The Hindu : Tamil Nadu News : Central team coming tomorrow

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Monday, Jan 03, 2005

Tamil Nadu

Tamil Nadu

Central team coming tomorrow

By V. Jayanth

— Photo: S. R. Raghunathan

A week after they were evacuated, Tsunami - hit residents of the Pulicat island return home.

CHENNAI, JAN. 2. A week has gone by since the tsunami struck the coast. Bodies are still being recovered from the debris. The death toll climbed to 7,793 today and the count is not over, particularly in Nagapattinam, where decomposed bodies continue to be unearthed from a couple of ravaged villages. The toll in Nagapattinam district alone was 5,905 this evening.

With another Central team visiting the State on Tuesday, the authorities are busy preparing another memorandum. But the unprecedented disaster of December 26 has thrown up several challenges and the key decisions have to be taken before the Tamil Nadu Government proceeds with the main task of rehabilitation.

Though a movement away from relief centres has begun, the Government has to decide when to wind up camps and enable the affected families to restart their lives in villages. Senior officials, working on the relief programme and preparing for the Central team's visit, seem to be preoccupied with the sensitive issue of housing.

"Preliminary estimates show that at least one lakh houses have been washed away by the giant waves. We have to decide when, where and how we should build permanent houses for the victims of the tragedy. But in the meanwhile, we might have to go in for temporary shelters. We must decide where to put up these shelters and who is going to take charge. To what extent can we utilise voluntary agencies and non-governmental organisations is another call we have to take," a senior official told The Hindu .

The Chief Minister, Jayalalithaa, will hold on Monday a meeting of senior Ministers and officials involved in relief and rehabilitation. Based on discussions and reports from the affected districts, she is expected to provide a final shape to the larger rehabilitation scheme that the Tamil Nadu Government will present to the Centre for assistance.

Officials say that the Rs. 250-crore relief announced by the Centre is only the first instalment, a kind of advance. The State will present a detailed report to the team, which is expected to make its own assessment of the damage and the essentials to provide assistance on an emergency basis.

A series of crises

Tamil Nadu has gone through a series of crises in the past three years — there have been three droughts and a flood, not to talk of the more serious fiscal crisis that crippled the State in 2001 and 2002. At a time when it is emerging from the "financial mess," these natural calamities are posing a serious challenge to the fiscal structure. This is another reason why the State is pressing for a fresh approach to providing funds when natural calamities strike.

On the ground, relief and enumeration work are said to be on in full steam. The identification of bodies being extricated over the past two or three days has become a serious problem and has to be sorted out for granting solatium. Fresh family ration cards are being issued. The relief announced by the Chief Minister is being disbursed and the Fisheries department has begun the assessment of damages to boats and fishing vessels. Under the latest scheme announced by Ms. Jayalalithaa, the orphaned children are being identified for "adoption" by the State.

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