The tsunami, one year on - Nabeela Ahmed

A coastal village in Tamil Nadu, a year after the tsunami hit

My ‘development experience' in India so far has been a series of revelations and exposures to incredible things I had previously only encountered in print or on screen, scenes that exceeded any preconceptions or imaginings, none of which were more overwhelming than the scenes of the tsunami-affected areas in South India that I had the opportunity to visit in November of 2005.

A year has passed since the devastating force of the tsunami struck places as far apart as Somalia , Sri Lanka , Thailand and India , killing over 200,000 people. A recent resurgence of tsunami-related interest in the wake of its anniversary seems only to have re-alerted the world's attention, after a year's indifference, to the unprecedented Indian Ocean disaster, the repercussions of which are still tragically palpable. Although the news cameras and relief agencies moved on after the initial disaster, my visit in November showed there is still very far to go on the road to rehabilitation, almost a year on.

The Development Education Society (DEEDS) focuses on empowering disadvantaged communities in the slums of Bangalore and villages of Northern Tamil Nadu, but last year became involved in the tsunami relief effort. As a DEEDS volunteer I was given the chance to experience their unique approach to addressing the problems of the disaster victims; problems that are not so widely considered or exposed.

DEEDS is working in conjunction with the National Institute of Mental Health and Neuro-Sciences (NIMHANS), established over twenty years ago. NIMHANS has worked on providing mental health care and treatment for victims of Indian disasters such as the 1985 Bhopal gas disaster, the 2001 Gujarat earthquakes, last year's Kashmir earthquake, and of course, the tsunami.

In collaborating with NIMHANS, DEEDS has facilitated a micro-approach, which allows the social workers to build long-term, close relations with the affected communities. Dr. Shekhur, from NIMHANS and director of the project, emphasised the central importance of the community in the project: “the community is the resource, and the psychosocial workers can impart technical and financial aid to them”.

Using the community itself as a resource makes up for the severe limits in mental health facilities. The tragedy of disaster situations is that there is no existent support system because everyone in the community has been affected. Long-term support is therefore required in addition to emergency relief to enable full rehabilitation. “We want to look at the emotional responses to the disaster rather than just the mental processes; looking at normal reactions to abnormal events is what most of post-trauma is about”, Dr. Shekhur explains.

DEEDS set up the project in March 2005, three months after the tsunami, when the initial emergency relief had been moderated. Emotional anxieties and the trauma of family loss cannot be ‘moderated' as soon, and the projects set up in the Tamil Nadu villages of Melamankudy and Keazhamanakudy, and also in Southern Kerala, seek to address these issues.

Different psychosocial methods and approaches are used for different sections of the community. Children, many of whom have been orphaned or semi-orphaned by the tsunami, are addressed in the Little Flower Convent School.

Smiling in the face of adversity. Children at the Convent School

Here they are individually counselled, for problems such as hydrophobia or recurrent nightmares for example. The children are also asked to confront their anxieties and fears by recreating the tsunami in drawings, constructing ‘worry boxes' and producing family portraits. Sensitivity to psychosocial issues is evident in the way the curriculum taught in local schools actually adapted to the needs the disaster-struck communities; the pace of study was slackened to accommodate the children's healing time and exams were postponed.

Fish drying outside a wrecked fisherman’s house

Fishing is the main source of employment in the coastal villages ravaged by the tsunami, but it has suffered a major decline due to post-traumatic phobia of the ocean, as well as the actual depletion of fish stocks. Alcoholism is one serious consequence of the diminished fishing industry, and a major issue that the psychosocial workers must tackle. As so often happens in post-disaster communities, an untimely baby boom has ensued in these villages due to the extra time created by unemployment.

Loss - of homes, of employment, and of family - is the predominant theme of suffering in these communities. While those losses that are irretrievable will etch a permanent scar of the tsunami's force, those that are replaceable have still yet to be sufficiently addressed.

Temporary government housing

We visited the temporary shelters provided by both the government and aid agencies for those made homeless by the tsunami in November. The inhabitants had been promised rehousing by the summer of that year, and they were still waiting, perhaps for as long as until this year's spring. The claustrophobic atmosphere generated by these shelters, where families are forced to share one room, leads to various social problems. Children imitating their parents sexual behaviour is a serious example.

Hearing the individual stories of victims when we were interacting with the community was perhaps the most moving as well as eye-opening aspect of my experience. The community leaders of the small, coastal fishing village Keazhamanakudy voiced their despair over the lack of sustainable development to enable their rehabilitation, claiming that “all help has been short term or misconceived so far”.

Through our translators we came to understand that the real plight of this community, in terms of recovery, was their meagre participation and consultation with the NGO's themselves; there was no way of the aid agencies knowing how to help effectively if they did not find this out from the community, and use them as a resource. Almost half of Keazhamanakudy's community is dependent on the earnings of fishermen, which means that the effects of the tsunami have caused the number of families below the poverty line to rise dramatically. Ultimately, livelihoods need to be restored and diversified via educational opportunities. “We do not need simply food and money as help, we need long term solutions to ensure our survival as a village” was a community member's simple statement.

Talking to these people merely provided a snapshot of how DEEDS's team works on a daily basis; engaging with communities on a micro-level and finding out what their needs, wants and emotions are. The psychosocial counselling provides an outlet and a support system that, as Dr. Shekhur points out, is virtually non-existent in a disaster-shattered community.

We were shown the sites of tsunami damage, ghosts of fishing villages ravaged by the massive tidal wave where people still lived but seemed to lack any sense of purpose. Some asked for money as we walked past dilapidated house after dilapidated house, and some simply asked what we were doing there. Crumbling, broken walls, and some fishermen desperately trying to recapture their old livelihood with paltry catches on an otherwise deserted beach, set the scene of these once thriving villages.

The wave smashed through the centre of this church, leaving the ends intact

A formerly grand white church, once the focal point of Keazhamanakudy village, had its entire roof demolished by the tsunami wave. The remnants of stained windows and roofing still lay scattered around eleven months after the initial destruction.

That is the most eerie aspect of these devastated villages, all the dilapidated remains of buildings still remain in their immediate state of damage; decaying and conveying a constant reminder of the tragic disaster.

The government's refusal to rebuild or repair partially damaged houses, and its sluggish inefficiency in actually replacing those that have been completely damaged, answers for this seemingly perpetual state of despair and wreckage. The rebuilding of houses right next to a cemetery of the buried tsunami victims was the most pertinent image of the lasting effects of the tragedy, which persist despite all efforts to move on.

Nevertheless, some communities do seem to be moving forward. The recreation centres set up in the affected villages by DEEDS and other NGOs, provide a place for families to get together and discuss their problems with social workers, as well as a place for their children to rebuild their confidence and stability through play and social unity. These centres exemplify the importance of sustainable projects geared toward social reconstruction, which exceed simple, short-term aid.

I am, of course, not denying the necessity of emergency relief in disaster situations, but my time spent with the DEEDS/NIMHANS psychosocial team illuminated the equal necessity of repairing damage that is not so visible. The effects of the tsunami on the psychology of individuals can be serious, but the potential for such experiences to make individuals stronger via long-term rehabilitation proves to be the most valuable form of post-disaster reconstruction.