All India Disaster Mitigation Institute, India

"We had heard about tidal waves in the sea. The coastal area has turned into a graveyard. The landscape has changed in many areas forever." - Mr. Nathaniya in Andamans ||||| "I saw it, with my eyes. The land separated in two parts. People just died. It is still horrible to remember. I had never seen it before. Now I see it everyday, in fact at Car Nicobar no one has seen this behaviour of sea before. We are living with sea since ages here." - Johnson in Andamans. ||||| "Nobody knew what was coming. We just saw a wall of water coming towards us. We had no option. We ran towards forest. Those who managed survived, those who failed, went away with the seawater. Fortunately I survived with my family. The Indian Air Force rescued me after two days. I spent these two days in forest with my elder son. Now I received the news about my younger son who is only nine months and safe with my mother in law." -Estervelina in Andamans ||||| "We, here inside Chennai, are not much affected but our friends in the other rural parts are severely affected. We have collected more than 4000 pairs of clothes and have distributed 400 in three relief camps. Our neighbours received them with thanks. But NGOs came and there was flood of clothes. Neighbours do not want our clothes. We would be thankful if the remaining clothes can be distributed to the affected communities in the far off Nagapattinum or Cuddlore. May be they also have too many clothes." - Sundervardhani and Laxmi in Chennai |||||

On Landing
AIDMI Team in Tsunami Affected Coastal India

Jikeshbhai discussing loss of income and work for women in the coastal communities.	AIDMI team helping communities enlist losses in government records.	Clean drinking water and its storage are scarce.
Deepeshbhai and Tejalben scrutinising documents to help community access government relief.	"And this is my home now."	"This must change. Relief must reach us first."
This was a boat.	Able arms but no work for coming months.	We can manage relief but we need only one thing: resources.
Tejalben of AIDMI assessing need for household items.	Local food sellers have come up in the area. But they reach those who have some cash.	Badly damaged goods and items even dogs do not touch.