Pondicherry archdiocese announces Rs. 25 crore tsunami relief package

Pondicherry – Tsunami relief operations worth Rs. 25 crore towards the rehabilitation of tsunami survivors, financed by Caritas International and Catholic Relief Services (CRS), is being undertaken, announced Fr. R. Ratchagar, director of the Pondicherry Multipurpose Social Service Society (PMSSS), run by the Archdiocese of Pondicherry and Cuddalore.

Over 15,000 people were killed and thousands were left homeless when the killer waves lashed the shores of southern India last December and inundated the coastlines.

“The aid will be limited to villages in Villupuram and Cuddalore districts of Tamil Nadu where the help provided by the government is not sufficient to meet the needs of the people,” the diocesan priest said. “Pondicherry and Karaikal regions are not covered by our programme. What the Government of Pondicherry has done is more than enough.”

The relief operations will focus on 17 villages and will help rebuild the lives of fishermen whose fishing boats and homes were destroyed by the waves.

Farmers, whose cultivable lands were inundated by the waves, will be provided with cows and other livestock to enable them to rebuild their livelihood, the society director said.

Projects concerning reconstruction of schools washed out by the waves will also be undertaken, he said.

PMSSS also plans to provide money to each affected family for starting an income–generating project.

The PMSSS has already spent Rs. 2 crore on emergency relief measures like distribution of food, clothing and utensils, clearing of debris and repair of the huts. “Initially [we had to] struggle to convince the people to return to their homes,” Fr. Ratchagar recalled. “They were scared; moreover their homes were either totally or partially destroyed.”

“But now things are getting better,” he said.