Communities in India Rebuild following Tsunami ...

Over 36,000 fishing households in six districts of the southern Indian state ofAndhra Pradesh saw their livelihoods wiped out in less than an hour by thedevastating tsunami that struck countries around the Indian Ocean December 26.

In the face of the disaster, a story is emerging of local resilience andunprecedented cooperation among communities, governments, NGOs, financialinstitutions and donors.

Tsunami damages The tsunami directly impacted these six coastal districts. While the communities were fortunate to escape the massive death tolls of other areas, the current official death toll is 105, about 36,500 households in 324 coastal villages, who depend solely on fishing, lost their livelihoods. Another 15,000 households were indirectly affected, and about 50,000 households had to be evacuated.

The villages lost all of their boats, nets, and outboard motors in addition to damage to about 200 houses, standing crops, and salt farms. Days after the tsunami left a trail of destruction in these districts, the fishermen were still afraid to fish the water, and the continuing aftershocks only added to their anxiety. However, since 2003, the Society for the Eradication of Rural Poverty (SERP) had been working with these fishing communities to implement VELUGU ?? a poverty reduction program funded through the Indian and Andhra Pradesh governments and the World Bank, through its Andhra Pradesh Rural Poverty Reduction Project.

VELUGU works through community coordinators to strengthen womens Self Help Groups and Village Organizations to build the livelihoods of the poorest in the communities. In this area of India, thousands of households rely on fishing for their livelihoods. In approximately one year of operation, the program had already invested more than $US 800,000, and mobilized an additional US$ 1.8 million by linking 2,017 groups with financial institutions to purchase boats and nets, and to get the working capital for fish vending, fish-drying platforms, and market sheds near the shore. Responding to Disaster The response for relief and rehabilitation came from all quarters.

The Village Organizations that VELUGU had worked with had the skills, organization, and confidence to respond quickly and effectively. Moreover, a relationship of trust had begun to develop between government, civil society, and banks, making them willing to work with the groups and organizations. After the Tsunami hit the coastal areas of Andhra Pradesh, said Vijay Kumar, CEO of SERP, I spent about 10 days in the fishing villages on three different occasions. I have been humbled by the quality and caliber of their spirit in the face of such an unprecedented calamity. The tsunami is a new phenomenon, and not really part of their traditional and collective experience with cyclones and other calamities.

In spite of that, they have reconciled themselves to the tragedy and are busy rebuilding their lives. The strong network produced by the project enabled its staff to reach out to every family in the fishing communities in the shortest possible time. In Krishna district, for instance, groups were assessing damage by December 27th. The communities actively organized women who had not previously been involved in the self-help groups, and revived defunct groups. What we are seeing on the ground now, said Parmesh Shah, Task Manager of the Andhra Pradesh Rural Poverty Reduction Project, shows that investing in social capital during good times pays off during crisis and enables communities to bounce back faster. In the face of this tragedy, the communities, the Bank, the government, the Society for the Eradication of Rural Poverty, and the private sector are working together not just to restore what was lost, but to build a stronger more diversified local economy for these coastal communities.

The shifting sector focus will hold many lessons for future community-driven development programs financed by the Bank. The local perspective According to B.Rajsekhar IAS, Collector & District Magistrate for Nellore, The tsunami gave us an opportunity to get insight into the complex world of the fishing community.

Their complex web of life is intrinsically linked to nature. Unlike any other community, these families have been in existence in islands of their own, cut off from the rest of the society. Fishing net repaired with money from bank loan in Guntur districtWomen have no status in this community, and the domination of caste-leaders is absolute. We now have, perhaps for the first time, women sitting side-by-side with caste-leaders in the village and Divisional level meetings. Banks are now a part of their lives.

The tsunami has given a window of opportunity to this community to interact with the rest of the society and vice-versa. And the aid response of the global community to the tsunami has overwhelmed and humbled these communities. Reconstruction begins with Micro planning For the first time in its history, the state used intensive community participation to respond to a natural disaster. The result has been a much more accurate damage assessment and a reduced risk of mistargeting, delays, or diverting aid flows.

The response has also made the communities more confident in the project, the government, civil society, and the banks. According to the assessment, it will cost about US$11.5 million to immediately restore the livelihoods of the 36,441 affected households. VELUGU reallocated funds to the coastal areas, and, as of mid January, it had disbursed US$962,000. In less than one month after the tsunami hit, the village organizations had developed micro plans for reconstruction, private banks have provided loans (60%), community investment funds have been provided (40%), and the first boats have been ordered.

And the government has agreed that when its disaster assistance money arrives, it will go to the Village Organizations so that the level of communal savings that had been accumulated will not be wiped out by this tragedy.

Jose Parreira Http://archive.aiesec.ws/joseparreira.aiesec.ws/