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Tsunami
Case-2
Chaos of Relief: Why?
(By
Tejalben of AIDMI team in tsunami
affected coastal
India, December 30, 2004).
The experience of All India Disaster Mitigation Institute (AIDMI) tsunami relief team during
the visit to affected coastal Chennai
on December 29, 2004, has helped us to
know how one affected area is helpful
to the other, how an individual helps
another individual and how one community
helps another community. And more importantly,
why relief seems always chaotic in India,
and who causes this chaos?
I rushed to the low income area with AIDMI
team leader Sadhubhai when we came to
know that the condition of people living
in the Thiruvotyar area is serious. People
camped inside a small damp school. We
reached to see 46 families standing in
a thin queue receiving clothes from two
local women. After distributing basic
pair of clothes to the families, the two
women looked at us. Seeing our new faces
they asked us, "From where have you come?"
We replied, "Ahmedabad, Gujarat". With
slow smile spreading on their faces they
shook our hands and talked with us. But
we could not understand their language:
Tamil. We asked "Hindi?" "No". "English?"
"Little-little". Thus we started talking.
We know what they said. They know what
we said. But we still do not know what
they or we exactly said: meanings were
squeezed out from the words left behind.
The two local women were happy to see
a female volunteer working in such disaster
affected area. They were interested in
AIDMI's "only poor" approach to work, local
planning and the immediate response after
any disaster. We think, they said, "we,
here in Chennai, are not much affected
but our friends in the other rural parts
are severely affected and would not it
be bad if we did not do anything for them?
We therefore collected clothes from nearby
areas. We would be thankful if you hand
over these clothes to the affected communities
in Cuddlore."
The two women completed with a shy smile.
We said, "Sure". The two women, Sundervardhaniben
and Laxmiben, took me to their house.
Sadhubhai stood outside. The house was
located in a very low area. Small houses
which initially had two rooms with a balcony
were turned into three rooms. The house
was filled with heaps of clothes lying
everywhere. The two sisters introduced
me with the third sister and their nephew
who was away which made the family of
four members. One of the sisters took
me near a small temple in side the house
and with blessings said "we have collected
more than 4000 pairs of clothes and have
distributed some in three relief camps
which you saw. We are worried for the
Nagapattim and Cuddlore communities. Can
you help with systematic distribution?
Out of curiosity I asked, "But from where
did you bring all these clothes?" The
response was immediate, "there are so
many children in this slum, and they went
from one house to the other and brought
the clothes." Soon a troop of children
stood near the house and I said, "You
really have done a big job". One of the
children, Ramu said, "Because I am Spiderman."
The second said, "No, I am Spiderman."
The third said, " I am more powerful as
I am the Almighty who provides clothes
to everyone". They soon ran away.
The remaining clothes we sent to Cuddlore
to AIDMI relief team. These were not new
clothes, but each person had given one
of his or her best pairs to the relief
collection.
It seems local people are giving far more
relief to each other, even more than perhaps
NGOs or the government. They give without
any expectation of receiving anything
from anyone. Bhaskarbhai from Chennai,
a mill manger, helped us in distribution
and gave us blessings. The experience
of low income victim communities in Chennai
has helped my AIDMI team understand how
one area supports the other in India.
It is "horizontal sharing". We NGOs and
government are used to "top down sharing,"
which is charity. Two ways of sharing
collide, and cause confusion or chaos.
How to match such spontaneity with systematic
approach? |
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Cinema, Ashram Road, Ahmedabad - 380009, Gujarat,
India
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E-mail : bestteam@aidmi.org |
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