The Hindu : Tamil Nadu / Chennai News : Madras University’s handbook on disaster management released

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Monday, Nov 03, 2008
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Tamil Nadu

Tamil Nadu - Chennai

Madras University’s handbook on disaster management released

Special Correspondent

— Photo: K.PICHUMANI

Valuable insights: (From left) G. Koteeswara Prasad, Professor and Head, Department of Politics and Public Administration, University of Madras; Katalin Demeter South-South Co-operation, Global Facility for Disaster Reduction and Risk, World Bank Institute, Washington; and N. Vinod Chandra Menon, Member, National Disaster Management Authority, at the book launch in Chennai on Saturday.

CHENNAI: A book titled ‘Indian Ocean tsunami through the Gender Lens, Insights from Tamil Nadu’ along with a handbook on disaster management was released at a function here on Saturday.

Speaking on the occasion, N.Vinod Chandra Menon, Member, National Disaster Management Authority, New Delhi, said that the response by the civil society in Tamil Nadu was immense during tsunami. The GDP loss due to tsunami was less than two per cent in the country, he said.

Though organisations such as Youth Red Cross, Nehru Yuva Kendra, National Cadet Corps, and NSS had a few crore volunteers with them, they were unable to respond immediately during the disaster, he observed. Adequate training needed to be provided to the volunteers and policy makers should help them to perform, he said.

Half the population in the world were women. Still discrimination prevailed world over, he said. In many organisations discrimination against women prevailed as they were never brought to the decision making front, he added.

Focussed interactions

Chaman Pincha, researcher and author of the publications, said a total of 150 focussed interactions with people in Cuddalore, Nagapattinam and Kanyakumari districts were held over a period of 50 days.

Widows and elderly women were not included in the list of beneficiaries prepared by the local panchayats. Another problem that became acute in the post-tsunami period was alcoholism among men, which resulted in increased domestic violence.

On its part the State Government initiated some proactive programmes, which included inheritance of houses by both the husband and wife and in some cases the eldest child in the family. Recognising the women’s role, the Government had channelled the cash relief to women rather than men.

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