The Hindu : Tamil Nadu / Chennai News : Tsunami relief code soon

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Monday, Sep 25, 2006
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Tamil Nadu

Tamil Nadu - Chennai

Tsunami relief code soon

Special Correspondent

Team to work with Government, NGOs "Evolving appropriate procedures ... shall be one of the key steps the government needs to take"

CHENNAI: A comprehensive relief code and rehabilitation policy for tsunami recovery should be formulated soon in line with international standards and with a strong focus on social equity, a two-day high-level consultation meet to take stock of tsunami recovery has recommended.

The meet, that was attended by senior Union and State government officials, district collectors, representatives of the World Bank, United Nations, Asian Development Bank and NGOs, also recommended constituting an independent team to monitor and facilitate social equity in tsunami recovery, comprising women and human rights organisations.

The team will work in coordination with the Department of Social Welfare and other NGOs.

Presenting the final set of recommendations on Saturday, C.V.Shankar, Officer on Special Duty (Relief and Rehabilitation), Government of Tamil Nadu, said beneficiaries of housing schemes should be identified through a separate State-level agency. Alternative technologies should be explored while extending housing to the tsunami-affected.

Health and nutrition aspects should focus on mainstreaming and expanding quality maternal, newborn, child and adolescent health services. Capacity building should be taken up wherever possible.

Vulnerable groups should be monitored through village-level watchdog committees as per the revised guidelines of the District Level Advisory Committee on Trafficking and HIV/AIDS issues should be included in long-term disaster risk management modules.

Monitor at

community-level

The efforts of community level workers should be consolidated and linked to ongoing programmes such as the District Mental Health Programme to extend psychosocial support to the tsunami affected.

"Evolving appropriate procedures for carrying out rescue, relief, rehabilitation and reconstruction in post-disaster scenarios without losing control and [giving] room for misappropriation shall be one of the key steps that the government needs to take," the meet recommended.

All new permanent habitations should have schools and those in coastal areas should be designed to resist disasters. Teachers should be trained in disaster risk management and disaster risk-preparedness should be incorporated in curricular and co-curricular activities.

Monitoring and tracking system for children without parental care should be strengthened. Also, restoration and forestation efforts should be monitored specifically with reference to the identified site and participatory systems should be put in place to enable monitoring of all coastal issues such as industrial mining and enforcement of various polices as per the Coastal Regulation Zone (CRZ) Act, the recommendations said.

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