Two years after the Asian tsunami: thousands still suffering in India
By Ram Kumar and T. Kala
29 December 2006
On the second anniversary of the December 2004 Asian tsunami, many survivors in Indian coastal villages and the Andaman and Nicobar islands still face atrocious conditions, including lack of proper housing, sanitary conditions and livelihoods. The disaster killed around 14,000 people in India and another 2.7 million people were affected. Most of the victims were from fishing communities.
In the southern state of Tamil Nadu alone, where 8,005 people were killed, 3,551 injured and 487,185 evacuated, tens of thousands are still without permanent houses. Many are living in shelters built by non-government organisations. On the remote Andaman and Nicobar archipelago, where about 3,500 people were killed, more than 9,700 families are still without proper shelter. They live in temporary homes of corrugated iron sheets, under the often-unbearable heat of the tropical sun.
According to United Nations, World Bank and Asian Development Bank reports published this month, across the tsunami-affected areas of India, just 28 percent of the needed 98,477 houses have been built. In the Andaman and Nicobar islands, less than 1 percent of the 9,714 homes required have been completed.
(MORE)
http://www.wsws.org/articles/2006/dec2006/indi-d29.shtml
Tsunami's Latest Victims
By James Ross, Senior Legal Advisor at Human Rights Watch
The Indian Ocean tsunami of December 26, 2004 killed more than 30,000 people in Sri Lanka and demolished the homes of thousands more. Two years later, many tsunami survivors are still homeless, still dying, and still searching for safer ground. They are not fleeing the sudden onrush of a massive wave, but the armed conflict that has engulfed this island nation once again after more than four years of relative peace. Many survivors are victims yet again.
Longstanding government oppression of Sri Lanka’s ethnic Tamil minority has been at the root of the current conflict. For two decades the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE), commonly known as the Tamil Tigers, have pursued a policy of combat and killings to achieve an independent Tamil state. A 2002 ceasefire agreement with the government halted fighting that had left some 65,000 Sri Lankans dead, but failed to stop continuing human rights abuses by both sides.
Major military operations resumed in July. (MORE)
http://hrw.org/english/docs/2006/12/26/slanka14938.htm
Published in Foreign Policy in Focus http://www.fpif.org/fpiftxt/3825
By Ram Kumar and T. Kala
29 December 2006
On the second anniversary of the December 2004 Asian tsunami, many survivors in Indian coastal villages and the Andaman and Nicobar islands still face atrocious conditions, including lack of proper housing, sanitary conditions and livelihoods. The disaster killed around 14,000 people in India and another 2.7 million people were affected. Most of the victims were from fishing communities.
In the southern state of Tamil Nadu alone, where 8,005 people were killed, 3,551 injured and 487,185 evacuated, tens of thousands are still without permanent houses. Many are living in shelters built by non-government organisations. On the remote Andaman and Nicobar archipelago, where about 3,500 people were killed, more than 9,700 families are still without proper shelter. They live in temporary homes of corrugated iron sheets, under the often-unbearable heat of the tropical sun.
According to United Nations, World Bank and Asian Development Bank reports published this month, across the tsunami-affected areas of India, just 28 percent of the needed 98,477 houses have been built. In the Andaman and Nicobar islands, less than 1 percent of the 9,714 homes required have been completed.
(MORE)
http://www.wsws.org/articles/2006/dec2006/indi-d29.shtml
Tsunami's Latest Victims
By James Ross, Senior Legal Advisor at Human Rights Watch
The Indian Ocean tsunami of December 26, 2004 killed more than 30,000 people in Sri Lanka and demolished the homes of thousands more. Two years later, many tsunami survivors are still homeless, still dying, and still searching for safer ground. They are not fleeing the sudden onrush of a massive wave, but the armed conflict that has engulfed this island nation once again after more than four years of relative peace. Many survivors are victims yet again.
Longstanding government oppression of Sri Lanka’s ethnic Tamil minority has been at the root of the current conflict. For two decades the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE), commonly known as the Tamil Tigers, have pursued a policy of combat and killings to achieve an independent Tamil state. A 2002 ceasefire agreement with the government halted fighting that had left some 65,000 Sri Lankans dead, but failed to stop continuing human rights abuses by both sides.
Major military operations resumed in July. (MORE)
http://hrw.org/english/docs/2006/12/26/slanka14938.htm
Published in Foreign Policy in Focus http://www.fpif.org/fpiftxt/3825