DISASTER MANAGEMENT AND REHABILITATION THROUGH COOPERATIVE
INITIATIVES IN SOUTH INDIA
By
Dr S Rajendran, Professor and Head, Department of Economics,
Periyar University, Salem – 636 011, India, E-mail: myrajendran@yahoo.com and
Dr T Chitrakalarani, Reader in Mathematics, KN Govt. Arts College for Women,
Thanjavur – 613 007, India, E-mail: chitrajendran@yahoo.co.in
Key Words: Disaster Management, Cooperative Institutions and Social Capital
Abstract:
In the recent past Civil Society Organizations (CSOs) including cooperative agencies
under the banner of Third Sector Initiatives have been vocally involved in preparing
themselves to help vulnerable communities in the disaster occurred regions (Rajendran, 2006)
in the domain of building social capital. Cooperative institutions with different entities and
other CSOs have rich experience across the globe and have made considerable metamorphose
among the societies (Morrissey, 1997). Though the concept of cooperative system has emerged
in the Europe, it has been taking roots in many countries including India and here it has made
its existence felt over hundred years. Statistical data clearly reveals that cooperative system has
grown both vertically and horizontally and almost every economic and other activity including
disaster preparedness and rehabilitation involves this system, albeit some problem persists in it
(Dongre, 2004 and Rajendran, 2004).
The committed involvement of the cooperative initiatives during the December 2004
tsunami rehabilitation has been widely acclaimed in many countries and more particularly in
India. Tsunami made devastating impact on the coastal State of Tamil Nadu and the epitome is
still green on the minds of the affected community and the CSOs have extended both shortterm and long-term rehabilitation tasks and still it continues, as the magnitude is quite large
and the situation was deplorable. The cooperative organizations of local, regional and national
stature have been either independently or in association with other CSOs are working on
disaster mitigation and rehabilitation in a South Indian State – Tamil Nadu, where more than
13 lakh people affected and about 8,000 people lost their lives. In this paper, it is aimed to
highlight the role of cooperatives in disaster preparedness and to study their involvement in
rebuilding and rehabilitation on tsunami devastated area in the large context of building social
capital at grassroots level.
In Tamil Nadu State, the largest tsunami affected district and two coastal villages (from
the same district) have been selected for an in-depth exploration both at macro and micro level
analysis of the problem. Observation method was used for collecting field level information
and also case study method was used for collecting detailed information from the tsunami
affected. In addition, the members of cooperative institutions like Self Help Groups (SHGs)
and others have been contacted to know their perceptions over rehabilitation. Local level
cooperative agencies like South Indian Federation of Fishermen Societies and a host of other
agencies have also been contacted for sharpening the inferences drawn during the survey and
analysis.
Basically cooperative institutional framework is found as strong catalytic force to
provide appropriate and adequate rehabilitation both in the long run and short run for disaster
management and rehabilitation programs. In fact it was strongly observed that cooperative
agencies have jointly worked with other CSOs and such initiation proved very effective and
1
sustainable; starting from providing food, shelter and other infrastructure, cooperative
intervention did commendable work at ground level. Truly members from local and
neighboring cooperative agencies as compared to outside ones worked unprecedented towards
the rebuilding and rehabilitating the livelihood and other means for survival. This is mainly
due to the fact that such local agencies have adequate knowledge about the socio-economic and
geophysical characteristics of the local communities and regions. However, even the local level
cooperative agencies encountered some difficulties like lack of training, professional expertise
and resources to effectively carry out the rehabilitation works.
Thus it is evident that grassroots cooperative agencies can take up rehabilitation and
mitigation during natural calamities like tsunami. However, some amount of resentment and
criticism against such societies has also been aired. If the policy imperatives make suitable
mending and armed with trained personnel with sufficient resources, cooperative agencies can
mitigate the disaster and take up both short-term and long-term rehabilitation work effectively
like any other CSOs. Additionally members in diverse cooperative agencies (like youth, credit
and women) are adequately and periodically trained on disaster management and rehabilitation
by professional agencies, they will serve as better sources of buffer stock during crisis like
tsunami.
I. Introduction:
In the large context of disaster mitigation and rehabilitation intervention by third sector
institutions especially in a fragile region where disaster devastated is a challenging. It is often
called third sector includes, philanthropic organizations, civil society organizations (CSOs),
co-operatives, non-governmental organizations (NGOs) and the like that have made the
development metamorphose. Historical evidences depict that voluntary contribution in some
form or other has been in existence in the Indian society and made considerable structural
transformation. The State institutions, of late, have been involving and intervening in each and
every sphere of development activity of the society due to their hegemony and in the process
the State became more powerful and control over resources and development works.
Unfortunately this has created a new domain and there is a complete paradigm shift to keep
away the tendency of voluntary contribution in the long run. Also in the recent past, on their
part, many governments in the liberalized economy slowly withdraw their role in taking up
developmental works, virtually leaving the responsibility to the market. Often this has been
attributed to the fact that market economy would largely protect the interest of affluent and
leave downtrodden and vulnerable to the mercy of the market. The think tanks are however,
divided over this argument and place empirical evidences according to their convenience
(Dongre, 2004).
The State's failure in providing development works often resulted in mushrooming third
sector institutions, especially in developing countries, like India (Sethi, 1993). This is
2
necessitated more intensively during the times of calamities like tsunami, earthquake,
economic distress, outbreak of dreaded diseases, conspicuous drought and heavy floods where
the community is desperately looking for proactive, pragmatic and comprehensive
rehabilitation and relief works for sustainable living. The cooperatives with strong force of
membership, familiarity and proximity with local communities and topography have more
advantage for executing disaster management and rehabilitation than any other outside agency
and nevertheless in practice as the present study shows, they too encountered some operational
difficulties.
II. Problem Setting:
While some CSOs have used the micro-level experience for sustainable development
efforts at macro level policy domains (Harper, 1997) and on the other it is reverse (Morrissey,
1997). Case studies about the positive impact of social and economic transformation by
cooperatives and other third sector institution on the community are found abundant in the
literature (Rajendran, 2004a). Some researchers are critical of the interventions made by the
voluntary sector mainly for their poor accountability and belied governance and lack of
transparency (Brett, 1993 and Zaidi, 1999). In India many third sector institutions with the help
of local communities involved in disaster management and mitigation successfully, albeit some
amount of criticism is leveled against them time and again. In fact the success level of third
sector institutions during calamity relief works has been highly regarded and acknowledged by
none other than hardcore State officials themselves as in the case of tsunami (Frontline, 2006).
In the same issue of Frontline, it has been commended that “the perception that relief and
rehabilitation has been purely NGO driven is, however, more apparent than real” p4. Thus for
an effective, equitable, suitable, adaptable and viable rehabilitation, refurbish and relief
assignment at times of disaster like tsunami, CSOs are found as more responsive and proactive
in delivering goods.
The cooperative societies with strong social capital base, at grassroots, can
supplement, supplant and complement at times of calamities with the State for ensuring
livelihood, instilling confidence and seizing conflicts among the victims more on
harmoniously. Research studies highlight that in general and more specifically action oriented
Civil Society Agencies such as cooperatives are not only accountable to donors but also ought
to pay serious attention to the people who are on the receiving end (Berger, 2006). In other
3
words every resource spent on the disaster surged, community must be justified in the context
of relevance, viability and applicability and third sector agencies like cooperatives shall have to
ensure this. Against this background, an attempt is made to examine, synthesize and crystallize
the role of cooperatives in rehabilitating tsunami victims broadly in the context of building
'social capital' during calamities for ensuring livelihood with two fold objectives as 1) to
analyze the magnitude of short term and long term relief and rehabilitation work undertook by
cooperatives and 2) to capture and analyze operational difficulties albeit to a limited extent.
This paper has been divided into five broad sections. While section one deals with
introduction, second section focuses on the setting of issues. Followed by this the
methodological framework is explained in section three. The penultimate section (IV) details
major findings and discussion of the analysis and the last section (V) provides gist of
arguments and suggestions.
III. Methodological Framework:
As it is known, during tsunami in India, Tamil Nadu coast was largely affected and
here Nagapattinam district was heavily damaged and made ruinous effect on the local economy
as compared to other districts. Therefore at the sub-regional level Nagapattinam district has
been selected for a detailed investigation. Here two large coastal villages – Palayar and
Keechankuppam - that were extensively affected have been selected for an in-depth
examination and the profile of them is given in Table – 1.
Table – 1: Demographic Profile of Selected Villages
Particulars
Villages
Palayar
4
Total
Keechankuppam
1.
Population
A. Total Male
Adult
Children
2.
3.
B. Total Female
Adult
Children
Grand Total (A+B)
People died during tsunami
A. Male
Adult
Children
B. Female
Adult
Children
Grand Total (A+B)
No. of Households Affected
1894
1169
725
1775
1003
772
3669
1849
1211
638
1909
1027
882
2858
3743
2380
1363
3684
2030
1654
6527
23 (1.21)
5 (0.43)
18 (2.48)
31 (1.75)
19 (1.89)
12 (1.55)
54 (1.47)
1564
333 (18.01)
229 (18.91)
106 (16.61)
571 (29.91)
479 (46.64)
92 (10.43)
904 (31.63)
1143
356
(9.51)
234
(9.83)
124
(9.10)
602
(16.34)
498
(24.53)
104
(6.29)
958
(14.68)
2707
Source: NCRC, Compendium of Tsunami Affected Villages (2005)
Note: Numbers in parentheses indicate percentage to respective category of population in item 1.
It is striking to note that the loss of lives is not in conformity with the total population
in each category. This is mainly due to the fact that geophysical characteristics of sample
villages themselves have responsible and that have caused heavy toll by the tsunami to the
property and lives. Significantly, women and children died more when compared to adults in
both selected villages explaining the fact that vulnerable and marginalized are often put under
stress during natural calamities of large magnitude. Very disturbingly around 32 percent of
total people lived in Keechankuppam village lost their lives due to the dreaded tsunami and the
loss is less in other sample village Palayar where around 1.5 percent of total population is lost.
Another observation during the field visits is that these study villages are located on the
coastal line and the community belongs to fishermen and heavy toll to fishing boats, nets and
market yards. Nevertheless not even a single case of farmer is reported as affected from sample
villages, as there is no scope for farming activity here. It can also be noted that while loss of
human lives is more in Keechankuppam, the magnitude of houses damaged by the tsunami
devastation is more in Palayar giving a wider perception that the location, materials used in the
construction of houses and other micro level factors have contributed for the loss to life and
property at varying levels.
5
The village headmen, administrative and revenue officials, local cooperators, members
of SHGs, volunteers from third sector institutions and survivor beneficiaries have been
interviewed for data collection and wherever possible, published media reports and
government documents have also been referred. Some volunteers and office bearers from
foreign NGOs have also been met with for collecting information. Observation method was
adopted for getting grass roots information during the rehabilitation work in different localities.
Moreover some beneficiaries have been intensively interviewed for gathering detailed
information on the rehabilitation and relief works in the study region. It is observed from table
– 2 that more than 75 percent of total victims fall in the selected - Nagapattinam – district
which is densely inhabitated of the East Coast in Tamil Nadu. The Cauvery River historically
irrigates this district and hence the density of population is quite high in addition to large
amount of fisher folk and perhaps this could be one of the reasons for heavy loss of life.
Table – 2: Loss of Lives in Tamil Nadu during Tsunami
Affected Districts
Thiruvallur
Kancheepuram
Villupuram
Cuddalore
Nagapattinam
Thiruvarur
Thanjavur
Pudukottai
Ramanathapuram
Thoothukodi
Thirunelveli
Kanyakumari
Total
No. of Lives Lost
29 (0.35)
128 (1.61)
47 (0.59)
612 (7.70)
6038 (75.94)
16 (0.20)
26 (0.33)
15 (1.90)
06 (0.08)
03 (0.04)
04 (0.05)
821 (10.33)
7951 (100)
Note: Numbers in parentheses indicate percentage to total
Source: The Hindu, Chennai, January 9, 2005
Besides, Nagapattinam town important tourists and pilgrimage centers like
Velankanni, Nagore and Sikkal, which attract crowds from all religions and castes and in fact
on the previous night (December 25, 2004) of the fateful day, huge crowed surged to the
Velankanni Church and the people housed inside the Church have escaped as unaffected1.
Also other Religious centers like Nagore and Sikkal do attract people from other Religious
groups and irrespective of their religious affinity, people in large numbers visit these centers
1
It was reported that more than 50,000 people were inside the church premises when the tsunami struck on the
early morning of December 26, 2004 and no untoward incident occurred inside.
6
round the year. Affected people were kept inside the temples and churches and even the civil
society organizations set up their temporary offices here.
IV. Findings and Discussions:
A brief outline on the sequence of the dreaded tsunami, magnitude of loss and entry of
institutions would give some idea before getting into a detailed discussion. The killer tsunami
hit the Indian east coast on December 26, 2004 and many buried alive and huge property loss
within a short span of time and exacerbated the normal life. In India the State of Tamil Nadu
was worst hit (Table – 3) as four of its coastal districts suffered seriously and the children, aged
women and vulnerable sections were the targets of tsunami.
7
Table – 3: Extent of Damage Across States in India during Tsunami
States
No. of Villages
No. of Dwelling Units
Andhra Pradesh
301
1557
Kerala
187
17381
Tamil Nadu
376
128394
Pondicherry
33
10061
Total
897
157393
Source: Asia Pacific Forum in Women, Law and Development (2006). Status Report on Tsunami Rehabilitation,
Unpublished, Nagapattinam.
The marginalized – fisher - folk who lived all along closer to the coastline were hit
severely in addition to large number of farmers and laborers. Official estimates show that
around 1.3 lakh houses and 10 lakh people have been affected and life was completely
crippled. The tsunami caused heavy damage to public sector properties like ports and railway
tracks as well. More than 4000 tones of food grains stocked by the Food Corporation of India
(FCI) at Nagapattinam port was completely damaged and 10 kms long rail track between
Nagapattinam and Nagore was damaged fully.
One hundred years old bridge between Nagapattinam and Karaikal was bulldozed and
road traffic completely snapped and boats and catamarans were striven all along rail line that
triggered the normal life as fettered in the region. Immediately local philanthropic
organizations, cooperators, NGOs and government officials have joined hands and took up the
short-term relief works – basic amenities - like food, electricity, drinking water, transport and
other infrastructure were given successfully. Clearing the dead bodies was a major upheaval
but unprecedented task, to prevent the spread of endemic and epidemic diseases. Nevertheless,
providing long-term permanent rehabilitation and relief measures is far more important and
Herculean task to restore livelihood and social security of local communities; one year is past
now and rehabilitation work is still being continued and according to cooperators and NGO
volunteers, it may take more than five years to fully complete the assignment. Here lies the
whole nitty-gritty of the pragmatic approach, comprehensive plan, and crystallized action of
the State machinery, cooperators, NGOs and those who are concerned with common cause for
tsunami victims. During the process of relief and rehabilitation works, with large magnitude, it
is not possible for the State alone to provide necessary requirements on sustainable manner to
the calamity-traumatized communities and hence third sector intervention becomes crucial. As
often said, third sector intervention is always people centric and catalytic between people and
the State over development works including rehabilitation on December 26th, 2006 and
subsequently.
8
The velocity and ferocity of the tsunami attack has been spread as wild fire and the
State government immediately responded to the crisis and called for everyone to join hands in
restoring normalcy in affected areas and the Union Government also came forward to help the
State. In the process, realizing the magnitude of the problem (Tsunami attack) the cooperators,
NGOs in and around selected villages and neighboring towns like Thiruvarur, Karaikal,
Nagapattinam and Nagore responded and rushed to rescue cites immediately. Fortunately there
was no rain and unusual weather condition and hence the primary rescue operation went on
with full speed. Thus by and large short-term rehabilitation work like clearing and burying of
dead bodies2 with the help and coordination of others was completed successfully and
efficiently. Supply of clothes, food and drinking water has also been effectively done with the
large quantum of material and huge amount of financial support from donors 3 within and
outside the region and volunteers played an unprecedented role in this. It is surprising to note
that more than 250 NGOs (including some foreign NGOs and cooperatives) have been
camping at Nagapattinam district alone still directly involve in mammoth rehabilitation and
relief exercise including housing and development activities.
The responsibility of the State and civil society was to venture into rebuilding houses
and ensuring livelihood support as long-term rehabilitation process. Major tasks included were;
to take up permanent long-term rehabilitation work comprising confidence building,
constructing dwelling units and restoring livelihood measures to the despairing, disgruntled
and demoralized people. Meanwhile, mindset of survivors – children and aged – has to be
mentally comforted from the shock, bad memories and horror escalated from the dreaded
tsunami. In fact some cooperative societies in association with NGOs have made arrangements
for medical team with psychologists and counselors to provide intensive trauma counseling. It
was also reported that the shock led to many become diabetic patients and the pressure of
blood levels raised beyond normal to some in the affected areas. The Bangalore based
NIMHANS (National Institute for Mental Health and Nero Sciences) and an international
agency – CARE (Cooperative American Relief Everywhere) have joined hands to provide
counseling for stress, disorders and other health related complications to the affected from
selected villages. Grassroots level volunteers from the local NGOs (came from different
2
It is important to observe that some members of the local fishermen and other cooperatives also trapped and died
during tsunami.
3
Besides directly involved in rescue and rehabilitation assignment some voluntary agencies have overwhelmingly
extended support in the form of cash and kind.
9
districts, States and other countries) have also independently helped people through
counseling, dialogue, stage play and excursion to overcome the mental stress and agony. This
was done with lot of love and affection from volunteers with full of commitment and
determination as disclosed by local beneficiaries and senior district level officials including the
Collector – Administrative Chief of Nagapattinam district.
The next assignment with regard to rehabilitation was to rebuild rubbles of houses and
refurbish dilapidated in the affected colonies and third sector institutions have helped in doing
so. In fact the State government announced a plan to reconstruct all 1.3 lakh damaged, houses
at one stroke in March 2005. However, later it was announced that around one lakh houses will
be built by March 2006 and the rest by September 2006. According to the political
developments in the State the government is hard pressed the housing program as assembly
elections were round the corner during May 20064. The NGOs, State officials and locals have
closely interacted and consulted on site selections, designing, materials to be used and laborers
to be employed5. It has been widely acknowledged that the NGOs have convinced local
communities to share their labor for construction works and for which they were paid and
according to volunteers it gave immense pleasure and satisfaction to laborer beneficiaries.
Nevertheless, there are some apprehensions that in few cases with regard to design and
construction of houses, the volunteers did not consult beneficiaries at all. Despite the fact that
cooperative agencies6 have made mandatory to consult the beneficiary, ironically local officials
due to pull and push factors have side tracked this issue in some cases. This as admitted by
some beneficiaries and volunteers that it is unavoidable when the magnitude is uncontrollably
huge. Here it is also to be observed that the State has given complete autonomy to selected
NGOs and cooperative agencies to take up house construction with the consultation from local
stakeholders.
Expectedly, in spite of all these, there is some cynicism surfaced while constructing
houses for tsunami victims, in few places, firstly, the site selection was not proper and as per
officials this was due to shortage of house sites; secondly, constructed houses were not
It is very sad to note that the two major rival political parties – DMK and ADMK – trade charges against each
other over the mobilization and utilization of funds towards tsunami rehabilitation. Very often this has put the
cooperators, NGOs and government officials under embarrassing situation to take forward the rehabilitation work.
5
Some NGOs with an advice from the United Nations Development Program have made benchmark surveys
using Participatory Rural Appraisal and Household Surveys to help benevolent beneficiaries and avoid
malpractices.
6
During the field survey it was revealed that members of local fishermen cooperatives and federations clashed
over selection of beneficiaries and allocation of compensations.
4
10
provided with adequate drainage facility and hence the flood7 has further caused hardship to
tsunami victims. In other words, ecological and social issues have not been adequately debated
at local level and however; cooperators and NGOs have made repeated requests to heed
officials over this as revealed by the local people. Another issue that needed the attention of
planners and policy makers is to involve the scientific community in the entire rebuilding
mechanism in the disaster occurred area. While many houses have been constructed with iron
and cement, it is felt that construction with bricks would be highly suitable for coastal areas
where salt in the air may damage materials in the long run. According to a report published in
the leading Science and Environment Magazine, Down To Earth (January 15, 2006) the State
should have used the opportunity to involve engineering students to demonstrate their
architecture expertise and to learn a lot from the ground on calamity mitigation. Additionally
this would serve as knowledge buffer stock later during such emergency to help the State in the
rehabilitation process at times of natural calamity.
According to SHGs fishermen societies and NGOs by and large, the government has
been making a balancing effort and are convinced that the State is doing at its best. Yes, it is a
tiresome assignment with gigantic magnitude and with lot of pull and push factors at local
level the rehabilitation process had to be completed. For instance, the NGOs have successfully
convinced the State government to accord permission to build houses closer to sea within 500
meters of high tide line for fisher-folk. Notwithstanding the fact that this is against the Coastal
Regulation Zone (CRZ) rules, the State government granted permission in the interest of the
fishermen for constructing the dwelling units. Thus during the course of rebuilding houses a
number of social, economical, equity, ecological, political and associated aspects have to be
borne in mind for successful completion of the rehabilitation project. Despite, it is observed
that the rebuilding work has been going on with the active support rendered by third sector
initiatives that ought to be replicated in times of necessity.
Another long-term rehabilitation task that need to be taken up was providing economic
security through restoring livelihood means. The fisher folk have been supplied with fiberglass
boats and financial institutions have lent credit for repairing damaged boats. In fact both third
sector agencies and beneficiaries have been varying in their perception and ramification over
supply of boats. In other words, due to excessive generous support quantity of boats given to
7
Torrential northeast monsoon rainfall during October-November 2005 has made adverse effect on the people
worsened the life further.
11
fishermen is more than sufficient for fishing. It was found during the survey that in some wards
(civic units) more than half a dozen boats were found in a single family 8 and some of them
have been kept idle and some have already been sold off9. According to experienced fishermen
from fishermen societies and NGO leaders, too many boats would result in too little catch of
fish and low income from it. Already there were strong resentment, some friction and frequent
clashes between small boat and mechanized trawler owners over catching fish as the later
exploit more and the former get less. The South Indian Federation of Fishermen Societies
(SIFFSs) and a host of NGOs have also involved in repairing the fishnets and constructing fish
dry yards and adequate financial assistance has been extended and as observed by fishermen
that the marginalized and deprived got chance to rebuild the livelihood means.
As is known, the Indian pluralistic society is highly netted with social institution and
however, the fabric has been shattered by tsunami and this is yet another task – molding
fractured families – for civil societies. There are two important tasks before hand; 1)
Immediately establish families among those who lost their partners during tsunami and 2) to
facilitate to enlarge families by restoring family planning operation. It was observed that young
widows were successfully encouraged to remarry and many of them have started living happily
now transcending across social and economic boundaries and barriers. Some couple after
having two children opted sterilization10 have lost their wards wanted to have off-springs now
and realizing this with the active propaganda campaign of cooperative agencies and the
generous support of the government such operation has been reverted. A cross section of
beneficiaries was taken to multi-speciality hospitals in Chennai and other major cities for
recanalization and NGOs and the government equally shared responsibilities. Media reports
show that this has started yielding results and a couple of women gave birth to children without
any maternity related complications. A bird’s eye view on such beneficiaries and their relatives
reveal that their eyes are filled with brightness and face is shining as they are blessed with
children thereby brought in huge shy of relief. The members of SIFFSs and local SHGs have
played an important role in successfully convincing the affected people over recanalization.
By owing as many as boats – productive assets - it is quite understandable that the socio-economic status of such
households would go up albeit the critical factor of equitable distribution of relief packages is defeated and belied.
9
Cases have also been reported that some fishermen took boats and sold at throwaway prices and spent the money
lavishly.
10
The birth rate according to 2001 census in Nagapattinam district is close to 1.5 per 100 and this is attributed to
the successful implementation of family planning operation.
8
12
Another social issue is related to desperation and local beneficiaries after losing their
kith and kin during tsunami got compensation and benefits became addicted to consuming
alcohol due to distress and loneliness. The psychologists and counselors have been invited
from clinics and taken up intensive campaign, albeit the success level is low as admitted by
cooperators. Simultaneously, rehabilitation and relief work by CSOs have been extended to
schoolchildren as well. A large majority of the young school going children have become
orphans and the government took special initiatives by all means to safeguard them. A cursory
look in the field clearly reveals that dedication of teachers and hard work of students have all
contributed to bring back the normalcy from worries and restlessness and it is surprising to
everyone that students in the tsunami affected area did exemplarily well in the annual public
examinations. Thus cooperatives and other third sector initiatives have helped in building the
social engineering and dynamism on the community, which suffered heavily and of course this
will not compensate the mental and material loss and agony underwent by victims on tsunami
devastated areas.
Although the selected villages do not have farming activity, it is under complete
distress in the neighboring villages as the tsunami has resulted in depositing sands on the
cultivable land thereby rendering crops to wither and the entire agrarian economy is under
collapse. It is a known fact that the entire agriculture sector has under distress for quite
sometime and the States and the Union government have been attempting to make it viable for
sustainable economic growth. In fact the Situation Assessment Survey (SAS) conducted by the
National Sample Survey found that there is a falling in income and expenditure in agriculture
and non-agriculture activities in the farm sector and this has resulted in agrarian distress
(Narayanamoorthy, 2006) including in the agriculturally developed regions and States. Thus
the tsunami aftermath in the affected coastal areas will further escalate the distress on farm
lands and farm business and hence voluntary agencies like the Tamil Nadu Organic Farmers’
Movement and MSSRF have been working to reclaim the soil to bring back the fields into
normalcy and so far around 2,500 ha of farm land has been reclaimed on coastal areas in
Nagapattinam district. According to an official estimate around 8,000 farmers – mostly belong
to marginal and small farm categories – have been affected and around 9,567 ha of land needs
reclamation efforts. Since eco-friendly farm inputs are applied as boffins explained that the
fertility of soil will be retained and the land can be brought under plough shortly. Very
importantly on its part, the State government formed Tsunami Farmers’ Self Help Groups
(TFSHGs) to reclaim the affected soil and to treat it with gypsum.
13
V. Summary and Policy Implications:
The above discussion demonstrates that the magnitude of the tsunami attack is heavy
and more importantly the vulnerable have been hit extensively. The State government officials
took prompt and timely action to provide both short-term and long-term rehabilitation
measures for the tsunami victims. Cooperators, third sector organizations and local
communities provided both logistical and technical support for undertaking rehabilitation
works in the affected areas. After having made an intensive tour the United Nations Envoy for
Tsunami Recovery observed that the role of civil society organizations is remarkable in the
recovery process and disaster preparedness (The Hindu, 2006). However, there are certain
deficiencies like lack of coordination between and among the institutions to device, plan and
above all to implement the programs more effectively. This can be easily overcome if the
concerned agencies have join hands and have detailed dialogue to plan and implement any
development programs including the rehabilitation work that has been taken up in the tsunami
affected areas of Tamil Nadu. In the process, there is a possibility to build enormous amount of
social capital within and out side the system. Not only the rehabilitation work but also efforts
are to be made for strengthening the livelihood security of local communities within the broad
spectrum of civil society initiatives on a sustained manner. As disaster devastated communities
frantically look for emotional support, economic means and social engineering, the volunteers
from any system – Cooperatives, State or CSOs must extend passionate help to refurbish the
society from the shattered ground.
The Cooperative Societies and the State be proactive and comprehensive in extending
both relief and rehabilitation programs and should avoid piecemeal approach. Long-term relief
and rehabilitation measures need to incorporate provision of fish catching materials like nets,
catamarans and boats and construction of fish drying floors that would bring normalcy in the
life of fishermen. To sustain fishermen’s livelihood system alternative income earning
employment programs may be introduced especially for women and aged. The State authorities
in collaboration with local civil societies such as SIFFSs, Youth SHGs and TFSHGs make
arrangements to provide rigorous training including psychological to the personnel involve in
rescue operations at times of calamities like tsunami, flash floods and fire. In fact the
government has one of the largest disaster management programs, as this country is prone to
many calamities. In 1996, the United Nations Development Program approved a project to
strengthen the National Center for Disaster Management at the Delhi’s Indian Institute of
14
Public Administration with an intention to train the government officers and others albeit not
much headway has been done yet in this endeavor. At times of calamities and emergencies all
concerned ministries, State governments, Union government with the coordination of local
volunteers shall join hands for providing both immediate and long term relief measures. The
volunteers from local level institutions like Panchayaths, Cooperatives and NGOs may be
trained by the competent and professional agencies to involve in rescue and rehabilitation
operations. Perhaps introducing curriculum at different levels (Schools, Colleges and
Universities) in educational institutions will help and sensitize student fraternity on disaster
management and rehabilitation. Instead of ad hock and compartmentalized rehabilitation work
it is worth emulating, if concerned authorities including cooperatives concentrate on a holistic,
tangible and transparent approach towards development works including rehabilitation in the
fragile regions.
References:
Anon (2006). One Year After Tsunami, Down To Earth, Pp:30-9.
Anon (2006). Hopes and Fears – A Year After the Tsunami. Frontline, January 13, Pp8-28.
Anon (2006). UN Special Envoy Sees Progress in Post – Tsunami Rehabilitation. The
Hindu, February 26, Chennai.
Anon, The Hindu, January 9, Chennai.
Anon (2006). Status Report on Tsunami Rehabilitation. Asia Pacific Forum on Women,
Law and Development, Unpublished Report, Nagapattinam.
Berger Leslie (2006). Listening to Tsunami Survivors: Treating Aid Recipients like
Valued Customers Gives Insights into Disaster Relief. Stanford Social Innovation Review,
Spring: pp 1-15.
Brett E A (1993). Voluntary Agencies as Development Organizations: Theorizing the
Problem of Efficiency and Accountability. Development and Change, 24(2):269-303.
Dongre Y (2004). Cooperatives at Cross Roads. The Hindu, October 11th, Chennai.
Harper Caroline (1997). Using Grassroots Experience to Inform Macro Level Policy: An
NGO Perspective. Journal of International Development, 9(5):771-8.
Morrissey Oliver (1997). Micro-Macro Linkages: An Economist's Perspective. Journal of
International Development, 9(5):755-60.
Narayanamoorthy A (2006). State of India’s Farmers. Economic and Political Weekly,
XLI(6): 471-3.
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NCRC (2005). Compendium of Tsunami Affected Villages. Unpublished, Nagapattinam.
NCUI (2001). Cooperative Movement in India - A Profile, National Cooperative Union of
India, New Delhi.
Rajendran S (2006). Third Sector Intervention and Rehabilitation of Tsunami Victims in
India. Paper accepted for presentation at the Seventh ISTR International Conference at
Bangkok, held between 9th and 12th July.
----------------- (2004). Perspectives on the Contours of Multipurpose Women Cooperatives
in India. Paper presented at the Third Asia Pacific Cooperative Research Conference at Lotus
Hotel, Chiangmai, Thailand on 30 November.
---------------- (2004a). Non-governmental Organizations and Sustainable Agriculture
Development in India. Paper Presented at the Sixth ISTR International Conference, held at
Ryerson University, Toronto, Canada from 11th to 14th July.
Sethi H (1993). Some Notes on Micro-Struggles: NGOs and the State. Asian Exchange
Arena Bulletin, 9(1&2).
Zaidi S Akbar (1999). NGO Failure and the Need to Bring Back the State. Journal
International Development, Vol. 11, 259-71.
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