{"id":35480,"date":"2020-07-08T00:00:00","date_gmt":"2020-07-08T05:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/ready-for-feedback3.com\/shape-history\/fmr\/martin-7\/"},"modified":"2024-08-27T14:25:16","modified_gmt":"2024-08-27T19:25:16","slug":"martin-7","status":"publish","type":"fmr_content","link":"https:\/\/www.fmreview.org\/es\/martin-7\/","title":{"rendered":"A voice for vulnerable groups in Tamil Nadu"},"content":{"rendered":"

When the tsunami inundated the small village in which she lives, Mariammal lost her catamaran and fishing nets. Her village \u2013 inhabited mostly by Irula tribal people \u2013 is on a small strip of land between Pulicat lagoon (60 km north of the state capital, Chennai) and the Bay of Bengal. Nobody from the adivasi<\/em> (tribal) or dalit<\/em> (so-called \u2018untouchable\u2019) communities nearby is allowed into the sea \u2013 the traditional preserve of the non-tribal fishermen. When two years ago some Irula men challenged the ban and went fishing the ensuing clashes claimed two lives. \u201cOur people had to give an undertaking to the district authorities that we will not fish in the sea,\u201d Mariammal said. The women traditionally fish in the backwaters to catch prawns, lagoon crabs, mullets and catfish, oyster and clams. In her village, there were about 40 catamarans, 28 of them owned by women. Almost all the boats were lost or damaged in the tsunami.<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

Although Mariammal now lives on charity from a local church, she is the secretary of a savings and credit group organised by a local NGO and wishes that there would be similar initiatives to help restore the villagers\u2019 livelihoods. She also hopes that NGOs and others offering assistance would address the women\u2019s needs; fishing craft and equipment are usually supplied to men only. Across the backwaters, NGOs are moving in to assist fishing communities but they do not cross over to this tribal hamlet or the nearby dalit<\/em> community. <\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

Men and women from certain castes are denied access to the sea all along the coast of Tamil Nadu. The role of dalits<\/em> and tribal people in fishing communities tends to be supportive; they clean and maintain fishing equipment, load, transport and sell fish, build, thatch and clean fishermen\u2019s huts. NGO assistance in restoring their livelihoods is still determined by the menial roles traditionally assigned to them. Women like Mariammal who are engaged in fishing face double discrimination \u2013 being a woman and belonging to a marginal group. <\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

Living on the streets<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

The pavement of the road leading to Chennai\u2019s scenic Marina beach came alive at sunset everyday. One could see young Krishnamurthy spreading out his schoolbooks on the pavement in his family\u2019s open-air \u2018home\u2019 between two lampposts. At Pattanapakkam, over 500 families displaced by the tsunami lived without shelter beside the busy road for over two months. The rubble of their houses can be seen by the shore. Poles and ropes demarcate boundaries in case an official arrives to assess the damage. When around half of those living on the pavement moved to temporary shelters 12km away Krishnamurthy\u2019s family preferred to stay put. <\/strong>\u201cIt is difficult but we make sure that he gets some time to study,\u201d said Bhanu, Krishnamurthy\u2019s mother. They hope that they will be provided with a shelter nearby \u2013 and, later, a permanent house. Rehabilitation programmes are not addressing displaced children\u2019s educational needs<\/span>. Remedial schooling and places to study for those who are not in formal settlements are only now being discussed. <\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

After two months on the street almost all the families were shifted to the temporary shelters far away. At the time of writing in early June they live there in hot, humid sheds, with little water and very bad sanitation facilities. The camp was flooded during the summer rain. In a month there will be monsoon rains and more floods. The government and NGOs are planning to shift them again \u2013 to a better camp.<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

In search of a cool place<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

In Muttam village in Kanniyakumari district at India\u2019s southernmost tip, Mary, a mother of four, has one of 24 temporary shelters built by a local NGO. As the summer grows hotter and more humid, the shelter has become too hot to be comfortable. Mary spends most of her time outside. \u201cWe all \u2013 men, women and children \u2013 sleep at night out in the open,\u201d said Mary. \u201cI have left my youngest child, a two-year-old, at a neighbour\u2019s house, as it is too hot to spend the afternoon in this shelter.\u201d<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

Mary is not happy spending the day out in the open especially when men \u2013 with no work to go to \u2013 hang around. She tries not to complain but the lack of privacy is a major concern. She is embarrassed by having to take her child to the neighbour on a daily basis. Worst of all, they have to sleep outside in public space when the nights get too warm and humid. The tar-coated shelters retain heat and are poorly ventilated. The black plastic wrapped over the roof to prevent the light roof sheets from flying off make the shelters even hotter. Because of the heat women are obliged to cook either in the open air or in shared kitchens. <\/span>Questions of minimum standards of comfort and privacy \u2013 which impact particularly on women \u2013 have been ignored in the rush to build temporary shelters. Several NGOs promised to provide fans for the shelters but in closed structures like these, fans will only serve to circulate the hot air. <\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

NGOs are starting to realise that they were wrong to follow the example of some of the government contractors when choosing building materials. \u201cWe did what they said,\u201d said a programme officer from the NGO ActionAid India. \u201cWe need to correct it.\u201d<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cWe had to go as far as Ernakulam in Kerala [six hours by road] to get these light roof sheets,\u201d said Cleatus Ubald, director of the local NGO Social Education and Development (SED). \u201cWe could have made thatched huts with local material, like coconut or palm leaves, and generated some local employment.\u201d NGO representatives said that district officials prevented them from building traditional thatched structures, as memories of a major fire a couple of years ago that killed many children in a thatched school shed were still fresh in people\u2019s minds.<\/p>\n

Indiadisasters.org[1]<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/a> has reported on the \u201coven-like\u201d temporary shelters. Inter Press Service (IPS)[2]<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/a> has also documented the problem of \u201csauna-like\u201d temporary shelters. While technological solutions \u2013 such as a heat-resistant shields, better ventilation or air ducts \u2013 are becoming available, the issue of women\u2019s space in shelters has yet to be addressed effectively. Only the more experienced agencies are providing separate spaces for cooking, washing and bathing. Oxfam provides cooler, thatched huts in Cuddalore, with space allocated for such activities. Some <\/strong>Cordaid-supported shelters include a room specifically for adolescent girls. To be acceptable and appropriate, shelters must be constructed with at least a minimum degree of planning and consideration of comfort and privacy requirements. <\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

Conclusion<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

Social, cultural and biological factors make women and children, especially girls, more vulnerable to adverse health effects and violence in the aftermath of a disaster. Lack of adequate shelter makes them all the more vulnerable. Women in traditional South Asian communities may be unable to access assistance safely and to make their needs known. Denying education to children will make the next generation still more vulnerable. To address all these concerns, any approach to disaster response should be gendered and sensitive to the particular needs of women and children. Those involved in provision of assistance need to have a clear understanding the local environment and appreciate the particular needs of all sectors of the community.  <\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Max Martin (a former student at the Refugee Studies Centre) edits www.indiadisasters.org<\/a>. He is based in Bangalore. Email: <\/span>maxmartin@rediffmail.com<\/a> <\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

[1]<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/a> www.indiadisasters.org<\/span><\/a><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

[2]<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/a> www.ips.org\/<\/a><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

When the tsunami inundated the small village in which she lives, Mariammal lost her catamaran and fishing nets. Her village \u2013 inhabited mostly by Irula tribal people \u2013 is on a small strip of land between Pulicat lagoon (60 km north of the state capital, Chennai) and the Bay of Bengal. Nobody from the adivasi…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"featured_media":0,"parent":0,"menu_order":0,"template":"","fmr_themes":[],"fmr_region":[],"fmr_issue":[],"fmr_year":[],"fmr_content_type":[27],"fmr_languages":[36],"fmr_list_years":[569],"class_list":["post-35480","fmr_content","type-fmr_content","status-publish","hentry","fmr_content_type-article","fmr_languages-english","fmr_list_years-569","entry","no-media"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\nA voice for vulnerable groups in Tamil Nadu - Forced Migration Review<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.fmreview.org\/martin-7\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"es_ES\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"A voice for vulnerable groups in Tamil Nadu - Forced Migration Review\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"When the tsunami inundated the small village in which she lives, Mariammal lost her catamaran and fishing nets. Her village \u2013 inhabited mostly by Irula tribal people \u2013 is on a small strip of land between Pulicat lagoon (60 km north of the state capital, Chennai) and the Bay of Bengal. Nobody from the adivasi…\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.fmreview.org\/martin-7\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Forced Migration Review\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2024-08-27T19:25:16+00:00\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"6 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.fmreview.org\/martin-7\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.fmreview.org\/martin-7\/\",\"name\":\"A voice for vulnerable groups in Tamil Nadu - Forced Migration Review\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.fmreview.org\/#website\"},\"datePublished\":\"2020-07-08T05:00:00+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2024-08-27T19:25:16+00:00\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.fmreview.org\/martin-7\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"es-ES\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.fmreview.org\/martin-7\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.fmreview.org\/martin-7\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/www.fmreview.org\/es\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"A voice for vulnerable groups in Tamil Nadu\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.fmreview.org\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.fmreview.org\/\",\"name\":\"Forced Migration Review\",\"description\":\"\",\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.fmreview.org\/#organization\"},\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/www.fmreview.org\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"es-ES\"},{\"@type\":\"Organization\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.fmreview.org\/#organization\",\"name\":\"Forced Migration Review\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.fmreview.org\/\",\"logo\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"es-ES\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.fmreview.org\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.fmreview.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/02\/FMR_logo1.svg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.fmreview.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/02\/FMR_logo1.svg\",\"width\":53,\"height\":62,\"caption\":\"Forced Migration Review\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.fmreview.org\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/\"}}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"A voice for vulnerable groups in Tamil Nadu - Forced Migration Review","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.fmreview.org\/martin-7\/","og_locale":"es_ES","og_type":"article","og_title":"A voice for vulnerable groups in Tamil Nadu - Forced Migration Review","og_description":"When the tsunami inundated the small village in which she lives, Mariammal lost her catamaran and fishing nets. Her village \u2013 inhabited mostly by Irula tribal people \u2013 is on a small strip of land between Pulicat lagoon (60 km north of the state capital, Chennai) and the Bay of Bengal. Nobody from the adivasi…","og_url":"https:\/\/www.fmreview.org\/martin-7\/","og_site_name":"Forced Migration Review","article_modified_time":"2024-08-27T19:25:16+00:00","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Est. reading time":"6 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.fmreview.org\/martin-7\/","url":"https:\/\/www.fmreview.org\/martin-7\/","name":"A voice for vulnerable groups in Tamil Nadu - Forced Migration Review","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.fmreview.org\/#website"},"datePublished":"2020-07-08T05:00:00+00:00","dateModified":"2024-08-27T19:25:16+00:00","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.fmreview.org\/martin-7\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"es-ES","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.fmreview.org\/martin-7\/"]}]},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.fmreview.org\/martin-7\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/www.fmreview.org\/es\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"A voice for vulnerable groups in Tamil Nadu"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.fmreview.org\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.fmreview.org\/","name":"Forced Migration Review","description":"","publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.fmreview.org\/#organization"},"potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.fmreview.org\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"es-ES"},{"@type":"Organization","@id":"https:\/\/www.fmreview.org\/#organization","name":"Forced Migration Review","url":"https:\/\/www.fmreview.org\/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"es-ES","@id":"https:\/\/www.fmreview.org\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/www.fmreview.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/02\/FMR_logo1.svg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/www.fmreview.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/02\/FMR_logo1.svg","width":53,"height":62,"caption":"Forced Migration Review"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.fmreview.org\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/"}}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.fmreview.org\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/fmr_content\/35480","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.fmreview.org\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/fmr_content"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.fmreview.org\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/fmr_content"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.fmreview.org\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/fmr_content\/35480\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":37406,"href":"https:\/\/www.fmreview.org\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/fmr_content\/35480\/revisions\/37406"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.fmreview.org\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=35480"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"fmr_themes","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.fmreview.org\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/fmr_themes?post=35480"},{"taxonomy":"fmr_region","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.fmreview.org\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/fmr_region?post=35480"},{"taxonomy":"fmr_issue","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.fmreview.org\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/fmr_issue?post=35480"},{"taxonomy":"fmr_year","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.fmreview.org\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/fmr_year?post=35480"},{"taxonomy":"fmr_content_type","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.fmreview.org\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/fmr_content_type?post=35480"},{"taxonomy":"fmr_languages","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.fmreview.org\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/fmr_languages?post=35480"},{"taxonomy":"fmr_list_years","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.fmreview.org\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/fmr_list_years?post=35480"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}