Report from Chennai

this is based on an update from srI TNS Narayanan, who visited the foreshore estate area for the past couple of days.

(i) in Foreshore estate, and surrounding areas in chennai, the fishermen/women want to get temporary housing up asap so that they can start setting their lives in order.
(ii) The fishermen want to start resuming their profession - they want help with repair of boats & nets.

Vedics is investigating the building of temporary huts in the area. More details on this soon.

Varadhan

Update from Guna Venkat

information after a chat with Guna Venkat:

(i) The project in kiLLai to build temporary housing will help about 100 families;
(ii) The request for temporary shelter was brought up in a meeting in which the local tahsildar and inspector etc. were present. They have let our field volunteers know that they will call them back re: approval in the next day or so.
(iii) Vedics is waiting for formal approval from the local tahslidar & inspector to begin the work

(iv) Guna is visiting a few places near thiruvAli thirunagari area (closer to nAgai) today to assess where we can help.

Varadhan

How can I help?

In India, you can help by

• going to the field with other volunteers to assess the situation & get a firsthand view of what needs to be done
• helping with the projects we implement - this may involve working with the co-ordinators to do things like getting government paperwork approved, buy materials needed for the work, if possible stay in the area where work is being done and help with the work etc.

Please contact Sri T.N.S.Narayanan at 044-2441-2209 if you want to help.

In the US, you can help by

• raising awareness of the projects amongst your friends/family
• co-ordinating various aspects of the projects (talk to India teams, get status and provide status updates to donors etc.)

Please contact Mukundan Pattangi (danp at uic dot edu; 312-850-1169) or T.A.Varadhan (tavaradhan at yahoo dot com; 425-785-3912)

To donate money, please go to www.vedics.net/appeals/tsunami

Contact Information

In India:

Co-ordinator: Sri. T.N.S.Narayanan @ chennai. ph: 044-24412209
Field contacts: Sri. Guna Venkat. mobile: 98441-95239; Sri sudarshan @ chidambaram (phnum to be updated soon)

In the US:
Mukundan Pattangi - danp (at) uic dot edu
Sridhar Srinivasan - pataps (at) yahoo dot com
TCA Venkatesan - vtca (at) yahoo dot com
T.A.Varadhan - tavaradhan (at) yahoo dot com

Brief summary of activities so far

Vedics volunteers in India have done the following so far

• visited a few areas outside of chennai to firsthand understand the immediate and future needs of the affected people; the three areas are (i) cuddalore area (ii) chidambaram area, and (iii) kalpakkam area; a volunteer is now proceeding the nagappattinam.
• contacted officials in the affected areas to understand what is being done/planned

Here are the key things that Vedics India volunteers are reporting

• In the areas visited, there is no shortage of food and clothing; in fact, in some areas, food is available in plenty and is going waste due to a variety of reasons.
• Local charities/organizations and most of all, local people have taken great interest in immediate needs - food/clothing/medicine; for example, in the kiLLai village area near chidambaram, Raja muthiah college has made extensive arrangements for food and clothing.
• The most immediate thing needed is temporary shelter; people's houses have been washed away, and it may take a while before they can get new land and build(rebuild) their houses.
• Though several relief organizations have started building temporary shelters in many areas, the affected areas are so vast that many areas are without any help

Vedics India is pursuing the following plans for immediate help:

• Building of a temporary shelter in the kiLLai area for affected people; a local person has agreed to donate the land for temporary use, and the local officials have supported the building of temporary shelters; one of our volunteers who is a retired engineer, has preliminarily estimated the cost to be 1.5 lakh rupees to build this shelter (shelter, toilets etc.); the field volunteers will pursue this activity, and get more detailed estimates soon;
• As we get more reports from the nagai area, we will determine if there is a need to build more shelters in other places, and take up the activity as our resources allow.

For long term rehabilitation, Vedics is planning to

• Help families to settle down - this means building of a new house, buying household goods (utensils, stove, books/notebooks for children, dresses of the right size etc.)
• The cost per helping a family to settle down is estimated as below
• House (hall, one room, kitchen, toilet; with cement flooring, good roof) = approx. 50,000 rupees
• Household utensils, books/notebooks etc. = approx. 15,000 rupees per family
• Support for a few months = approx. 10-15,000 rupees per family
• Total cost to help rehabilitate a family = approx. 70 - 75,000 rupees.
• Vedics India will try to help as many families as possible with this. The plan is to take up a village (or a few streets), and then help a group of families to settle;
• logistical issues include the allotment of new land for the families (government will do this) if the land has been washed away.
• Volunteers will stay in the areas where help is being provided, and will help with the work.

Food Relief

It jives with what I had read in the news that there is plenty of food to go around right now. Medical supplies may be ok for now, but the concern I had heard was that if there is a cholera or typhoid breakout, then there may not be sufficient shots to go around. So, perhaps Vedics can be on the standby to get shots if such a thing happens. Other than that, it sounds like our best areas to help may be in the longer term rehabilitation of families and/or orphaned children.

Readme

hi,

I set this blog up to keep all the conversations re: the VEDICS tsunami project easily accessible.

Varadhan