National Council of YMCA's of India

Tsunami Project

Tsunami Relief & Rehabilitation Program

The Asian Tsunami reminded us the vulnerability of the human race in the face of nature’s wrath. It was on the Boxing Day, Sunday the 26th December 2004, the day after Christmas, people were still in a festive mood, when the disaster struck in the form of a gigantic black wall of water from the sea and washed away several thousand lives. It was the first ever Tsunami attack on India in the modern times and hence the phenomenon was unknown to people of India, which made matters worse.

TSUNAMI IMPACT IN INDIA

HUMAN TOLL

Number of fatalities: 12,405.

Number of people missing: 5,640.

OTHER DAMAGES AND LOSES

An estimated 1,089 villages were affected in Andhra Pradesh, Kerala, Tamil Nadu, Pondicherry, and the Andaman and Nicobar Islands.

An estimated 235,377 houses were destroyed.

Approximately 730,000 individuals were forced to leave their homes.

83,788 boats were damaged or destroyed.

31,755 livestock were lost.

39,035 hectares of cropped area was damaged.

Emergency Phase

The Indian YMCA, joined hands with other NGOs and governmental agencies, in providing immediate help to the affected people in all the major areas of disaster, which turned out to be the biggest emergency relief operation that have ever been taken up by the Indian YMCA. Relief operations were taken up on a war-footing with the active involvement of the YMCA volunteers and other NGOs functioning in the nearby areas. Our strength in perpetuating such a massive relief and rehabilitation endeavor was predominantly the indomitable solidarity expressed by the YMCA family world over. Consequently, the Indian YMCA could participate in the emergency phase of the relief operations vigorously as an expression of our commitment to the broken communities and we could make our presence felt in all the major areas affected by the disaster. Many local YMCAs joined in this massive operation voluntarily expressing their solidarity with the suffering people by providing volunteers, relief materials, medical teams, besides coordinating the work in their respective areas with the support of other like minded NGOs and church organizations functioning locally.

Rebuilding the Broken Communities

Recognizing the contributions of the YMCA in the relief operations and the support base it has in the affected areas, the Indian YMCA was also invited by the Government to undertake mid term as well as long term rehabilitation programmes, particularly in building and repairing houses, Community based centers, providing livelihood and catering to the vocational needs of the affected people. A comprehensive Response Plan was developed after having several consultations with the local associations engaged in the Tsunami Relief work, the representatives of the affected communities and members of the PCG India Group, coordinated by the World Alliance of YMCAs and Asia-Pacific Alliance of YMCAs. The Memorandum of Understanding and the tripartite Partnership agreement was signed between the YMCA India PCG group, National Council of YMCAs of India and the Implementing Partner YMCAs at the meeting of the PCG held during 9-10 May 2005. Through the response plan, the Indian YMCA envisages to work with the broken communities by strengthening their initiatives to rebuild their life, self determination and help them re-establish their self reliance through various YMCA interventions. It is also our concern to help the implementing YMCAs to build up their capacity through staff development, infra-structure support and training to manage the project at the local level and undertake fresh initiatives towards community building endeavors.

Housing Program- At a Glance

The Tsunami Rehabilitation program of the National Council of YMCAs of India gained momentum with the initiation of the Housing Project as part of the first phase of the comprehensive Response Plan. The Housing program was given priority considering the urgent need of relocating the people living with sparse facilities in the largely unhygienic surroundings of the temporary shelters to permanent houses. The Housing component is fully supported by the Y care International, U.K and the work is in the completion level now.

Boy's Home

Housing Program- Present Status

Sr No.	Implementing YMCA & Project area	Houses Allotted	Completed/Handed over	Nearing Completion	Progressing	Total
1	Madras(Chidambaram)	70	21	33	21	75*
2	Madurai(Manakudy)	70	35	00	35	70
3	Salem (Koonimedukuppam)	100	45	05	50	100
4	Nagapattinam Project	100	50	20	30	100
5	Marthandam(K.K. Dist)	60	27	00	33	60
6	S. E. Project (Pallepalam, Indukurpet)	35	35	00	00	35
7	S.W. Region Project	22	21	00	01	22
8	Port Blair ( Repair of Houses)	150	102	00	48	150
	TOTAL	607	336	58	218	612*
(Updated as on 20 June 2006)

Community Development Activities

As part of the project, community building initiatives were also taken up simultaneously as it was felt that providing material help alone will not help the community to move on from the severe trauma that the Tsunami caused, rather a comprehensive plan of action for the wholesome development of the people need to be adopted. The representatives of the local community as well as Panchayat authorities were involved in the planning process and various programmes were undertaken as part of the community building initiatives. Even though the other program components as envisaged in the Comprehensive Plan of Action were planned to be initiated in the second phase starting from July 2006, many of the implementing YMCAs have ventured to start different community development initiatives through local initiatives and resources.

Other program components and Plan of Action- Second Phase
(To be initiated from 1st July 2006)

Sr No.	Program component	Major Activities
1	Livelihood Activities	Support to acquire fishing nets, equipments and other livelihood activities. Support to start petty business by physically challenged
2	Vocational Training	Setting up two full fledged Vocational Training Centers at Port Blair, Marthandam & Kollam Dist Support to Various community based Skill Training programs to women and youth
3	Community Centers	Establishing 17 community Centers in the project area
4	Health Care	To help the YMCAs conduct Medical camps, Nutrition program to children, Counseling program etc.
5	Children in Crisis Program	To adopt and rehabilitate 125 Tsunami affected children through Madras, Marthandam and Indukurpet projects To help YMCAs undertake Educational Assistance program for the Tsunami affected children
6	Disaster Management	To conduct Disaster Training program for YMCA volunteers and community leaders
7	Community building	Promote community oriented activities, Peoples Empowerment programs, Advocacy and networking-Working with the affected people.

OUR PARTNERS PCG INDIA

Members	Associates/Supporters
World Alliance of YMCAs	YMCA of USA
Asia Pacific Alliance of YMCAs	YMCA of Hong Kong
Y Care International, UK	YMCA Australia
CVJM, Germany	Swiss YMCA
National Council of YMCAs of India	YMCA Japan