work that went on for 2 months, at a cost of Rs. 18 lakh.
Our first task was to provide immediate relief.
Starting on the East Coast Road, 50 of our volunteers began distributing relief material to the survivors. This material included:
- Food (biscuits and bread)
- Clothes (shirts, lungees, sarees, children’s clothes)
- Toiletries (towels, soap, hairbrushes)
- Household necessities (blankets, candles and matches, vessels, mugs, etc.)
We soon moved on to other areas like Nagapattinam, Cuddalore, and Chidambaram.
We assessed each situation and provided the help that was needed.
Many organizations were at work after the tsunami, and it was important that we did not waste time on work that was already being done.
We began by distributing fishing nets worth Rs. 6,00,000 to the fishermen at Karikattukuppam near Muttukadu, but soon realized that the fisher communities were already receiving aid, but small vendors and agricultural labourers were being neglected. They had also lost everything but did not have ID cards, so the government was having problems helping them.
There were other cases of specific types of aid that was needed. For example, food and clothes had been provided to the people of Kalpakkam, but the children badly needed milk.
So our volunteers focused on filling in the gaps that other organizations were unable to cover.
It was important to put smiles back on the children’s faces.
After such a tragedy, it was important to make the children smile again. In Nagapattinam, we organized a ‘Healing through Entertainment’ programme with music and dance for over 2000 children at the Akkaraipettai high school.
It took a whole week to organize the programme, which was sponsored entirely by well-wishers. We worked as a team to arrange for the entertainment, prepare a lunch for the children to eat, and provide new clothes for children in a local government home – all of whom had been affected by the tsunami.
We worked with the communities for many months after the tsunami.
After addressing the immediate needs in the aftermath of the tsunami, we started helping with the rehabilitation work. We left relief material with local NGOs, and every weekend our volunteers would return to help distribute these essential items.