Report on the Actions by the TCMT                                     

No tremours / breaking news / high alerts would stop the tsunami relief camp from happening on 30th Dec 2004. In spite of the imminent warnings about Tsunamis and earthquakes possible in Chennai, and the roads near the beach blocked, the camp went on to do what it should.

Camp One: Besant Nagar Community Center 
Date: 30.12.2004
Beneficiary: 500 families of Ulour and Alcot Kuppam.

The Government help reached to the owners of the huts which were devastated... there were a silent lots who were tenants of huts which were washed away. These victims, who were lodged in various make shift shelter aids, identified with police help were given relief and medical aid.

Thanks to help from the Deputy Commissioner Shri Ayush Mani Thiwari,IPS, the relief did reached the needy.

The camp was organized, the Chennai Commissioner of Police Shri R Natraj IPS and Joint Commissioner Of Police Shri C Uma Ganapathy Shastri IPS, flagged of the camp.

Relief Kit contained Two Loafs of Bread, Biscuits, Milk Powder 1 Kg,Blanket, Clothes for an adult and a lady, mats, plastic pot and Cooking utensils [ 6 Piece set ]. 

The Medical camp was put together with six doctors, Vaccination,trauma care and medicines for various aliments were administered. They were also given enough supply of medicines for their periodical consumptions.

This even was well publicized; the TV News networks, SUN, JAYA and news networks covered the camp extensively.

The 2 main areas that have been affected in Area 1 are Nagapatinam (150kms from Trichy) and Kanyakumari District (Southern tip of India)

The Kerala Tables in Area 1 are focusing their efforts towards Kanyakumari due to their proximity, while the Tamil Nadu Tables are helping Nagapattinam.

Till Date, medicines / mineral water / old clothes / milk powder / bed sheets / blankets / rice / Dal / biscuits / rusk, etc are being provided.

On behalf of Round Table India, we have adopted a village “Kallar”, 8 kms from Nagapatinam. The population of this village is 1200 (Approx). 200 people from this village have perished due to this huge Calamity. 

We are focusing all our relief efforts in this particular village for the Nagapatinam Area. 

Area 7 has helped in a big way, by providing medicines to the extant of Ind. Rs.5,00,000/ "(approx. US$ 0.11 Million)"- at Nagapatinam area. These are being distributed to the various Government Medical Camps by the Tablers of TRT 54. Similarly, the Tablers of Nagercoil are in the process of adopting a village.

Relief work for the Tsunami Hit coastal villages near Pondicherry.  The relief work is being jointly done by all the Three Tables of Pondicherry. So far two projects have been done. The first was the distribution of Blankets & Sarees on the second day of the Tsunami Crisis. Again around 20 Bags of Rice was distributed to the villagers. Apart from this volunteers from all the Tables have been visiting Cuddalore, Nagapattinam & assisting the relief work being done there.

The Guntur Round Table (GRT86) has  provided rice worth Rs.50,000/- to the victims at Prakasam District. Please find few photos taken at the Relief camp by Guntur Round Table.

TASK AHEAD:

Round Table India's plans for long term rehabilitation are now more or less getting concrete in that direction. We are awaiting the Govt. Sanctions for the same - which we expect that it will come up in the next week or so - after which we will immediately start work on rehabilitation. Under Tsunami approx. 300 - 400 schools have been devastated. We (along with the Govt.) are currently undertaking a physical inspection of all the schools so that we get a proper estimate for the quantum of work that needs to be undertaken in these effected schools. We have positioned ourselves as the Authorised agency to represent Govt. in these schools to carry out repairs as well as rebuilding (as needed). The outlay planned by us as of now is Rs. 5 Crores (approx. Euro 1Million) and we have actually collected more than Rs. 1 Crore (approx. Euro 200,000) as of now.

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Day I Report of German Dr. Trs. assistance in Tsunami Relief efforts of RT India - 18th Jan 2004. 

10:30 am : Medical Camp at Notchikuppam - Marina Beach
A Medical Camp was organised. The organisers (Trs.) were almost mobbed by a crowd of 1200 women, children & fishermen when they reached at the camp site. The health check-up / screening started immediately. Dr. Marwan & Dr. Oliver (from RT Germany) were joined by Dr. Kala & Dr. Kishore Reddy (from Chennai Tables India) and this team treated the adults while Dr. Gerd (RT Germany) was examining the children - being a paedriatric surgeon. Antacids, antibiotic and medicine were distributed based on the prescription freely. 

1:00 pm : Meeting with the Deputy Mayor, Corporation of Chennai - R. Thiagarajan
The Team had a meeting which lasted for about 35 minutes, which I understand - the German friends of ours were very impressed when the Mayor presented them the traditional Indian shawl in the presence of Tr. Shiv, Tr. Sanjay and Tr. Linesh. They handed over the greetings and plaque from the Mayor of Hoexter - Holzminden. The Chennai Corporation Mayor has confirmed that in reciprocation he will hand over a letter on Friday to them, when the German Drs. are back in Chennai. 

1:45 pm : Break for Lunch - hosted by Tr. Shiv.

2:45 pm : Assembled again at Notchikuppam Camp for distribution of 300 packets consisting of clothes, steel plates, biscuits, water packets etc. This was also very well recieved by the local residents of Notchikuppam

3:15 pm : The team went visiting the various affected villages along the East coast Road (from Chennai down to Pondiherry). The team visitied about 20 Hamlets in all inclduing Manja Board, Muttukadu and Kalpakkam. 

7.45 pm : Reached Pondicherry and team was recieved and homehosted by Trs of Pondicherry. 

Day 2 : 19th Jan 2005.

The team of Trs. Dr.Marwan, Dr.Oliver & Dr.Gerhard arrived at Pondi by road from Chennai on 18th Jan night. They were home hosted by Pondicherry Tables (no. 70, 104 and 167)

Morning 19th Jan - The team was taken to the coastal villages of Mudaliarkuppam, Kuninchampet which was 25-30 kms from Pondicherry City. The visiting Tablers were taken aback on seeing the damages to the village of Mudaliarkuppam where ALL the houses had been damaged and EVERY house lies abandoned. The Tsunami's devastation was clearly seen. The roads were washed away & the recky team even had difficulty in driving the vehicles. The villages wore a ghostly image and appearance.

A visit to the local Primary school which was being run in temporary sheds followed - the school buildings were completely damaged and the furniture, Text Books & stationery were totally washed away. The visiting tablers saw the food being prepared for the School children. The visiting Trs. saw the Pondicherry Tables were adopting the village and proposed to build new school block for this village. 

Subsequent to this, the team visited a medical vaccination camp run in the village by the Primary Health centre where vaccinations were being given. Here the professional medical team got into action and understood / reviewed the procedure being adopted & looked into the various vaccines & Polio drops being administered to the children of the village. They spent some time in knowing the dosages and the administering procedures of the various vaccines for different age groups and helped in ascertaining that all processes as should be followed is being followed. 

A visit to village of Kuninchampet where another school run in temporary shed was inspected and the team saw the total chaos due to lack of space due to damages of Tsunami. The German team took a look around and saw the work of putting up temporary shelters with Bamboo and A/C Sheet for the villagers. 

Later the team went and met the doctor of the Primary health centre who explained in details the procedure and the action plan they had taken after the hit of Tsunami. She also explained that there were no cases of Diarrhoea which they feared. The team was very happy about it. They enquired about the position of the medical supplies. The duty doctor informed that they had enough stock and dosages of medicine and also a preventive maintenance was taken care to avoid the spread of communicable disease.

The team was also taken to Hanumanthai to show the school building block built by Pondicherry RT 70. The Germans were very impressed and happy to note that the Tabling acitivity was very strong in India and aprreciated the good project done by the Tablers of Pondicherry. 

From here we went to visit the boat manufacturing unit at Marakanam. We are recieving some funds from Tr.Martijn Baarda RT Netherlands for this specific project. 

The team later visited the Round Table school built by Pondicherry Rivage RT 104 which was for the hearing impaired children. The visiting Tablers interacted with the Students of the school and they also saw the construction work of the first floor of the school in progress. Again, they had lot of praises for the Pondicherry Tablers for doing a good project.

After a hectic day, the team drove upto to Velankanau - enroute to Nagapattinam.

Day 3 - 20th Jan (German Trs. Drs. assisting Indian Tsunami Relief activities)

Tr. Ramesh (Truchy RT 54) met Tr.Marwan Salloum of RT 150, Tr.Oliver Bernas of RT 179 and Gerhard Broer past Tabler of RT150 at MGM Resort Velankanni on 20th Jan'05.

A presentation of the status of Nagapattinam was made to the team. Specifically on the extent of damage at Nagapattinam and also that the Temporary relief's such as Medical, food and shelter have been already provided by the Government. The focus as we all know now is only on Long Term Rehabilitation. 

Visit was made to Siruthur Village where one of the Corporate companies TVS-SUZUKI were building Temporary Shelters to more than 3000 people and the first Lady of the was met and an informal discussion about their Project and also about the Round Tables role in this situation. 

The next visit was to a temporary medical camp and the German Trs. Drs. actively participated with the Doctors present in the treatment given and the type of cases they are attending. The team also understoo the way Government is taking great care and vigil on children. 

The team then visited a primary school of that village and our friends saw three classes of I std, II std and IV std , were all being simultaneously held in a single hall with each group facing a different direction under one "thatched" roof. The team saw the pathetic state of affairs of the children in this so called "school".

The team then visited the Velankanni shrine & sea shore and saw the damages that was created by the waves. The team then went to Kallar village and inspected the damages done by the waves on Houses and the team discussed with the Village Vice President regarding their requirement for their Rehabilitation and also informed that RT India is concentrating on Building Schools and providing Infrastructure to schools.

The villagers informed that Govt. is planning to shift their whole village to another area and hence the exact requirement of that village can be decided only then.This was also the case for most of the villages at this area. The team then headed back to Chennai. 

Tamil Nadu Government had given directives to the District Collectors for assisting Round Table India in the estimation of the devastation and in rehabilitation of schools. We had visited each of these schools to ascertain the cost for their rehabilitation.

We are very pleased to report that District Collector Shri Gagandeep Singh Bedi IAS had inked the first understanding between Round Table India and the Government of Tamilnadu for rehabilitation of schools at the Cudallore District. On 4th March, on a sand bar called Sottikuppam, outskirts of cudallore, in the august

presence of the Round Table International President Tr.Tom Albrigtsen, this pact was signed, and our start of the implementation of the rehabilitation process had started. The First pact signed had in it 37 schools with an outlay of Rs 101.97 Lakhs. This has urged the Tamil Nadu Government to recognize the prompt efforts of Round Table India and we can look at ourselves as the " Lead NGO " for the educational sector in the times to come.

We had organized a function for distributing fishing boats to the fishing communities recently when Tr Tom Albrigtsen, President, Round Table International was present. When the pact with District Collector, Cuddalore was signed, Tr Tom was a witness to the understanding. A press conference was also organized on the occasion.
.................. Donation of Engines & Boats These Pictures were taken during the Donation of 8 Boats with Engines to the Fishing Families of Vambakeerapalayam Village. Around 40 Families are benefited by this Donation. Our National Editor, Tr.Ambareesh Pittie was the chief Guest for the Project.

Meeting with Governor of Tamilnadu:
The executives members of the Round Table Area 2 called on the Governor of Tamilnadu, Mr. Surjit Singh Barnala and explained their activities undertaken in the Tsunami Rehabilitation programme recently. 

Tr. Linesh Sanatkumar, chairman, Round Table India Area 2, explained to the Governor about the Round Table partnering with the State government for rehabilitating and rebuilding of 99 schools in the tsunami-affected areas at a total project outlay of Rs 4 crore. 
He also discussed about the Round Table India's long-term mission 'Freedom through Education' to provide education to one million children by the year 2008-09. 

Tr. Sandeep Kumar Somani, Vice chairman, Tr. Ravanan, secretary and Tr. Satish Jupiter, convenor of Round Table India Area 2 were also present while meeting the Governor. 

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Please keep in touch with TCMT (Tsunami Crisis Mangement Team) consists of Tr.Sanjay Ramasami-162 (9884037492),Tr.Satish-3 (9840233337) Tr.Ravanan-100 (9444033777) Tr.Ramesh-54 (98424-02220) and Sq.leg.Premraja-104 (98430-10499) for your contributions.