Concerns on Women & Children on Relief & Rehabilitaton

by North Tamilnadu Tsunami Relief & Rehabilitation Committee

The compensation announced by the state of Tamilnadu, giving Rs.1,00,000/- to the families of dead and Rs.4,000/- towards temporary rehabilitation. The said amount has been paid in the name of the head of the family. The said money has not been distributed equally to the women head of the family. Those families headed by woman have been completely left out in this Government relief package.There have been instances where the men have misused the money provided towards relief. Hence the amount distributed as compensation should be provided jointly in the name of male and female heads of the family and also to all the women headed families in future.

Many women have lost their husbands and sons in the tsunami. In such cases it should be ensured that they are given legal heir certificate and also that they receive the compensation amount of Rs.1,00,000/- as announced by the State. In the same light women who have also reported that their husbands are missing should also be eligible for compensation by considering that they are dead after 7 days of missing.

While enumerating the loss the State has not taken into consideration the loss of livelihood of the women who were engaged in various occupations directly and indirectly in fishing process. Many women who were engaged as auctioneers, purchasers and sale of fish on retail basis, women who were engaged in sale of fish at the fish markets were not considered for compensation. It is therefore necessary that those who were involved in the occupation in the sale of fish and who were indirectly affected by the tsunami should also be sufficiently compensated by the state.

Loss of women's livelihood should be taken into consideration while appraising loss and need assessment for livelihood restoration / rehabilitation of the affected communities. Many women who were running small income generation enterprises like petty shops, food stalls, tailoring marts etc along the coast and their livelihood needs should also be assessed for livelihood rehabilitation.

The State has initiated steps for providing temporary housing to the affected families and is also proposing to construct permanent houses at a later stage. While providing permanent houses it should be ensured that the houses are located in places where the people were living originally before the tsunami. It has been mentioned by the State that the houses are going to be relocated away from the coast. This measure will affect the fishing community and the women in particular. The men come back from fishing to the shore at odd hours and leave the sale of fish, drying their nets etc to the women folks. If the houses are relocated women are going to be badly affected as these activities need to be done on the beach at close proximity from their respective houses.The safety and security of the women will be in peril if the fishing community is relocated away from the beach.

To ensure joint ownership of houses provided by the State, it should be registered in the names of both men and women as heads of the families and not in the name of men alone.

The Government while providing identity cards to the families affected by the tsunami should enter the name of the men and women as the head of the families to get their relief and rehabilitation.

While providing the relief materials women's need especially the inner garments are not provided. Those who have lost all their properties and materials are being provided only with saree. Petticoats, blouses which are basic requirements of women clothing are not provided as part of the State relief package. Hence these needs should be addressed as immediate relief for women and adolescent girls.

The sanitary towels which constitute the basic need of women were not addressed till date. It has been reported that many girl children attained puberty due to shock. Their special needs at this juncture of their lives were totally neglected.There should be specific allocation for supply of sanitary towels and for psycho social care.

At present, specifically in Chennai the relief materials namely rice and other food items are being supplied at a distance of 10 to 20 kilometers away from their living areas. This is a very cruel act of the State against the rights of the affected women. Women have to travel along with their children incurring a very high travelling cost, which these families cannot afford at this juncture. Hence the State should immediately stop this inhuman procedure and supply these materials at their places of original living.

Psycho-social support should be provided to women taking onto consideration the specific needs of the women.

In Chennai city both in the relief camps and in the temporary dwelling of the tsunami victims toilet and bath facilities are not provided. This has put the women to great hardship especially the young adolescent girls. The temporary dwellings that are proposed by the State should address these needs of women and adolescent girls.

Child sexual abuse and domestic violence against women in some of the relief camps are being reported. Proper steps to be taken to ensure the imminent possibility of incidents of child-trafficking, especially children orphaned and women destituted, which would go unchecked and unnoticed if proper safe-guards are not taken immediately by the State.

There are women who are part of self help groups, through which they had obtained loans for running small scale business of buying and selling fish. Now as there is no fishing activity, these women are now facing the dilemma of not earning and hence not being able to pay the loan. Hence the State should ensure that these loans are waived with immediate effect.

The State should ensure education for all children especially girl children and disabled children, to prevent them from becoming child labourers and falling prey to child trafficking and other forms of abuse.

Women and Children are panicked and terrified by the widespread rumour that the tsunami would strike again on 26th Jan, 2005. The State should take urgent steps to dispel this myth by taking appropriate measures, giving wide publicity through print and electronic media.

Water sources in all these affected areas either the well or bore are contaminated due to intrusion of sea water caused by the tsunami. Hence there is an urgent need to reclaim these fresh water bodies immediately. Water has always been a responsibility on the women and women will be doubly burdened if the water sources are not immediately reclaimed on a war footing.

The compensation provided itself is a very meager amount while taking into consideration the loss incurred by these families. Hence there is a need for proper assessment of loss apart from the loss of life and accordingly compensation should be paid by the State after thorough assessment of loss.

The Commission should recommend the Government of India to take steps to become member of the Tsunami Monitoring Process to avoid such calamities in future.

It is well known that the loss could have been mitigated to a great extent by the Central and State Governments if proper precaution has been taken the respective governments. There was two & half to three hours gap before the tsunami struck the coast of Tamilnadu after it had struck Indonesia and there was one hour time after it struck Andaman and Nicobar islands. Within this time the State and Central Government should have ensured safety to the people and the property of those who are living on the coast. The failure on the part of the state machinery to protect the life and property of the people living on the coast has led to the devastation which is unprecedented. Women and Children were the worst affected by the Tsunami disaster, which is further aggravated by the State's failure to protect the coast and the fishing community in particular. This negligence on the part of the state machinery therefore imposes the responsibility on both the Governments to pay damages for the loss of life and property and dislocation in these families. Therefore we put across to you to suggest an appropriate compensation to be paid by the Central and State Governments to all these families with gender sensitivity apart from the compensation that has been announced.

Source: http://www.tsunami-india.org