Map of Tsunami affected areas -...

Map of Tsunami affected areas

0 250 500

kilometers

INDIAHUMAN LIFE LOST

1,000 to 7,000 500 to 1,000 100 to 500 10 to 50 0 to 10

Ernakulam

Allappuzha

Kollam

Kanyakumari

Tirunelveli

Thoothukudi

Tiruvarur

Karaikal

NagapattinamPondicherry

Villupuram

Kancheepuram

Thiruvallur

Nellore

ParkashamGuntur

Krishna

West Godavari

East Godavari

VisakhapatnamANDHRA PRADESH

PONDICHERRY

TAMIL NADU

KERALA

ANDAMAN &NICOBAR ISLANDS

TOLL: 107POP. AFFECTED: 196000





United Nations Team for Recovery Support

Apex Towers, 54, 2nd Main Road, R.A.Puram

Chennai 600 028

Tel: +91 44 42 303 551

e-mail: [email protected]

For more information about the UNTRS please contact:

Contents - Quarterly Report April 2006

We’d like to thank the following Donors: American India Foundation (AIF), Department for International Development of the United Kingdom (DFID), European Commission's Humanitarian Aid Department (ECHO), Ford Foundation, French Committee for UNICEF, Global Thematic Humanitarian Fund, Hong Kong Committee for UNICEF, Japan Government, United Nations Foundation (UNF) and United States Agency for International Development (USAID).

Editorial..........................................................................................................................page 41

Water & SanitationSource of health, source of sicknessSTORY: Access to clean water - essential beyond any emergency..........................page 5

2

Health & NutritionSurveillance of communicable diseasesBasic health care for people living in temporary shelters...........................................page 6

3

Psychosocial supportSupport for mind and soulAlcohol and substance abuse....................................................................................page 7

4

Livelihood

One stop shop............................................................................................................page 85

EducationEducational intervention in the Tsunami affected districtsTraining for Confidence.......................................................................................page 9

6

Shelter & HabitatDisaster resistant housingStudy for good practices............................................................................................page 10

7

Trafficking & HIV/AIDSHIV/AIDS high risk in the Tsunami affected areasSpecial programme for women and girls ..................................................................page 12

8

Disaster Risk ManagementLearning how to respond to and be prepared for disastersSeveral kinds of training to enhance preparednessSTORY: To rescue oneself and others......................................................................page 14

9

Policy supportCoordination and sharing of informationSTORY: Community Radio - Giving a voice to the voiceless...................................page 16

10

EnvironmentForgotten EnvironmentBetter use of the Coastal Zone Regulation...............................................................page 18

11

3

Editorial1p

ho

to: U

NT

RS

One and a half years have passed since a massive Tsunami struck the coastal areas of countries around the Indian Ocean. In India alone, over 12,000 people lost their lives and the destruction and damage of public and private property was enormous. An immediate joint assessment of the situation was conducted by the Government of India with the participation of the United Nations, the World Bank and the Asian Development Bank. From the beginning the Government of India successfully led the large scale relief and recovery efforts and with the help of an extraordinary international response a lot has been achieved during the past 18 months. Basic social services have been restored including the provision of psychosocial care to thousands of people to learn how to deal with the mental impact of

losing loved ones, losing property or by having gone through such a catastrophic event; livelihoods of fisherman and other affected groups were put back on track and immediate shelter has been provided to thousands of families, with the provision of permanent housing underway.

From the start, the United Nations Agencies worked closely together, formulating jointly an inter-agency response which is outlined in the UN Tsunami Recovery Framework 2005 - 2007. The UN agencies alone have since mobilized more than 46 million US dollars and have supported the relief efforts of the Indian Government in many key areas in order to build back better. Now, after 18 months, the work is shifting from the provision of emergency relief to long-term and sustainable development assistance. Still a lot has to be done and many of the recovery programmes are only gaining momentum now. Current UN joint programmes are addressing issues related to health and nutrition, HIV/AIDS and trafficking, policies to support permanent shelter, basic education, creation of durable livelihoods in the fisheries and non-fisheries sectors, water and sanitation and environmental protection. Basic human rights principles are applied to all areas of programming, such as ensuring social equity in order to avoid uneven distribution of the development benefits to different social groups. Another important area of work focuses on future disaster risk

management, aimed at building capacities of government and communities to mitigate the impact of future disasters. To keep reminding the world that supporting the affected population goes way beyond the immediate relief, the Secretary General of the United Nations, Kofi Annan, has appointed former US President William J. Clinton as the Special Envoy for Tsunami Rehabilitation. In February this year Eric Schwartz, Mr. Clintons Deputy, traveled to India to get an overall view about the recovery efforts and possible issues attached. Eric Schwartz visited temporary shelters in North Chennai where he was moved by the resilience of countless tsunami survivors who described how they had been uprooted from their homes on four separate occasions, first from the tsunami and then by

floods caused by the recent monsoons and finally by fires. He visited newly built permanent houses for a fisher

community in Devanapattinam, Cuddalore and met with NGO and UN officials working on ensuring that the rebuilding efforts in India are environmentally friendly. Speaking about India's efforts to launch an early warning system in July this year, Eric Schwartz said in a press statement: “One of the first lessons we learned from the tsunami is that early warning saves lives. I am very pleased that the Government of India is part of the region's commitment to ensuring that an effective regional early warning system is in place this summer. Equally important is the Government of India's implementation of a UNDP community based disaster preparedness program which targets 169 multi-hazard prone districts in 17 states, including Tamil Nadu,” he added.

A future to hold on to: Deputy Special Envoy Eric Schwartz(r.) and Gagandeep Singh Bedi, District Collector of Cuddalore, inspect the new house for this Tsunami affected family.

Introducing myself

I joined the UN team in Chennai as the UN Tsunami Coordinator early March 2006 and it is my role to guide the UN agencies during this transition phase, ensuring an efficient, effective and well coordinated implementation of the UN Tsunami Recovery Framework. All agencies currently still involved in the recovery work, including UNICEF, UNDP, FAO, ILO, WHO, UNESCO and UNFPA, continue this effort of joint programming, making best use of each agency's strengths, creating synergies, and reducing transaction costs.

Excellent cooperation with the Government and continued support of our donors has been very instrumental to the success of this process. This publication provides an update of the current state of UN's Tsunami recovery support to the Government of India. It outlines in greater detail what I have introduced above and I am sure you will find it useful and informative.

Thank you.

Pieter Bult, UN Coordinator UN Team for Recovery Support

.

4

people live in temporary shelters, like Minnalkodi. She was selected to motivate shelter residents towards positive water and sanitation as well as hygiene behaviour. In her community, she is responsible for 50 families. Her village, like others, has been badly hit by the Tsunami on December

th26 2004. But due to the fast response from the District, Government, the NGOs and the volunteers, the population in theaffected areas did not suffer from any diseasesor epidemics that could have been triggered by polluted water sources. Creating awareness

But clean water is essential beyond any emergency. The first affected by a lack of safe water are women and children. Therefore, UNICEF in collaboration with NGOs and the Government has launched a water and sanitation programme to provide safe water, to create good sanitary conditions and to promote hygiene practices in shelters, schools and homes. The training in Cuddalore is part of this programme and a hands-on training on 'water testing', using field water testing kits developed by the Tamil Nadu Water Supply and Drainage Board (TWAD). During the training, the participants are taught to interpret the 'water quality data'. Testing will be conducted once in three months. The participants will also ensure proper chlorination practice by the community or the local body, creating awareness among the public and take joint efforts to maintain the quality of water and prevent outbreak of waterborne diseases. Says Minnalkodi: “This training is 90 percent effective. I will now go and use my new knowledge in my village. Then it will be 100 percent effective”.

.

.

Water and Sanitation2

U P D A T E

S T O R Y

SOURCE OF HEALTH, SOURCE OF SICKNESS

designed to provide safe drinking water to families in interim shelters, schools as well as the so-called Integrated Child Development Services (ICDS) centres. Quantity and quality of water available to families in shelters has to improve and the access to sanitary toilets in interim shelters, schools and ICDS centres need to be guaranteed. Other goals are to establish solid and liquid waste management systems in temporary shelters and to improve hygiene education in shelters, homes, schools and ICDS centres.To reach these objectives, shelter-based activities, school sanitation as well as hygiene education and promotion have been implemented in 92 shelters in seven Tsunami affected districts and schools.

Water is the source of wellbeing and of sickness alike. When the Tsunami struck, the ground water was polluted and spoiled by sea water. Clean water sources and sanitary,

hygienic conditions are vital for good health. Hence, UNICEF is active in the matter of water, sanitation and hygiene. The goal of the water and sanitation programme in the Tsunami relief and recovery is to create a safe environment for children and significantly reduce the risk of waterborne diseases like diarrhoea, which are spread by contaminated water and unsanitary conditions. Activities were

ph

oto

: U

NT

RS

Water: a precious commodity

ACCESS TO CLEAN WATER - ESSENTIAL BEYOND ANY EMERGENCY

A training supported by UNICEF in Cuddalore district enables participants to learn how to monitor the quality of water in their respective home towns and villages.

Mrs. Chandrika, the assistant water analyst of the Tamil Nadu Water Supply and Training Support holds up a small plastic container with water. She asks people in the class room: “How's the colour? Is the water pure? Does it smell?” About 50 men and women are present on this day in March 2006. They have come to attend the training programme on water quality testing, monitoring and its impact on health status in Tsunami affected villages in Cuddalore distr ict . The part ic ipants are representatives from NGO partners, coordinators of rural development as well as health inspectors from primary health centres in their respective towns. There are also volunteers from villages where

.

ph

oto

: U

NT

RS

Learning how to test and monitor water quality

5

SURVEILLANCE OF COMMUNICABLE DISEASES

3

U P D A T E

The Tsunami affected health infrastructure considerably. Primary Health Centres and Sub-centres (peripheral health care facilities in the rural areas of districts run by the Government) were damaged by the seawater. In Nagapattinam, for example, a district hospital was severely damaged, including facilities for obstetric care and management of obstetric complications. Nearly 65 childcare centres - known as Anganwadi centres, or AWCs - were destroyed and 43 were partially damaged. The UN agencies supported Government efforts in the shelters for the Tsunami affected. In the immediate aftermath UNICEF in collaborationwith WHO provided measles vaccination and

vitamin A to 103,629 children. In an emergency situation, the surveillance of communicable diseases is one of the most important activities. An Operations Room at the India Country Office of the World Health Organisation in New Delhi was in continuous contact with the surveillance teams at the District level in the affected States.

WHO had established Disease Surveillance Units in the four most-affected districts of Tamil Nadu to keep a close watch on the disease pattern. In addition, another eight Disease Surveillance Units were established at district level in Andhra Pradesh, Pondicherry and Kerala.

N E W S

BASIC HEALTH CARE FOR PEOPLE LIVING IN TEMPORARY SHELTERS

ph

oto

: U

NT

RS

ph

oto

: U

NT

RSAfter the relief phase, one of the main issues is to provide basic health care

to the people still living in temporary shelters. As the timeline for the reconstruction of damaged houses is uncertain, the affected population will be residing in temporary shelters for an extended period. The need therefore, is to strengthen the provision of basic healthcare services, by strengthening the outreach services. Provision of basic sanitation, vector

control (measures to control the carriers of disease organisms, such as mosquitoes and houseflies,which help in the spread of diseases.) and water quality monitoring are also crucial. Support is being provided by WHO to strengthen the outreach services by supporting the visits of mobile healthcare teams and introducing the use of drugs as per the Indian System of Medicine (ISM), in the districts of Cuddalore and Nagapattinam in Tamil Nadu. Technical assistance has also been provided to district authorities in order to strengthen monitoring of drinking water quality, hygiene education and waste management in Nagapattinam, Kanyakumari and Karaikal. The state is renovating the damaged District Hospital, Primary Health Centres and HSCs, and is replacing lost equipment and other amenities with support from the National Calamity Relief Fund, Health System Development Project, RCH II program, UNFPA and UNICEF.

Healthy food is essential for children's well being

A play to promote breast feeding

Health and Nutrition

A major innovation in the Tsunami hit areas of Andaman and Nicobar has been the selection and training of 1748 community-based childcare centre (Anganwadi) volunteers to support Anganwadi workers in delivering grass root level nutrition services and in identifying children who have not been reached. UNICEF provided weighing scales, growth charts, height measuring boards and play material to 878 centres.

NUTRITIONAL SITUATION IN ANDAMAN & NICOBAR ISLANDS

http://www.unicef.org

L I N K

6

Psychosocial Support4

U P D A T E

SUPPORT FOR MIND AND SOUL

In response to the adverse mental impact on many people due to the loss of close relatives and damages to personal property, UN agencies developed an effective response for providing psychosocial support to the affected population. With the technical assistance of WHO and the

support of UNFPA, USAID as well as UNDP, a psychosocial monitoring cell has been established in the Department of Social Welfare of the Government of Tamil Nadu. The strategy for strengthening referral linkages has been developed by the Department of Social Welfare and the Department of Health and Family Welfare in collaboration with the WHO and UNDP. This will facilitate better and faster attention to the persons referred by the psychosocial workers who need medical care for their psychological problems. A total of 151,424 individuals had been provided psychosocial first aid by Dec. 2005 through 2813 Volunteers trained through the above initiative

Play to regain confidence

1000 volunteers and 1300 teachers have been trained by UNICEF to reach out to over 300 villages and are now being streamlined to include child protection issues. In Tamil Nadu, the programme is estimated to have benefited, through its various components, approximately 80000 children, whereas in Kerala, the programme reached out to approximately 15000 children. In Tamil Nadu, in the

recent past, distribution of over 1055 play kits was undertaken through Nehru Yuva Kendra (NYK) and they are being used in community level play activities.After school, play activities are conducted in nearly 175 villages by trained NYK volunteers. Programmes such as children's theatre, painting workshops and puppet shows also continue to be conducted to supplement the initiatives aimed at addressing psychosocial care issues. Currently, efforts to streamline psychosocial care programme with NYK is being made by way of focusing on a limited number of villages, being covered under the present project, and building the volunteers capacities on Child Protection issues. The volunteers are being orientated on Child Protection issues. Further intensive training is being planned.

Focus on child protection

Training of Volunteers on Child Protection issues is going to be the focus in the present quarter. Plans for training youth volunteers associated with the NGO, Nehru Yuva Kendra (NYK) on psychosocial issues and child protection issues is planned.The focus of the programme is on building the capacities of NYK to address Child Protection issues. Preparations are also made for organising life skills programmes in a limited number of villages as supplement to psychosocial care programme.

ALCOHOL AND SUBSTANCE ABUSE

N E W S

Projects aimed at psychosocial interventions to address alcohol and substance abuse for special groups

(including adults and adolescents) in Tsunami affected populations are going to be supported by WHO in

Tamil Nadu, Andhra Pradesh and Kerala in the years 2006 and 2007.

ph

oto

: U

NT

RS

Performing for others can help to regain confidence in oneself

ph

oto

: U

NT

RS

Dancing at a child centre in Cuddalore

7

Livelihood5

U P D A T E

ONE STOP SHOP

welfare measures, weatherforecasts as well as agricultural pricing and more. With the support from ILO sub-regional Office for South Asia, the Indian National Rural Labour Federation has constructed VTCs cum Workers Information Centre (WIC) at Tharagambadi in the District of Nagapattinam. Another VTC cum Workers Information Centre was constructed by the Centre of Indian Trade Union at Kulasekaram in the southern District of Kanyakumari.

Decorative objects made by women of a self help group

ph

oto

: U

NT

RS

ph

oto

: U

NT

RS

Efforts to rebuild livelihood are inclusive, and target all the coastal communities, whether directly or indirectly, dependant on the fishing occupation. Measures to revive the local economy are essential in this context, so that activities aimed at the restoration of livelihoods take place in a sustainable way. In the recent months, various efforts have taken place within the affected communities. A joint project of ILO and the International Confederation of Free Trade Unions-Asia Pacific Regional Organisation is a vocational training, where 40 Tsunami affected students are trained in Desk Top Publishing at the Small Industries Service Institute in Chennai.Two Vocational Training Centres (VTCs) were inaugurated on March 2006 in the Tsunami affected districts. The objective of the VTCs is to organise need-based vocational training and skill development programmes for the affected people in and around all the districts. The venues should also be “one stop shops” for the workers to gather information regarding Government schemes,

L I N K

ALTERNATIVE EMPLOYMENT

The construction of the VCTs is, on the one hand, part of the overall strategy to make the resource base for the fishing occupation more sustainable by reducing the current over fishing and improving practices. On the other hand, it should relieve the pressure on the fishermen community by encouraging them to find alternative employment.

A busy day in the harbour

http://www.ilo.org/public/english/region/asro/newdelhi/news/tsunami.htm

8

Education6U P D A T E

One of the important issues for children, who were affected by the Tsunami, is regaining their confidence. The life skill training does exactly this. The topics, which are covered in such training, concentrate on goal setting, self confidence, time management and other topics. In a recent training held in Nagapattinam

th thDistrict between March 28 to 30 2006 a special focus was given on Child Rights and HIV-awareness. The changes in the confidence level of the children were visible by the end of the three days training. During interaction with students, it was interesting to note that the goals set by most of the students were specific. The girls felt, even if they were forced to discontinue their studies, they will convince their parents to allow them to continue their studies, thus achieving their goal. The students and teachers were equally enthusiastic about the programme. Plans are underway to take this training, particularly to the girl students, in the Tsunami affected districts.

TRAINING FOR CONFIDENCE

N E W S

EDUCATIONAL INTERVENTION IN THE TSUNAMI AFFECTED DISTRICTS

The Tsunami destroyed and damaged 360 Primary and Secondary schools in all the affected states. Based on the assessment of damages caused to the educational infrastructure, UN agencies supported the Government in restoring normalcy in children's lives through timely re-opening and furnishing of schools. With the support of UNICEF, 274 schools were supplied with adequate furniture. The students as well as teachers in the schools feel that the furniture enables them to perform better. The teachers were trained in reading skills, whereas the children were provided with appropriate supplementary reading material. In all the 13 districts in Tamil Nadu, affected by the Tsunami, the Government is reconstructing the damaged schools. In March 2006 life skills training (see box below) for girls were held in the District of Nagapattinam. 50 girls from 7 schools were selected to attend this pilot programme.

Another consequence of the Tsunami is the fact that children seem to drop out of school more often than before. During an enrolment campaign launched by the Government with the support of UNICEF, more than 2000 children were identified as school dropouts. This is a much higher figure than the previous year's - which was 628. Therefore, immediate measures had to be taken.

Trained to go back to school

In the so-called “Bridge Course Centres” the school dropouts are trained for 10 months in order to be able to go back to regular schools. 31 of these centres will be supported by UNICEF and the others by the Government. In other Tsunami affected districts, the Government Education Department is running the Bridge Course Centres. The teachers of these centres were trained in activity-based methodologies of teaching to cater to multi-grade levels among children, as dropouts are not of the same age and have different educational backgrounds.

ph

oto

: U

NIC

EF

Students using supplementary reading material

9

Shelter and Habitat 7

Tamil Nadu, one of the worst hit states in the Tsunami, has the mammoth challenge of constructing approximately 45,892 permanent houses for the displaced, affected community as quickly as possible. To resettle the affected, the Government formulated a housing policy, under which permanent shelters are to be built through public-private partnerships respecting the Coastal Regulation Zone Notification, which establishes norms for resettlement in coastal areas depending on their distance from the high tide line and their ecological or historical importance. The rehabilitation process has entered a crucial stage with

the publication of the technical guidelines forconstruction of permanent shelter and habitat by the Government of Tamil Nadu The housing policy envisages Rs. 150,000 (US$ 3340) per house with a built up area of 300 to 325 sq. ft. The Government of Tamil Nadu has also provided technical guidelines for the construction of disaster resistant houses for the executing agencies and organisations. In the next stage, 43,000 houses are planned to be constructed with owner driven approach. The latest figures regarding the construction efforts in all the affected districts in the State of Tamil Nadu are as follows:

DISASTER RESISTANT HOUSING

Balance (under various stages)

District Taken up Completed Handed over

Chennai

Cuddalore

Kancheepuram

Kanyakumarii

Nagapattinam

Thoothukud

Tirunelveli

Tiruvallur

Viluppuram

3592

2323

4242

2521

17461

781

1778

468

1880

35046

2200

758

----

934

603

-----

4

468

317

5284

-----

407

96

494

475

-----

-----

-----

-----

1472

392

1158

4146

1093

16383

781

1774

-----

1563

28290

Source, Gov. of Tamil Nadu, March 2006

While UNDP has intensified the capacity building programme by taking up training programmes through resource agencies and technical experts, the prime objectives of UNDP are to:

! Promote appropriate disaster resistant building technologies in the Tsunami affected area.

! Strengthen the capacities of key stakeholders of the building sectors masons, supervisors, engineers, NGOs, through training and orientation programmes.

! Contribute policy level inputs by developing

technical guidelines, mainstreaming of disaster

resistant features, quality control system,

insurance mechanism in housing policy and retain

memory and skill by building the capacity of

community level institutions.

! Support the shelter reconstruction effort by

knowledge networking and access to information

and resource.

Prime objectives

U P D A T E

10

Apart from the sheer magnitude of the number of houses to be built, the problem is also compounded by the low-lying layout of the available land and the constraint of distances to which the worst affected, i.e., the fishermen, can be moved without adversely affecting their livelihoods. The only solution is to ensure that the constructions, be it new or retrofittings, follow stringent safety- and quality-norms recommended by the experts and advocated by the State Administration.

With construction in full swing in all the affected districts, it was felt that a study has to be done to understand the field level practices, approaches and compliance with the technical guidelines. UNDP and the NGO Coordination Centre in Nagapattinam with cooperation from the State Administration as well as NGOs have jointly launched this study. The purpose of the study is to find, highlight, compile and share among the key stakeholders involved in the reconstruction, various issues and good practices, which are of immense importance during the shelter reconstruction process to improve, modify, change or follow the strategy for larger benefit of the society. The study will assess a sample of habitations to look at various technical and community issues, planning, technical, low lying sites, public buildings, water and sanitation and retrofitting aspects and advocate by sharing the information and findings, to improve, revisit earlier understandings and, if necessary, restrategise and replicate good practices. The study is currently being undertaken in 32 sample habitations in the districts of Nagapattinam, Cuddalore and Viluppuram.

STUDY FOR GOOD PRACTICES

N E W S

S T O R Y

NEW TECHNOLOGIES FOR HAZARD RESISTANT BUILDINGS

Mason training programme on safe building construction, has been taken up by UNDP with resource organisations like Gandhigram Rural Institute and COSTFORD.

The shelter core team formed at the Tamil Nadu Tsunami Resource Centre (TNTRC) platform with representatives from NGOs and State Government have taken up issues pertaining to shelter reconstruction, insurance in shelter reconstruction, quality assurance mechanism, issues in low lying areas. Orientation and training programme for engineers are being taken up periodically at state and district level.

ph

oto

: U

NT

RS

A crucial task: Building permanent shelters

A good initiative is the joint partnership of UNDP and the Auroville Earth Institute to promote alternative building material, with incorporation of disaster resistant features.

A multipurpose community hall has been constructed at the village of Bommayapalayam in Viluppuram district. The Technology Demonstration Unit has demonstrated use of cement stabilised earth blocks as an alternative building material, to the commonly used energy consuming reinforced concrete frame and fired brick masonry. A dozen workers from the local village have been trained on the job. They learned about stabilised rammed earth foundation, laying interlocking Compressed Stabilised Earth Blocks (CSEB) with all features for disaster resistance. The multipurpose hall, designed and executed by the Auroville Earth Institute will be used as a community centre and the model house will be used as an office for the Panchayat (local Government).Bommayapalayam: a community centre

built with hazard resistant technologies

ph

oto

: U

NT

RS

11

Trafficking and HIV/AIDS8

In times of crisis, the erosion of social safety nets

leads to an increased vulnerability of women,

children and adolescent girls in particular. A high

prevalence of HIV/AIDS is anticipated in the Tsunami

affected areas. However, even before the Tsunami,

the prevalence of HIV/AIDS in the affected states

was considered among the highest in India by the

National AIDS Control Program (NACP). Already in

2003, Districts in Tamil Nadu and Andhra Pradesh

have been identified as high prevalence Districts.

Among the general population the prevalence rates

are ranking from 0.13% in Pondicherry to 1.25% in

Andhra Pradesh. The figures stem from antenatal

consultations data in sentinel surveillance sites. It is

generally considered that a rate above 1% indicates

a generalised epidemic.

U P D A T E

HIV/AIDS HIGH RISK IN THE TSUNAMI AFFECTED AREAS

When HIV/AIDS was stated as moving from the high risk groups to the general population, sentinel studies revealed that younger people were among the high risk groups. The children and in particular, young and adolescent girls, are the most vulnerable groups and disasters increase the risk for their exploitation and abuse. As a preventive measure, a School AIDS Education Programme (SAEP) has been implemented by Tamil Nadu State Aids Control Society and the Directorate of Teachers Education, Research and Training. This started a few years ago. In the beginning of 2006, 250 key resource persons of the faculty in the District Institute of Education and Training (DIET) were trained. Subsequently, 2633 head of institutions, 5908 teachers and 5930 peer educators were also trained. Implementation of the programme was started in Private and Matriculation schools. The training of the

teachers on life skills and HIV/AIDS was provided by the Directorate of Teacher Education Research and Training (DTERT). Advocacy and sensitisation programmes were conducted for headmasters and the role of Parent Teachers Association was emphasised.The trained teachers conducted life skills education sessions after school, on Wednesdays and Thursdays. Students in classes 9 and 11 underwent a minimum of 14 hours of life skills education according to the guidelines of the National Aids Control Organisation (NACO).

Books and posters were designed and a list of frequently asked questions was put together. All these documents were printed and supplied to all the schools to support the programme.

In the Tsunami districts, so far, 24188 young people who are between 12 and 20 years old, were sensitised on HIV/AIDS.

Young people particularly vulnerable

TABLE: HIV PREVALENCE RATES IN PERCENT (National Aids Control Organisation, 2003)

Tamil Nadu

Pondicherry

Andhra Pradesh

Kerala

Andaman & Nicobar

0.75

0.13

1.25

0.33

0.50

9.2

2.6

19.6

4.0

1.6

8.8

n/a

19.4

2.2

n/a

63.8

n/a

n/a

n/a

n/a

General Population(Antenatal Consultations)

Female Sex Workers (FSW)

Injecting Drug Users (IDUs)

Sexually Transmitted Diseases (STD) Patients Consultations

12

SPECIAL PROGRAMME FOR WOMEN AND GIRLS

Nearly half the people living with HIV/AIDS in India are women and the number is expected to rise further, as a result of trafficking. The project titled 'Prevention of Trafficking and HIV/AIDS in Women and Girls' (TAHA) has been launched jointly by the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), National Aids Control Organisation (NACO) and Department of Women and Child Development (DWCD) of the Government with support from Department for International Development (DFID). The project has been launched in view of the fact that an estimated 5.1 million people are living with HIV in India, needing immediate attention to the root causes that heighten the vulnerability of women and girls to trafficking and HIV. These are poverty, gender discrimination and unsafe mobility. The project is implemented in 11 states in India. The UN recovery team will work in close coordination with the TAHA team in the Tsunami affected states for the prevention of trafficking and to provide care and support to the affected. Considering that the focal point in the recovery

ndteam for the Trafficking and HIV/AIDS project has been in place from the 2 March '06, the activities will now be accelerated. The focus of the recovery team in addition to the awareness, medical support and sensitisation will be to set up sustainable livelihood models for the vulnerable groups as well as the survivors of trafficking in the Tsunami affected districts.

N E W S

ph

oto

: U

NT

RS

Training session in Tamil Nadu: To empower women and raising awareness is essential

13

9

U P D A T E

LEARNING HOW TO RESPOND TO AND BE PREPARED FOR DISASTERS

The Disaster Management (DRM) programme aims at institutionalising disaster risk management into all development activities and is presently being implemented in six districts of the state of Tamil Nadu. It is a Government of India (GoI) initiative with technical and manpower support from the UNDP.

Generating awareness

Of the various initiatives taken, one is to build up and institutionalise the early warning systems at all levels in the state administration, the communities and within other stakeholders in all the Tsunami affected districts.

This should lead to an increased awareness and hence, build up the capacity of generators, transmitters and the ultimate receptors of early warning messages alike and ultimately, help the community to respond in the best possible manner. The p resen t r i sk assessment methodologies have to be studied in order to come up with an adequate solution for each state. A database, called IndisData, collects all information on all disasters and their impact in India from 1975 onwards. IndisData will be an important tool to assess potential risk areas and will help to develop the planning of disaster risk management.

Emergency plan drawn up by inhabitants of a village in Tamil Nadu

Ph

oto

: U

NT

RS

Disaster Risk Management

SEVERAL KINDS OF TRAINING TO ENHANCE PREPAREDNESSAs a part of the DRM programme, training of trainers for National Cadet Corps/National Service Scheme is being organised. So far, about 300 people have been trained in the role that the cadets can play in disaster management and response - like providing immediate relief after disasters, as well as in generating awareness and building up capacity as part of disaster preparedness initiatives. A one-day consultation workshop for identifying suitable technological options for early warning dissemination was organised in April 2006 in Chennai. Participants for the workshop ranged from Government officials, representatives from Indian Meteorological Department, the Bharat Sanchar Nigam Limited, State’s run phone company, satellite radio operators, community radio operators and civil defence, to representatives of the disaster management teams. A meeting, in March 2006, outlined the objectives of the IndisData project. Nodal institutes as well as nodal persons were identified and the role of each of them regarding the development and the sustainability of the project has been defined. This meeting was attended by representatives from several governmental departments like the Fire and Rescue Service, the Department of Geology and Mines, the Forest Department, the National Informatics Centre, the Indian Meteorological Department, the Indian Institute of Technology in Chennai and more. Two national UN Volunteers are involved in the data collection work.

N E W S

14

World Vision Cuddalore Tsunami Rehabilitation Project. The Government, in Cuddalore is aware of the necessity to train its people - hence their presence during the mock drill. Says M. S. Shanmugam: “The first minutes in a disaster are crucial, so if people know how to react, many lives can be saved”. Cuddalore District already has a good example of a community who have been trained in disaster preparedness even before the

Tsunami: Samiyarpettai. Thanks to the training, this community was able to save many lives when the Tsunami hit. The death toll remained under 20. Today it is the turn of the people of Thazhanguda. The coastal village with 1897 inhabitants lost 35 people and 128 to the lethal waves.

Developing a disaster preparedness plan

In the training, they learn on how fire hazards, floods and other natural disasters affect the community and how to react appropriately. An assessment is conducted with the community, using participatory learning methods and action exercises; they learn about the history of disasters, map the resources already present in the community and draw up seasonality calendars to define hazard prone months. All the information gathered is analysed by the community members and a community-based disaster preparedness plan is developed. In the end, a group of young men is trained in actual rescue action. Rajavel, one of the volunteers says that it is very inspiring to follow the training: “When the Tsunami came, we couldn't save people. Now we know how to do it”. But two days' training will not do the trick. As Mr. Jayakumar says, “Awareness is not built in one day. A training of this sort needs to be repetitive”. So in six months' time, the villagers of Thazhanguda will face another training programme and learn more about roping, crawling, running for safe places and saving their own lives and the lives of others.

TO RESCUE ONESELF AND OTHERS

A two-day community-based disaster preparedness training in the coastal village of Thazhanguda in Cuddalore District leaves villagers with more confidence on how to cope with future disasters.

S T O R Y

It is in the blazing sun of mid afternoon on a hot day in Thazhanguda that young men with bright red bandanas climb the roof of a building to rescue

people in distress. They rope them down to safer ground. They put them on a stretcher and run for the ambulance; they lift them on their shoulders to bring them to a protected place and they crawl in the sand to rescue the injured, lying helplessly on the ground. There is no emergency as such. This is a mock drill performed in the presence of Gagandeep Singh Bedi, the District Collector and M. S. Shanmugam, District Revenue Officer, Relief and Rehabilitation of Cuddalore in Tamil Nadu. The drill is part of a two-day community-based disaster preparedness training organised by World Vision India, in coordination with the Government of India and the Disaster Risk Management programme of UNDP. The goal of this training is to show what can and must be done if a disaster strikes. But it also should build up confidence and knowledge in the local population. “Each person must know how to rescue themselves and possibly, others”, explains Mr. Jayakumar, Disaster Preparedness Coordinator of

Ph

oto

: U

NT

RS

Saving people in emergencies has to be trained more than once

Children observing mock drill training

Ph

oto

: U

NT

RS

Mapping of hazard prone months in the sand

Ph

oto

: U

NT

RS

15

TNTRC through Memorandums of Understanding. In the next phase, attempts are made to establish information and knowledge network Centres in the fol lowing Distr icts: Chennai, Cuddalore, Kancheepuram, Tirunelveli, Thoothukudi and others.

Information technology for villages

thThe Indian Ocean Tsunami of 26 December has exposed the vulnerabilities of coastal populations of South India in general and fisher-communities in particular. It was instrumental for many civil society organisations in re-examining options for empowering these communities. In particular, the use of Information Technology (IT) kiosks in the context of development of these communities has been explored by several agencies, including UNDP. The immediate objective now is to set up IT kiosks and upgrade existing Village Information Centres (VICs). Information Technology infrastructure, including equipment like hardware, software and telephone connections for internet access, has to be introduced and training in computer and internet use has to be given by and for the rural communities. The ICT kiosks would be linked with the district recovery centres and exchange of information would take place. The assessment in the post-Tsunami period also has underscored the need for community participation and a platform that enables them to share and receive information. Therefore, a community radio system is being set up in Nagapattinam district as a pilot project (see story next page). Through this, a community communications system is developed and implemented, which then provides a platform for information dissemination, awareness building and education for Nagapattinam and its nearby areas. Apart from this, the community radio should empower women and give them a voice too.

COORDINATION AND SHARING OF INFORMATION

Policy Support 10

U P D A T E

The United Nations was requested by various NGOs to take on the responsibility to facilitate coordination among stakeholders. As a result, Tamil Nadu Tsunami Resource Centre (TNTRC) was set up in August 2005 and has been functioning successfully, as an example of best practice. TNTRC provides a forum for stakeholders in Tsunami rehabilitation and reconstruction, and assists them to have joint strategies to build partnerships and to coordinate in various sectors. Ultimately, the TNTRC's activities

should aim at enhancing the quality of life of the affected population in Tamil Nadu. Some major outputs of the first quarter of the year are:

Development of strategic plans for the year with guiding principles.

Sectoral core group meetings conducted for child focus, shelter, water and sanitation and livelihood. One such meeting on shelter and habitat, brought to light the problems related to flooding in permanent shelters. Another meeting resulted indissemination of environmental friendly sanitation models at Cuddalore for permanent shelters through a workshop.

Preparatory work has been done for upcoming resource centres in four districts (see below)

The focus on the Newsletter changed from a general information bulletin to a tool for use.

Upgrading on the website, proactive information was done and an e-news letter was published.

Support is also being provided to district level resource centres, like the NGO Coordination and Resource Centre (NCRC), Nagapattinam, the Kanyakumari Rehabilitation and Resource Centre (KRRC) and the NGO Coordination and Knowledge Resource Centre (NCKRC), Auroville. These resource centres are formally networked with

!

!

!

!

!

ph

oto

: T

NT

RC

TNTRC: coordinating actors active in tsunami recovery

NCRC: one of the district level coordination centres

ph

oto

: U

NT

RS

16

Tools for policy support

The networking of the resource centres is being complemented with a web-based ICT solution, developed by UNDP in partnership with Price Waterhouse Coopers that captures damages, needs, resources available, potential partnerships and the gaps to be addressed. The database would be fed into the resource centres and would facilitate information exchange, coordination and synergies among the civil society partners, the Government agencies, bilateral and multilateral agencies.

This system will also facilitate the capturing of the scale and variety of the delivered and ongoing relief work. It will track delivery, and monitor various schemes of the Government towards recovery and rehabilitation efforts. Coordination between Civil

. Society Organisations (CSO), as well as the Government Organisation and the CSOs, can hence be established. Use of local language is being ensured. Through this tool, beneficiaries - affected and eligible individuals, families, communities and socio-economic groups as well as the benefits given to them can be tracked. Ownership of the solution resides with the Department of Revenue Administration and Disaster Management & Mitigation in Tamil Nadu, which would ensure effective partnership with the other departments at the state, district and block level as well as institutions of local governance such as the panchayats and munic ipal i t ies and non-governmental agencies collaborating with the recovery efforts.

Community radio is a relatively new concept in the Ind ian In fo rmat ion and Communica t ion Technology. It is so far not as established as that of IT kiosks or Village Information Centres. Up to now, it has remained a little bit of an orphan child with much potential. In this regard, UNDP has taken the lead and decided to replicate already existing community radio projects in three places in Tamil Nadu. UNDP entered into an agreement with Voices, the organisation which had already implemented the community radio project in a place called Budhikote. Voices should provide technical and implementation support, whereas Aid India, an NGO, is going to be responsible for running the programme on a daily basis and to provide ground level support in implementation.

Initially anxious

Community Radio should be run by volunteers and can be spread through cables with the aid of loudspeakers, which are placed at meeting points in the local community. The volunteers are trained in interviewing skills, in generating locally relevant content, as well as in audio recording and other relevant tasks. Thus community radio enables people to generate content, in their language, for their own benefit. So far, seven volunteers from Nagapattinam have been selected. It was interesting to see how the volunteers were initially anxious of all the technology and slowly got

.

.

themselves familiarised and proved their skills in the two-day hands-on training programme that was conducted in Budhikote. The programme is likely to go on air in June. Topics to be spread through community radios will vary from information about disaster management, development related issues, medicinal plants, organic farming to programmes for school children or entertainment programmes, as well as counselling for victims. The entire control and generation of content rests with the community, who are best equipped to know the needs of their own community..The project gives voice to the voiceless, especially to those who have been less heard and have so far never been a part of any mainstream media.

COMMUNITY RADIO: GIVING A VOICE TO THE VOICELESS

S T O R Y

Ph

oto

: A

id In

dia

Volunteers are trained to reach out to the community

Find out more about the different resource centres in Tamil Nadu on www.tntrc.org or www.ncrc.in or http://www.krrc.in or http://www.auroville.org/tsunami/projects/knowledge_centre.htm

L I N K

17

11

U P D A T E

FORGOTTEN ENVIRONMENT

No chance for crops to grow: plots ruined by salt water

The December 2004 earthquake and Tsunami had unprecedented consequences for human populations and natural systems on coasts and islands across the Indian Ocean. The coastline of India was seriously affected. While State Governments , a long wi th Nat iona l and International agencies, have been working to restore the livelihoods and rebuild better shelters for the communities living along the coast, there have been, so far, few attempts to understand the impact of this event on natural marine and near-shore ecosystems. There is currently no relevant information on the present status and the prospects, as well as on the status of human communities, dependant on these natural areas for their livelihoods. There is a need to focus more closely, on the mid- to long-term consequences of rehabilitation efforts on the natural resilience of social and ecological systems along the coast. Hence, in early March 2006, UNDP has initiated detailed assessments as well as s tudies with regional institutions to address the long-term security and sustainability of the coastal areas, specifically affected by the Tsunami. .

ph

oto

: U

NT

RS

This artificial sand dune will become a natural protection in time

ph

oto

: U

NT

RS

Environment

18

N E W S

BETTER USE OF THE COASTAL ZONE REGULATION

managed. The report has been finalised and will be released shortly. The findings of the review will help to engage stakeholders and authorities to a better notification on CRZ that takes into account the needs of the coastal communities and environment. It has the potential to strengthen the legal framework for coastal policies and coastal zone management, particularly in the Tsunami affected states.

As part of UNDP initiative in this sector, a review of the report prepared by the Expert Committee headed by M.S. Swaminathan on the Coastal Regulation Zone (CRZ) was commissioned. This was necessitated as the interpretation and implementation of the recommendations provided in this report would have significant impacts on the way the coastal areas would be legislated over and

The scope of the environmental study

One of the ongoing studies aims at providing a comprehensive assessment of the state of coastal environments in Tsunami affected districts; an analysis of impacts on ecosystem-derived livelihoods and an assessment of crucial gaps in knowledge. This will be achieved using extensive field-based assessments, where experts map the various ecosystems and carry out detailed analysis to document the changes of these ecosystems over the last several years. Furthermore, stakeholders are invited to specific workshops to understand the needs and demands of the coastal zone in terms of livelihood as well as sustainability. All efforts when combined would lead to a report of the current state of the coastal habitats, particularly along the Tsunami affected areas. This is part of a proposed longer-term programme that aims to understand coastal vulnerability and resilience in the face of extreme natural events within the Indian context and will establish participatory ecological and community monitoring systems, critically analyse developmental policy with respect to the coast and develop management models for key sites along the coast. In addition, the environmental sustainability dimension will be integrated with livelihood restoration activities supported by the UN Country Team, both in the fisheries and non-fisheries sectors. Some of the expected outputs of the studies are: .

Water flowing through drainage that had to be cleaned after the tsunami

ph

oto

: U

NT

RS

!

!

!

!

!

!

!

An analysis of ecological and socio-economic losses incurred in the Tsunami affected states on the Indian mainland based data collection, which will also establish the required baselines to assess the socio-ecological impact of the Tsunami.

A detailed gap analysis of socio-ecological impact assessments done in the Tsunami affected states.

Identification of critical marine and near-shore ecosystems and a rapid assessment of their present ecological status.

Identification of sites that require urgent attention for ecological restoration and/or monitoring and livelihood reconstruction.

A preliminary analysis of post-Tsunami ecosystem-derived livelihoods with particular emphasis on fisheries.

An assessment of changes in ecosystem-derived livelihood patterns as a result of the Tsunami.

A preliminary analysis of recovery efforts with potential implications for ecosystems, ecosystem-derived livelihoods and socio-ecological resilience.

19

It is a normal weekday morning on some beach in Nagapattinam, one of the worst affected districts

in Tamil Nadu by the Tsunami in 2004. Women are going about their business and so are the men:

they are competing in catching what little fish is left in the sea. Even before the Tsunami, the catch

was going down. Immediately after the gigantic waves, fishermen dreaded going to sea for about

three months. Now fishing is returning to normal but the catch remains more uncertain than ever.

TOO LITTLE FISH IN THE SEA

photo: UNTRS

picture story

Map of Tsunami affected areas -...

Documents

Transcript of Map of Tsunami affected areas -...