Alert: Cyclone Gaja,Tamil Nadu, India (18-014-RO)

Cyclone Gaja has left a trail of devastation and misery along Nagapattinam and Karaikal districts. The destruction was most acute along the stretch of villages from Velankanni to Vedaranyam, with the coastal villages of Seruthur, Kameswaram, Vilundumavadi, Vanavanmahadevi, Vellapallam, Pushpavanam, Arukaduthrai among the worst affected. These villages are large panchayats – comprising of large number of agrarian and plantation based communities, along with significant fisher communities.

Cyclone warnings were received by all the communities for winds and rainfall through the media, as well as official communication from government departments. As precautionary measures, officials asked people to move into the permanent Disaster Relief Shelter of their respective panchayats. However, these panchayats are so large in their area that it was not possible from people from all wards to access the shelter. The shelter was also situated in the wards of dominant agrarian communities. Thus, fishing communities were mostly cut off from the Disaster Shelter. And landless dalits, who did not have brick and cement houses, moved to their relatives and neighbours who had such permanent structures. A small minority among them decided to stay back in their thatched roof homes, as they did not want to leave behind their livestock, or did not have as many friends to move into. Thus, these disaster shelters could accommodate only a tiny segment of the target population. They have been wholly inadequate to their objective of being a strong shelter for the vulnerable. They are just too far and too few in number.