The Hindu : Tamil Nadu / Kancheepuram News : Fishermen's families to be given psychological support

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Friday, Feb 18, 2005

Tamil Nadu

Tamil Nadu - Kancheepuram

Fishermen's families to be given psychological support

By Our Staff Reporter

KANCHEEPURAM, FEB.17. People in 30 out of 44 coastal hamlets affected by the December 26 tsunami have resumed their normal activities, according to the Collector, R. Venkatesan.

He said this at the valedictory of the two-day psycho-social support and care training camp for 250 persons held under the aegis of the Social Welfare Department here today.

Members of fishermen families were yet to recover from the shock though adequate relief measures had been provided to them by the State Government. Camps were conducted through the Education and Health departments in these villages to infuse confidence among them.

Now psychological support would be provided through individual counselling to help them get over the trauma.

The 250 people — village-level staff, government employees, college girls, panchayat presidents, health workers and Nehru Yuva Kendra members — who were trained at the camp have been divided into 10 groups. Each would provide counselling to a minimum of 20 families in the affected coastal hamlets in the district. They had been asked to identify the real need of each family, Mr. Venkatesan said.

Deposits

The Handlooms Minister, V. Somasundaram, said that the government had ordered that Rs. 5 lakhs be deposited in the name of tsunami-affected children between 16 and 18 and Rs. 3 lakhs each to unmarried girls.

Rs.5 lakhs would be set aside as fixed deposit in the names of the women who had lost their parents.

Compensation for loss of catamaran and four new boats were handed over to the fishermen of Ooyalikuppam, Pudupattinam and Cuddalorekuppam on February 16. Five fishermen were given Rs. 20,000 each as compensation for catamaran. Boats, each costing around Rs. 75,000 and sponsored by a private company, was handed over to four fishermen at Cuddalorekuppam by Mr. Somasundaram.

He also distributed Rs. 1,000 each to 328 families in Ooyalikuppam and 314 families in Pudupattinam along provisions through the Cooperative department.

Four persons injured during the tsunami havoc were each given cheques for Rs. 5,000.

Printer friendly page
Send this article to Friends by E-Mail

Tamil Nadu

News Update

Stories in this Section

Fishermen's families to be given psychological support