Dear Friends,

Here is an update on our relief work in Andaman Islands, Colachel and Chennai. Please continue to pray with us as we move forward in this work. Thank you for your support and prayers.

 Tim Svoboda and Sudhakar Simeon

 

 

Andaman Islands - Colachel and Chennai

The devastation in the Andaman Islands is much worse than in Tamil Nadu. Mike Bordon, who visited the Andaman and Nicobar Islands gives this report: “The difficulty in Andaman and Nicobar with the affected people is that there is no place for some of them to go back to. The earthquake changed the geography. For some, the land on which they lived is now covered by the sea. The Chennai newspaper reported that the whole Andaman and Nicobar chain has shifted one meter. The ocean has established a new shoreline in many areas. I saw places in Wandoor, south of Port Blair, where rice paddy fields are now covered by the sea. I met people who have not been able to go back to their houses since Dec. 26. At night they sleep in temporary tents on the hillside, or right beside the main road,  as the high tide floods into their houses three feet deep and low tide still covers the floor with water. One of the men in a temporary tent awoke in the night to find a snake sleeping beside him. All living things are gravitating to the dry spots. People from these areas are virtually refugees. They can see their houses, but the sea water never subsides now, and they can’t go back to them. The government relief has been able to do little for these people so far, although overall the Indian Government and military is doing a wonderful job.”

Mike met the YWAM Discipleship Training School outreach team from Maharastra, India that was there and helped them to engage in more relief work. They did some distribution of blankets, mats, relief material and got involved in lots of counselling.  (To read more of Mike’s report on the Andaman and Nicobar Islands go to http://www.angelfire.com/hi5/asiatsunami2004)

Our Relief team in Colachel has experienced much favour with Colachel’s Collector (an administrative organizer) and the District Superintendent of Police (SP). The SP is open to YWAM starting a long term work there. He has been pleased with all we are doing and has granted us permission on each of our requests. One of the things he has asked us to do is to rebuild some large temporary shelters and we have completed 3 of them.

 

In Kotivakkam, Chinanikuppam and Besant Nagar, fishing villages in Chennai, we did a survey to find out the real needs of the people. As a result of this, we were able to buy and distribute needed staple items. We found that people other than tsunami victims would come when we were distributing, so we established a system of giving tokens out and keeping a record of the people we were giving to. This helped to a degree, but there were so many other needy people that came and said “Though I was not affected by the tsunami, I am a poor person too.”

 We have been able to do the following so far:

·         Counseling and praying with those affected by the tsunami in all the areas we are working in. This is an ongoing work.

·         Continuing to survey the needs of the people and strategizing to meet the needs that the government and other aid agencies cannot provide. This involves networking and co-ordinating with other agencies to avoid duplication of aid and to avoid missing out people who really need help.

·         Build 3 temporary sheds in Colachel to house those who have no place to go. Each shed will house 40 families.

·         Networking with the existing churches to map out a possible strategy for long term work in the area. This has been taking place especially in Colachel and Madras. This has also helped churches and other organisation distribute their relief items among villages and people whom we have identified under their short term goals.

·         An article and tract was written by an earthquake specialist who was visiting our team in Andaman Islands. The article was published in the local paper to help bring down their fears as they were expecting another major earthquake and tsunami to strike again suddenly. This expert was able to speak to the heads of the military, the governor and political figures to help them understand that another imminent disaster was highly unlikely.

·         Our team was able to help out in the relief camps in the Andaman Islands. Many relief camps are still in operation and may be that way for some time on as in some areas the water damaged property ½ kilometre inland and there is no where for the people to move to. We are presently trying to start a long term work in the Andamans if possible and continue with the relief work there.

·         Surveys were conducted by our workers in Kottivakkam as well as Chinnandikkuppam and Besant Nagar (all in Chennai) over a four day period to discover what people really needed. Our assessment team interviewed 850 families. Relief materials  were given out to them with such needed items as sugar, dalh (lentils), salt, cooking oil, coconut hair oil, toothbrushes, toothpaste, laundry washing soap and bath soap.

·         Enter into a partnership with the government to provide longterm relief in Kanya kumari district in which Colachel is situated.

Please continue to pray with us. We are now looking at some long term development work and will be coordinating our work with the government as well as with other agencies.