AUGUST UPDATE: JDC'S ASIA TSUNAMI DISASTER RELIEF EFFORTS
The December 26, 2004 underwater earthquake and tsunamis that struck approximately 100 miles off the west coast of Indonesia’s Sumatra Island commanded the world’s attention in an unprecedented way. The disaster is believed to be responsible for the deaths of approximately 232,000 people. Coastal areas of 11 countries in the Indian Ocean were affected, displacing five million people. The JDC Response JDC raised $18.5 million for its tsunami response program, which is being carried out in the four most severely affected countries of Indonesia, Sri Lanka, Thailand and India. Projects are implemented in partnership with local and international organizations, and in coordination with local authorities.
Emergency Assistance to the Internally Displaced In Indonesia, over 520,000 were displaced, mainly in Aceh Province. Many survivors sought refuge in camps for "internally displaced persons" or IDPs. Tens of thousands still reside in these camps.
JDC began its partnership with the Dwiyuna Jaya Foundation in Aceh to provide emergency supplies such as mattresses, bed sheets and water containers. Two custom-built ambulances ere donated to a local hospital. JDC and the Dwiyuna Jaya Foundation are now restoring clean water, repairing roads, and upgrading facilities for 20,000 persons residing in Bakoy, Lambaro, Blang Bintang, and Lhoongh Raya displaced persons camps. Assistance is also being provided to 4,000 persons in neighboring villages and 13,000 in other camps. The Foundation used its own resources to build a mosque, and provides small grants that allow residents to resume income-generating activities. Improvements to the camps have attracted the attention of the Government, which is considering replicating them in additional camps.
In India , JDC is partnering with various local NGOs in the hard-hit states of Kerala, Andhra Pradesh and Tamil Nadu. Work with the Disaster Mitigation Institute (DMI) provided emergency items, shelter, and re-established livelihoods. Over 500 shelters were constructed in three districts of Tamil Nadu. Temporary shelters were reinforced in 12 villages to ensure that they withstand the monsoon season.
A partnership with Vardhman Sanskar Dham (VSD Trust) enabled JDC to provide shelter to 567 families in Aayampettai Village, Cuddalore.
Satya, age 29, used to sell the fish that her husband, Murugen, 31, would catch each morning. Their two-room house in Perakuppam that once accommodated five people — the couple's two young children and Satya's mother — was destroyed in the tidal waves. "I worry about the future," she confessed. "The government wants us to live three kilometers from the shore. We need to be closer to our fishing boat. I believe it will take years for our lives to be normal again." Satya’s family was one of the first to receive a temporary shelter through JDC’s project with VSD Trust, relieving them of the need to reside in crowded conditions with relatives in a nearby village.
A partnership with Caritas/Catholic Relief provided 750 families in Vypen Island, Kerala with food, and 500 families with kitchen utensils. Food was provided to 4,000 families in Pondicherry, Tamil Nadu, and Vijayawada, Andhra Pradesh and an additional 500 families in Visakhapatnam, Andhra Pradesh that took part in community rehabilitation activities. Five hundred children were given kits, uniforms, exercise books and bags that enabled them to return to school.
Re-Establishing Livelihoods In Sri Lanka, over 518,000 were displaced, and many of the affected families lost their sources of income. JDC is working primarily with the renowned local organization, Sarvodaya in the most severely affected districts of Ampara, Kalmunai and Batticaloa on the east coast, and in Galle, on Sri Lanka’s southern tip.
JDC and Sarvodaya are addressing the psychosocial and economic needs of tsunami survivors in 20 villages. Utilizing over 140 volunteer "leaders," empowerment activities provide psychological support and skills training in areas such as sewing, handicraft production and gardening. Self-help support groups are ongoing. This program has been extended through March 2006 to allow it to expand to new villages in the Galle and Matara districts. Over 47,000 individuals will benefit from these activities.
"I almost lost hope. I can no longer depend on my husband who was lost; he was a fisherman," said Ms. Titaganami, a program beneficiary in Ampara, a mother of seven children whose home was completely destroyed. "Now I can practice a trade and begin to rebuild my future." "You are not doing this for me - you are helping me to do for myself," said Mrs. Sampath of Panama North, Ampara, a mother of two pregnant with a third child. Her house was lost in the flooding. She will receive a well for irrigating the family crops, which provide her family with sustenance and products to sell in the market.
In India, JDC and the Disaster Mitigation Institute are implementing a "cash for work" program to fortify the economic security of 1,200 families in 10 villages. Local experts are training young women for occupations in skill sectors such as basket weaving, tailoring and candle-making, as well as in marketing techniques.
JDC support to Caritas/Catholic Relief and the Pondicherry Multipurpose Service Society (PMSS) has established computer centers in two fishing villages in Pondicherry and one in Cuddalore. Over 400 young men and women are being trained so that they have new skills with which to pursue employment.
In Thailand, JDC’s partnership with Chabad is now supporting a livelihood-retraining project that will provide former fishermen and farmers living in displaced persons camps with skill training in woodworking.
Training in the Provision of Psychosocial Support Services A new partnership with UJA Federation of New York and the Israel Trauma Coalition in Sri Lanka provides training in psychosocial support service provision to teachers, local professionals and community leaders.
In Thailand, a partnership with the Prince of Songkla University and Mom Dusdi Paribatra President of the Asia Europe Association) allowed JDC to organize two trauma relief seminars led by Israeli trauma experts in the hard-hit area of Phuket. These five-day workshops utilized a "helping the helpers" approach to train local professionals in post-disaster support. While the majority of the 185 participants were from Thailand, teachers, social workers and psychologists from Malaysia, Indonesia and Singapore also took part.
Amporn Sornprasit, Director of Arts and Cultural Center at Prince of Songkla University wrote: "On behalf of the university, we would like to thank you for every support and cooperation from your organization. The knowledge we gained from the workshops is very useful and helpful for understanding and healing every human being, not only the Tsunami victims. We are now planning for the follow-up stage in order that we can set up the next project to give a further support based on their need. We wish to have a chance to work with you again in the near future."
JDC is partnering with the renowned local Thai organization, Population and Community Development Association (PDA), to conduct a series of two-day workshops in which teachers learn how to provide psychological support to their students. The first workshop was held in May for 25 teachers from 25 villages in the Krabi and Phang Nga Provinces. Six additional workshops are currently being planned.
Assisting Children In Indonesia, JDC and the Dwiyuna Jaya Foundation are distributing school uniforms, and children’s playgrounds are being constructed for use by IDP camp residents. JDC is also partnering with the International Rescue Committee (IRC) in Aceh to provide child protection and psychosocial support services. Teacher training is a main focus of this work.
In Sri Lanka, JDC and Sarvodaya provided school kits — uniforms, shoes, socks, school bags, exercise books, pencils and hygiene items -- to 2,000 children from 20 villages. The uniforms were sewn by locals through a cash-for-work program. JDC has also committed to constructing three preschools in Galle.
JDC and Sarvodaya are partnering with the US Agency for International Development (USAID ) to construct as many as 80 children’s playgrounds, several of which will be located in villages where JDC is already active. A $1 million matching grant has been secured from the Bush/Clinton Tsunami Fund.
In partnership with Rotary/Sri Lanka, JDC is rebuilding and equipping a primary school (grades 1-5) in Galle that was completely destroyed. The 800 students currently receive their lessons in makeshift huts on the grounds of a Buddhist temple, which has donated land for the new school.
In India, JDC support is enabling World ORT and its local partner, Bharatiya Jain Sanghatana (BJS), to conduct the three-year "Educational and Training Project" in schools on Middle and South Andaman Islands. ORT will help to update the curricula and professional development programs in four schools.
In Thailand, a Computer Center was established at Ban Khao Tong School in the Muang District of Krabi Province. The Center is used by students during school hours and offers computer training to adults in the evenings, providing opportunities for income generation.
JDC, PDA, and the Israeli Embassy are conducting 10 one-week "healing camps" for 500 Thai youth from the south who will take part in activities such as hiking and swimming, and attend classes on topics such as the dangers of drug use. Israeli and local mental health professionals conduct camp activities. When the "campers" return home, follow-up activities allow them to take on leadership roles and work with other youth to revitalize their communities. Forty-five Muslim youth from the Krabi and Phang Nga Provinces participated in the first camp session. In May, the second session was held for 50 children ages 6-14.
Rehabilitating Communities Through the "Rehabilitating Homes in Galle, Sri Lanka" project, JDC and Sarvodaya are assisting 100 lower-middle class families by providing furniture, bedding, kitchen utensils, cutlery and linens so that they can return to their homes. By assisting this group — police officers, soldiers, teachers, postmen — who provide the services that allow communities to function, JDC and Sarvodaya are helping entire villages return to a more normal life. Unemployed women are being hired to sew the bedding for these families.
"My husband worked for 22 years to acquire what we had. Wehave lost it all. We were completely washed out. We have no savings. We lost our ID cards. We lost our kitchen utensils. Our floor is destroyed. We have no one to help us," said Mrs. U.L. Harrison, wife of an army soldier and mother of three whose youngest child was nearly washed away by the tsunamis. Thanks to JDC, her home in Dodanduwa Village is being refurbished with new furniture and household equipment.Planning has begun with Sarvodaya for the construction of five multi-purpose community centers (MPCCs) along the tsunami-ravaged southern coast. Each will house programs such as preschools, community banks, community arts and cultural centers, day centers for the elderly, libraries, welfare society offices, and vocational training sites. A total of 5,000-7,000 tsunami-affected residents will utilize these centers.
JDC is also providing a mobile "rapid reaction" medical unit to be operated by Sarvodaya that will serve as a health facility, providing laboratory services and disease management in the IDP camps and communities.
In India, JDC’s collaboration with the Meenakshi Mission Hospital provided health care and pharmaceuticals through mobile clinics in the state of Tamil Nadu. With JDC and Magen David Adom support, a partnership with Brit Olam/Topaz enabled fourteen Israeli medical volunteers to work alongside their Indian colleagues from the Hospital for three months. Two volunteers from the Hadassah Medical Center wrote that "despite very difficult conditions, we were amazed by the existence of a proud ‘Indian spirit’… this spirit of hope and resilience enabled us and our Indian colleagues to function normally and fully perform our activities." The project reached approximately 60,000 individuals in nearly 350 villages.
In Thailand, JDC, PDA, and community leaders are rehabilitating the village of Bang Pat in the Phang Nga Province, where fishing had been the main source of income. The tsunamis damaged homes and washed away fishing equipment and boats. School scholarships, meals, clothes, and supplies were distributed and income-generating activities are being restored.
JDC and PDA are also restoring the water system in Ban Taling Chan Village. Water project activities will be expanded to two additional villages. MASHAV, the international development arm of the Israeli Foreign Ministry, conducted a water survey in Patong, Kamala Beach and Baan Bangben, with JDC support.
The Jewish Coalition for Asia Tsunami Relief JDC has convened and is coordinating the 39-member Jewish Coalition for Asia Tsunami Relief that allows primarily North American Jewish organizations to coordinate efforts, avoid duplication, and make the best use of donor dollars. To date, $865,000 has been raised, and three projects are underway. Please read about the Coalition’s work in Sri Lanka and India by viewing www.jcdr.org.
