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| Sunday, 23 January 2005 |
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Features |  |
| News Business Features Editorial
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Batticaloa limps back to life: A new day a new beginning by Vimukthi Fernando It is a bright morning. A man rides his bicycle with his little child riding pillion hanging onto his neck. A flock of young women dressed in bright sarees with matching hand bags, chirp on their way to work.
We drive along the tarred road leading to the Kallady beach - a lone vehicle shining bright in the hot sun. About a kilometre in, we turn left with the hope that it will take us to Navallady village. Remnants of the tsunami that devastated the village, lay on either side of the road. A feeding bottle rests on the high branches of a palm tree, enamel plates twisted together into a pole, a saree - yellow green and threaded with gold dangles from the bushes, a teddy bear and a few more toys suspended on a rooftop, a concrete pipe bearing the plate 'Well - donated by CARE' uprooted along with its concrete foundation.... This coastal road was once a hive of activity with the fishermen and their boats on the beach side and a cluster of small houses and their occupants on the other. A few metres more and the road ends. It is replaced by a trench about five feet deep and over ten feet wide. In front of us lay a flat strip of land, bare - save for the coconut groove, the shining dome of the newly erected kovil and the two storey building of the village school, Navallady Namahal Vidyalaya. This is the village of Navallady. Once it was a land sought after by rich locals as well as foreigners. The price was as high as Rs. five million per ten perch block and the residents held on dearly to the little they owned. And now, they want no more of it. Some, even want to get away from it all as fast as possible, afraid to look at the once friendly and much loved sea. But, they plod in. Broken souls, writhing in pain - to collect whatever that is left of their lives. A lone man with a vacant look on his face, darkened and lined by age and the elements peers at what was left of his house, a grandmother sits on the rubble wailing the loss of her beloved grandchildren, a mother whose children and husband were saved by a hairsbreadth digs the rubble in search of plates. All, mourn their loss. Kahanthan comes on a bicycle, with his friend Jeevanayagam. At 25 years, his face that should be brimming with youth, looks haggard. Kahanthan tells us why he did not believe a young associate yelling at him that the sea was coming in. "I had got back home in the morning from fishing and the sea was quite calm. But, I looked back anyway and all I could see was a wall of water rushing in above the coconut trees. I ran as fast as I could and climbed on to a tree. All I could see were the rooftops hurled by the churning water. I had no time to find out where my wife and the two children were...," as his voice trails off, we learn that he had lost his wife, eight year old son and two year old daughter. One of the fortunate persons to have her family intact, Vasanthini, a 40 year old mother tells us how she was delayed at her visit to the town and saved her life and the lives of her son and daughter by climbing on to a tree. "It was the army personnel who shouted the warnings and instructions and rescued us thereafter." Vasanthini describes how they were taken care of by the army personnel. "If not for them and the Sinhalese from the South, we would be dead by now. The townspeople did not even offer us a plate of rice," she is disappointed about the nonchalance of the citizenry as I am reminded of the response of the Moratuwa townspeople, who cancelled their seasonal festivals and fed hundreds of displaced persons. "We are not sure how many lives were lost. There were more than 5000 people, living in this area. And now, only about 1,200 are left in the camp. Out of the 200 families in our area, only five families are intact. Many have lost their loved ones and there is no trace of some families." And yet, they have come back to where their houses stood proud and comfortable, to retrieve what is left behind. "I lost everything that I love, my family, my boat... But, I will have to start anew, somewhere, someday" says Kahanthan. He is willing to rebuild his house and restart his occupation - fishing. However, he is scared to face the possible loneliness once he comes back. "I will be able to bear it all, as long as all of us are together at the camp. But, what happens when I come back?" Vasanthini is determined to rebuild her life, but not in Navallady. "The Government Agent had announced that we will be provided housing in Sathurukondan," she says. Won't she ever come back? "You never know" They are hopeful of rebuilding their lives. But, there is a lot to do yet, says the Commander of the Batticaloa Division of the Army. Though many of the temporary shelters were closed, bringing the 107 shelters as of December 27 down to 51 by the second week of January, Batticaloa still needs over 20,500 houses to be built. Over 10,000 tents are still needed to settle the families on their own in areas they lived previously, he says. Though a lot of work is being carried out by the armed forces, government institutions and both local and international non governmental agencies the clearing of rubble happens rather slowly. According to him, heavy machinery, housing and psychological help is what is most needed to rebuild their lives. **** Back to school They come happily, wearing white uniforms as well as coloured dresses. Back to school. They sing, they draw and enjoy learning. But, at the moment all what happens is desensitising the children of their intense feelings about the tsunami. Though it is a herculean task - running both a school and a temporary shelter for the displaced - M. Sivasundaram, the Principal of Batticaloa, Santhiveli Siththivinayagar Vidyalam, has shouldered it bravely. He has divided the school's meagre facilities between its 1250 students and the 67 families from the surrounding villages. Three halls and five rooms are occupied by the displaced, says Sivasundaram. Meanwhile the children enjoy sitting out in a temporary shelter of metal sheets - drawing pictures about the tsunami. It is not clothes, but text books and exercise books that are needed most urgently, says Sivasundaram. The school is yet to find how many children had been affected. Three teachers have lost their houses completely while five more teachers have lost their belongings. **** Saviours' tales They were lucky to have saved their lives, says Major Kahapola, the busy Commanding Officer of the Kallady army camp. The renovation and reestablishment of the camp had begun a few days ago. As the tractors, laden with sand, buzz past and the members of his detachment labour relentlessly, he tells us how they managed to save their lives by climbing trees. Happy that the loss of lives in the Kallady village could be minimised to about six, due to quick action by the army personnel, he is thankful to his team, who carried out rescue missions in the nearby Navallady village, though they themselves were shattered by the incident. "We have a few sandbanks that delayed the impact, but we lost about six soldiers who were manning the sentry posts at the beach" he says. **** Whither seasonal fishermen At Passekuda, Valachchenai, where the army camp was totally destroyed, W.S. Justin Fernando a seasonal fisherman speaks. "We have been in Batticaloa since 1952," he says. From the 33 families who come to Batticaloa for seasonal fishing, they
have lost only one member. "All our fishing gear and boats have been
damaged. Nine boats have been totally destroyed. At present the army, the
church and others feed us. But what happens to us thereafter?" Justin
is not sure as to how they will be compensated, because they shift from
Batticaloa to Negombo for seasonal fishing. Rebuilding amidst strife They are standing up to rebuild their lives amidst strife. Helping the residents affected by the tsunami are the Army, Air Force and the Sahana Seva Force of the JVP. The residents, be they at camps or back in their homes, receive the card ration valued at Rs. 375/= per week. A five member family receives 14 Kilograms of rice, 14 kgs of flour, 4 kgs of dahl and 2 kgs of sugar for two weeks, says J. Jeganathan, the Grama Sevaka of Kallady. In his division, 350 families were affected by the tsunami.R. Nagarajah attempts to take a count of the losses incurred at Mankerni, his Grama Sevaka Division. Along with higher officials they plan to resettle residents of Mankerni on higher ground about half a kilometre away from their previous dwellings. Sathurukondan and Thiraimadu are two proposed building sites says V. Shanmugam, the District Secretary. Sites will be selected on a Divisional Secretarial basis. They have already received three pickups and 20 01KV generators. However, the generators are useless because what they need are 05KV generators, says Shanmugam. Though 10,000 tents are needed to settle the families on their own, according to Shanmugam only 75 had been received from the government upto January 20, 2004. However, it was observed that camps are already issued with hundreds of tents received through international NGOs and private parties. |
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| Produced by Lake House |
Boys dressed in white shirts and blue shorts, trudge to school with
bulging school bags. Shopkeepers not wanting to miss the early 'Thaipongal'
shopper, open their shops laden with goods. Life is calm and leisurely in
Batticaloa.
