Tsunami triggers coastal communities to ‘prepare’ for disaster
Sharada Balasubramanian
A small road narrows down to ocean from the wide East Coast Road, leading to the coastal
village Sulerikattukuppam in Tamilnadu. Venu Desamuthu, a fisherman from the village in the
Nemmeli Panchayat clearly remembers the day when tsunami struck the coast, “There were no
concrete roads then. Water gurgled from the mud floor below like a spring. Soon, there was
water all around the village and people were scampering to safety. It was later that we got to
know of the word tsunami.”
Nemmeli Panchayat has a cluster of 15 coastal hamlets, and majority of the population here
belong to the fishing community. The area is prone to frequent cyclones during north-east
monsoon season, and faced the wrath of tsunami, followed by Cyclone Nilam and Thane.
For almost a year, fishermen kept off the sea for their livelihood. It took about two years for the
people to resume their normal lives. Meanwhile, the relief measures were on, and people
received essentials like food, blankets, to keep them going.
Though there were no serious human casualties here, during tsunami, fishermen lost their fishing
gears and nets. Their homes crumbled to pieces. The fish catch had also gone down, and there
emerged a need to have an alternative livelihood.
However, since most of the older generation in this coastal region did not continue their
schooling, the younger generation usually finished their schooling and followed their parent’s
occupation, fishing. Post tsunami though, there was as a shift in mindset of fishermen here.
Many of them were sceptical about sending their children to teach fishing and send them to sea
for a livelihood.
This coastal rural region has not received much attention too, in terms of an opportunity for
affordable and accessible higher education. Hence, the coastal population in this region had no
other options for their livelihood other than following their traditional way.
‘Need’ for disaster preparedness
After tsunami, people in Nemmeli learnt a very important lesson - the need to prepare for
disaster. To sensitize and bring in collaboration between communities to learn disaster risk
reduction (DRR), Local Residents Alliance (LRA) was formed with the support of the NGO
Seeds India. Along with them, the state government, Department of Science and Technology
(DST), foreign universities from Japan and Australia, who gave the local students training on
how to prepare for disaster got together to comprehensively give disaster management education
and preparedness to people living in these vulnerable areas. The training programs explained
how disasters like cyclones and tsunamis happen, how to act during such times, evacuation
routes, and first aid techniques, among other things. The focal point of LRA was to raise
awareness on local disaster and climate change induced risks at local level, bring in risk
reduction and disaster resilience in local development programs.
The group supports the local area in preparing development strategies that link disaster risk
reduction and climate change adaptation. This is keeping in line with their economic growth and
poverty reduction objectives. The activities are planned in a collaborative manner.
Fishermen said that this training programme will enable them to take action when disaster
strikes. For instance, who to evacuate first, how to find the easiest route to escape were things the
local community, etc.
‘Cyclone Shelter’ converted to Community College
When tsunami struck, people took refuge in a cyclone shelter, a few kilometres from their
homes. Today, a community college stands here, where fishermen’s children are pursuing their
degree. Desamuthu’s son is doing his final year of commerce degree here.
In 2011, with the support of the state government, the community college in Nemmeli was built
to give fishermen’s children an opportunity to graduate and find an alternative livelihood. The
courses that are offered here include Literature, Commerce and Computer Applications. The
college not just gives regular lessons on their subject, but goes a step ahead to offer disaster risk
reduction (DRR) as an elective course. The three main objectives of this disaster elective course
were to develop an understanding on disaster management process, to understand the mitigation
programs and understand the disaster management policies and legislations. The theoretical
aspects were taught in the class. Group discussions, tour to neighboring villages to prepare
hazard maps and collect household survey data happened through interactions with the local
community.
There are several advantages in introducing this course (1) students have faced fury of 2004
tsunami (2) their practical experience with tsunami and coastal floods in monsoon timing helped
to understand the importance of this course and (3) It was easy to visit field sites to gain more
practical knowledge. Whatever they learned in the class room can be linked to the field visit
experience on the same day.
It was observed that majority of the students in these villages have a sense of feeling that their
class room knowledge should be used by their community so that their villages are geared up to
act when disaster happens.
After 7 years of the 2004 Indian Ocean tsunami, the establishment of this college gave a new
scope to bring this rural population in to main stream of higher education.
Mapping Hazard
The students from the college got together with the city students and the National Social Service
(NSS) team to prepare hazard map for the villages. The result of this interesting and enriching
experience lies right at the entrance of the village where hazard maps were put up. This colourcoded map showed the population ratio, the number of older people, women, and children living
there and the evacuation route. Below this map, a blank space is left. Says Ignatius Prabhakaran,
an anthropologist from Seeds India who is working closely with the communities, “People need
to constantly remind themselves to prepare for disaster, so this empty space will be filled with
sayings or quotes. This will be written by the local people in the local language. People will
write them once in a fortnight just so that they remember disaster could strike any moment and
preparedness is the key to survive.”
Rajalakshmi Mahadevan, 22, a fisherman’s daughter, who is in her final year of college, headed
the hazard mapping exercise, and today, she is confident, ready to take up a job and pursue her
master’s degree. This would not have happened if the college wasn’t set up. “Education has
changed my life”, she says.
During the hazard mapping exercise, Rajalakshmi, along with other team members surveyed
their villages. She says, “Since we were familiar with the local people, the comfort level was
there and interaction was easy.” The local people got together with students in mapping their
village. For instance, older people gave information about location of wells, ponds in the village,
which was unknown to the students. This helped in understanding the village better.
From every house, they collected information on the people who lived there, if they needed
facilities like hospital, and so on. This information not just helped in understanding what their
villages needed, but helped in discovering community issues. Awareness on health and hygiene
issues were conducted too. The teams were divided and each worked on questions pertaining to
socio-economics, environment etc.
The task of setting up this college was Herculean indeed. Ramaswamy Krishnamurthy, a
professor from Applied Geology department, Madras University, who was the backbone of this
initiative, served as a principal here for four years. He shares, “I found it challenging to pull the
young kids out of their cocooned homes and goad them to enter college. Many families were
reluctant. I hired an auto, put a speaker on it, and went around the villages, asking people to
bring their children to the college for their studies.”
Once enrolled, the core was to build confidence among the minds of people. They had to train
the students in life saving skills. Technology-based teaching methods slowly came in and
interactive sessions using information communication and technology (ICT) helped them to learn
better.
The enrolled students received government scholarship worth Rs 5000, a free bus pass to
commute from home to college. As four years passed, there was a sharp increase in the number
of girls enrolling for the course. It was clearly a sign of progress.
The students could go to college, not just because it was closer to their homes, but also because
the cost of getting the degree was something that the fishermen community could afford. Where
a normal college degree would cost Rs 25000 a year, a degree at the community college would
only cost Rs 2500 a year.
Impact of the College
From a mere 67 students in 2011, the number of students studying here has seen a sharp rise to
about 400 students. The students are first generation learners from a family background of Below
Poverty Line (BPL).
Though students from Nemmeli Panchayat are given preference for admission, villagers from
neighboring villages are also joining this college. Many students who graduated from the villages
are now working for multinational companies and are economically well-off.
The local communities express that apart from enhancing the literacy level in the villages,
growth of this college will have a significant impact at a societal level, as the value for land is
increasing and there are new constructions and companies mushrooming up. This would lead to
better employment opportunities for the college graduates, enhancing the lives of the fishermen
communities. The students say that even if they get a job in a company they would never want to
leave the coastal village, for this is home.
Says Raghu Raja, a fisherman, “My daughter is now two years old. By the time my daughter
grows up, there will be a huge demand for admission into this college.”
Nemmeli Panchayat is an example where it has been established that higher education in rural
areas did help the vulnerable communities to be disaster resilient.
Now, efforts are underway to prepare community-based disaster management (CBDM) plan for
Nemmeli Panchayat so that it can prove to be a model Panchayat in the state. The state
government has given a 10 acre land adjacent to the college to establish permanent infrastructure
and give better facilities for the students. Proposals are under consideration to introduce more
inter-disciplinary and integrated 5 year courses, which will lead to a complete transformation of
this coastal region by 2020.