Case2-April-2014
A depression formed over southeast Bay of Bengal in the evening of 25th December, 2011 and lay centered about 1000km southeast of Chennai. It gradually moved north-northwestwards and intensified into a deep depression in the early morning of 26th December, 2011 and into a cyclonic storm ‘THANE’ in the same midnight. It then moved west-northwestwards and intensified into a severe cyclonic storm in the afternoon and into a very severe cyclonic storm in the evening of 28th December, 2011. It then moved west-southwestwards and crossed north Tamil Nadu & Puducherry coast between Cuddalore and Puducherry within 0630 and 0730 hrs IST of 30th December, 2011 with a wind speed of 120-140 kmph. After landfall, the system rapidly weakened into a severe cyclonic storm over north coastal Tamil Nadu at 0830 hrs IST of 30th and into a deep depression around noon and into a depression in the same evening over the north Interior Tamil Nadu. It weakened further and lay as a well marked low pressure area over north Kerala and neighborhood in early morning of 31st December, 2011.
The Thane cyclone, which crossed over the coastal district of Cuddalore and Pondicherry, on 26th of December 2011, caused unforeseen damages to the fishing and farming communities. The disaster claimed 47 lives and many of the people who lived in huts, where left stranded in streets, who got lodged in relief camps later. The age-old trees, which stood as wind barriers, were uprooted by the cyclone. Lakhs of trees, thousands of lampposts, hundreds of huts and tiled houses were damaged by the disaster. Even after a week period, electricity connection is not restored in the rural and part of urban areas.
The farming and fishing livelihoods were paralyzed and came to a standstill position. The worst affected are the poor and vulnerable households living in huts and tiled houses. Most of these households were illequipped to meet this disaster. Dismayed by the loss, poor households are in desperate need of support for recovery.
Agriculture: Extensive damages were reported in coastal farms within 30km from the seashore. Standing crops like paddy, groundnut, onion and other vegetable crops have been totally damaged. Most of the horticulture crops like cashew, coconut and casurina were destroyed by the cyclone. About 90 thousand hectares of land was damaged by the cyclone. Many of the livestock like birds, goats and cows have died.
Horticulture: Among the perennial horticultural crops, cashew and coconut plantations suffered the maximum damages. Many of the trees got uprooted and died. The casurina crop, which was cultivated in the coastal areas, was also damaged. It is notable that, many of the farmers were waiting to earn after investing in the horticulture tree crops and unfortunately, the damages have shattered their confidence. These farmers have to wait for the next three years to earn from horticulture activity, for which they need financial support.
Livestock in the coastal areas: Apart from agriculture and horticulture, livestock activity is an important source of income for the agriculture labourers and marginal farmers. The cyclone that has hit the coast has also killed hundreds of livestock. Around 123 livestock have died.
Impact on Agriculture Labourers: The marginalised communities and landless poor households are engaged in labour works in the coastal area. The cyclone not only had impact on the landowner but also on the labourers who were entirely dependent on agriculture fields. Thousands of poor households have lost employment opportunities. Most of them are unskilled and presently these households are struggling for their basic needs. Notable fact is that, more than 60% of the workforce engaged in the labour work is women. The muchdreaded cyclone Thane damaged about 50% of the crop in Cuddalore district. The wind speed of the cyclone was measured to 120 – 140 km per hour, which uprooted trees and damaged the crops. Of the total cultivated 1,84,942 hectares nearly 90,752 hectares got damaged by the cyclone. Nearly 63,020 hectares of paddy got affected. The worst affected where the Cashew plantations. Of the 28,012 hectares of cashew, 14,800 hectares were affected and it will take many more years to revive these plantation.
Fishing crafts like Fiber reinforced plastic boats (FRP boats), and launches were hit by the cyclone. In Cuddalore and Puducherry 320 fishing crafts were damaged by the cyclone. Many of the boats damaged are in such a condition that, it cannot be renovated. Nearly 220 fisher folks have lost gears of all types. Those gears were completely wiped and still they are missing. Fisher folks settled in the coastal area faced the worst damage due to cyclone.
The cyclone that struck the coastal community was a second shocker to them within 10 years. The damages caused by the tsunami disaster are still unforgettable to many of the households. Notable that, both these disasters has stricken the coastal districts on the fourth week of December.
The houses that were located in the coastal blocks were crushed and devastated by the cyclone. The damages were huge in poorly developed areas, where the settlement of poor people was noticed. Flooding is noticed in the low lying areas. Roof of tiled houses got collapsed and huts were completely damaged. The affected households were lodged in relief camps, schools and neighbour houses. The cyclone has affected 5,584 houses of which 2,439 were completely damaged and 3,145 houses partially damaged in various blocks of Cuddalore and Puducherry district. Many of the huts and tiled houses were damaged by the fallen trees.
Infrastructures of all kinds have been damaged too. The electricity poles, transformers etc were severely damaged and the entire villages cut off from power supply; Water supply system, water posts etc. Shops that existed in the villages were shattered; schools grievously hit. The complete recovery is a time taking process.
They were the major victims. Traditionally women are responsible for taking care of household chores. In the post disaster context, with limited resources, poor women were struggling to meet the household needs. The struggle for food and water exits in the worst affected areas. The scope for outbreak of diseases like cholera is very high, and the children below the age of 5 will be the worst affected. Most of them are terrorized need counseling to return to the normal life.
Preparedness with the government: Post-disaster, the
government announced a compensation र 150 crores for the victims of the disasters. The total damage is expected
to be around र 2,000 crores. Every day meetings were
organised by the district administration and funds were
allocated based on the needs. Priority was given to
fulfill the basic needs of the community such as supply
of drinking water, food for people staying at common
place. Damage assessments in the agriculture and
horticulture fields were also done. Government of Tamil
Nadu has announced a compensation of र 5,000 for fully
damaged houses, र 2,500 for partially damaged houses.
Government of Puducherry provides र 2,000 for all
ration card holders and र 1,800 additional for registered
fishermen. But the amount announced is not sufficient
to restore the houses which are fully or partly damaged.
Staffs of DHAN Foundation, People institution leaders, and people staffs responded immediately after the disaster for facilitating relief and recovery work. The recovery works facilitated includes removal of fallen trees on the roadsides and houses, supporting people to recover their assets from damaged houses to common places, safeguarding old age people, community cooking, supplying drinking water, and assessing village level damages. The poor people, who are sick and in need of support, were sent to the nearby public health centers, The milk processing unit established by DHAN Foundation and run by the community supplied over 6000 liters of milk to the nearby villages after the disaster.
The corporate industries at SIPCOT provided emergency support to the affected villagers. The industries are supplying drinking water from the bore wells and they have arranged vehicles to carry water to the affected villages. Ramco Cements arranged Tankers to supply water to villages, further they have provided relief materials such as grocery items to very few of the villagers. Petrol bulks and companies provided extension electricity services for charging mobile phones.
The neighbours at villages supported the affected persons by providing food, providing bed sheets and space for sleep. In a village at Kullanchavadi, the president of the village prepared food with his own expenses and supplied to all the houses in the villages. Few landlords supply drinking water to the neighbours. People at concrete houses, big farmers, and economically well versed people provided space for people who lost their houses, provided food for others, supported in recovering damaged houses and other life of people and livelihood assets. Further affected people combined share their resources and fulfilling their basic needs. Rich people supports filling overhead tanks at villages through generators.
The government and many other voluntary organizations were engaged in the relief and restoration activities. Despite, the basic needs of the households in the remote villages were left unaddressed. As the household assets and money kept into the houses were damaged, victims are dependent on every single need. The emergency and short term needs of the households are stated below.
The local community will be engaged in identifying gaps in relief works, purchase and distribution of relief materials. As per the universal code, the food items which are locally consumed by the community were supplied. DHAN Foundation engaged professionals to assess the level of damages to the houses and based on which funds were allocated to the poor households to enable them to recover from the disasters.