Report by Jayaram about thier visit to cyclone affected areas in Cuddalore district
Selva, Nikil and myself (Jayaram) reached Cuddalore yesterday. On our way, we were able to see a lot of damages to infrastructure. A number of electric post lines have fell down, a huge number of trees have fallen. Our field team which has already visited a few villages shared the status of the villages. The entire Cuddalore district seems to be affected but Cuddalore and Parangipettai blocks have been the most affected compared to other blocks.
We along with the field team went to a few villages in Parangipettai block. The first village was Adivaraganallur. Thatched households have taken the maximum hit. Our Superkidz children Devadarshini and Naramada’s houses have been damaged the most in the village.
Villagers informed us that rebuilding their huts is the most important need. Since there was an early warning, everyone was able to store their clothes and important things in a secure place. Since it is cold in the night and with damage to shelter, a lot of blankets are needed immediately.
We then proceeded towards the coast where the damage is more severe. We visited villiyanallur, manikollai, poovalai and Chendrikalam. A number of thatched houses have been damaged severely. As it is near the coast, drinking water is also a major problem. Water tank is not refilled as there is no power. With so many posts fallen, it look like that it will take atleast a week or two before power could be restored.
Panchayats have been using NREGP to clear the roads and villages. Livelihood has been adversely affected. All the crops paddy, cashew, banana and sugarcane have been affected a lot. No leaves can be found on banana trees. Cashew trees have been uprooted and most paddies have fallen off from the plants as they are nearing harvest. Damage seems to be atleast Rs 15000 per acre of land and farmers are keeping their fingers crossed on whether the government will announce any relief for them.
For most of these people it has been a pretty bad start to the New Year. Many of the children and elders explained with shock that they have never seen something like this in their life. We should all help in what little way we can. Our teams sat together and have started to work on the following. We will need a lot of help for all of you for this. We decided to focus on 10 villages in parangipettai block.
Urgent requirement:
- Providing blankets to the affected households. This is very critical for the children
- Providing candles for households. It is atleast going to take a week for power to be restored.
- Rebuilding the thatched households that have been severely damaged. We definitely need people to help both financially as well as we need a lot of volunteers on the field to build it.
Jayaram, 01 Jan 2012 |
