Support in Favor of the Tsunami's
victims of Kerala - South India
 Location
Arattapuzha Grama Panchayath is located in
the extreme south end of Alappuzha district, in the south
centre of Kerala, south India. Arattupuzha has west boundary
of Arabian Sea and is spread on either shores of Kayamkulam
Kayal at a length of 13.8km i.e. in the western side of kayal,
the land extending from Valiyazheeckal to Mangalam and in
east shore from Kilimukku to Mundukadu.
Tsunami Impact
On a total number of 15 wards (Panchayaths
are divided into administrative territories called Wards),
3 wards are considered as fully tsunami affected zone, and
10 wards as partially affected, since only material damages
have occurred, and no life has been lost. In the 3 main wards
(ward 5, 6, 7) considered as Tsunami affected, 31 people lost
their life, 800 houses have been fully damaged, and 850 houses
partially damaged. 100 houses have been partially damaged
on the other 10 wards. 10669 inhabitants have been transferred
to temporary relief camps, and about 300 families were still
living there even 22 months after the tragedy.
 During
Tsunami, the existing piped water supply systems and all the
traditional water sources such as wells, ponds and canals
were completely lost due to entry of salt and sand. After
Tsunami, a lot of NGOs and Government departments rushed to
the Panchayath, and started rehabilitation work. Millions
of rupees flowed to this area. Houses, drinking water facilities
(new tube wells), new roads, lot of income generation facilities,
fishing boats, nets, utensils, etc. were freely provided by
different agencies. Although the Tsunami relief works did
lot of immediate relief to the victims, the adverse effects
on the environment were much more than expected.
The main objectives
of the French supported project, called Punarjani, were to:
- Support implementation of integrated, sustainable
community owned and managed Water Resources Management,
with special focus on Environmental Sanitation/Hygiene,
and Livelihood Support Plan in the Tsunami affected Arattupuzha
Panchayat of Alappuzha District.
- Build the capacities of the communities
to take and implement informed decisions to sustainable
solve problems related to tidal wave attack, seawater
intrusion, water resource and environmental management.
Punarjani’s project has
a very large scope, going from rain water harvesting, canal
cleaning and oxygenation, water wells and pond rehabilitation,
water filters disposal, soak pits to community waste management,
income generating activities, capacity building, awareness
building campaign…
The actions supported
by Fairwings were:
These are Ferro-cement tanks of 5000 litres capacity constructed
close to the house, which collects rainwater falling over
roof by diverting the same via gutters and pipes. Poor families
who do not have any access to drinking water will be provided
these structures.
Criteria for the selection of the recipients of rainwater
harvesting systems would be used, and are as follows:
 •
The public tap must be more than 200 meters from their house
• The duration of non availability of water must be
more than 3 months
• Quality of water must be non potable
Under those criteria, 25 households
in the entire Panchayath have been financed
Many wells in the area have turbid/smelly water due to entry
of fine silt from the aquifer and/or anaerobic decay of organic
content of the silt at the well bottom. A simple filter using
charcoal and sand has been developed and tested by the community
at various locations in Alappuzha District. However the water
still needs to be boiled/disinfected before drinking. Therefore,
household’s filters are provided to families who are
closed from a water source which is not drinkable. Household’s
filter is a people friendly technique and cost effective system.
50 filters have been provided to selected
households
- Waste Management Programme - Vermi Composting
Units
 The
WMP is totally part of the water management and sanitation
programme run under Punarjani. Cleaning the canals and water
sources once will indeed make no sense if awareness building
on waste management was not done, especially to the people
living near water sources. Hence, a bin for plastic and one
for vermi composting has been distributed to 65 households.
Next phase will allow developing a more comprehensive solid
waste management programme with a community level management
unit for segregation and disposal of non-degradable wastes
as well as a community level vermi composting unit.
 As
the part of the promotion of solid waste management programme,
two community level vermi compost unit have been started at
Janashakthi group, Kallikkad and Govt. AVHSS Mangalam.
40 household vermi compost units and
plastic bins have been distributed.
After two years of local development and environmental regeneration,
the local communities whish to develop community based tourism.
Fairwings will provide technical assistance in partnership
with AREED and will let you know more about the project..
French Non Profit
Organisation N°: 0668013238
N° SIRET : 448 839 357 00010
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