A team of TT visited Andman & Nicobar Tsunami affected areas
March 27,
2005
A team of people comprising of Mr. Ibne Saud and Mr. Nasir Hassan Arvi respecting Ta'awun
Trust and Mr. Muniruddin Sharief, Advcate and Chairman, All India Milli Council Tsunami
Relief, visited Port Blair (A&N) on the 19th March 2005, on a three day visit. Mr.
Mushtaq Ahmed, an Architect from |
|
| Chennai was also
visiting Port Blair on his own and joind the team of three at Port Blair. |
Although, the maximum
damage was done in the Car Nicobar Island, due to restrictions of permission for
Non-Islanders, our team could not visit there. The other most affected areas like Hut BAY
in Little Andman (125 Kms. from Port Blair), KATCHAL in Nancowry Group of Island and
CAMPBELL BAY (Great Nicobar) could not be visited, because of paucity of time and the
uncertainty about the availability of ship and the damaged jettis.
However, we visited the affected areas in
and around Port Blair. We witnessed the visible damages to the agricultural land in South
Andman, Coastal areas of Junglee Ghat, Bamboo Flat and the Paddy field at Kanyapuram,
Steward Gunj, Chouldhari, Sippy Ghat which are still under saline water.
According to the experts' opinion , this
land is unsuitable for cultivation for the next ten years. We also visited the camps,
where the affected persons, who lost their houses and lands are living. Many from the
Mopla Community of Malabar are among the most affected.
Government expert are assessing new
alternative farming methods, for the future, Till such time, the families are living on
the rations, given by the Government, as well as local NGOs. In the Bamboo Flat jetty
area, more than 50 shops have been destroyed and damage assessed is worth more than Rs. 5
Crores. The smaller businessmen have been helped by Muslim NGOs. Fishing boats have been
damaged in large numbers and the rehabilitation programme, for them involves large sums of
money.
At this point of time of our visit, most
of the immediate relief has been well looked after, by the local NGOs, as well as Muslim
organizations from Port Blair.
Our observation, after getting a clear
picture, from the local Muslim NGos, is that, education is the immediate need for the
affected children. With such a large scale devastation of all man-made structures and the
time factor involved for rehabilitation is a deterring factor, for construction of new
school in the affected areas. Immediate relief can be given to the needy children by
re-locating them in the established school of Port Blair, so that, they live in their own
environment.
We visited the Crescent School at
Wimberly Gunj, which is run on the CBSE syllabus and is sponsored by the Islamic Welfare
Society. We found this is a good choice, for our proposal. But however, there are no
hostel facilities available here.
Two possibilities available to
implement this proposal are,
1. A hostel can be built on the second
floor of the Crescent School and can be used as a temporary hostel. This can be done on a
small budget of Rs. 8 Lakhs and can be completed in four months time.
2. The other proposal involves a
full-fledged hostel, as Four acres of land is available nearly, which was allotted by the
Government, to the Islamic Welfare Society. As the land is steep and sloping on all sides,
the 1st Phase will necessarily involve an amount of Rs. 50 Lakhs.
The feasibility of this project is
assessed, based on the information given by the local NGOs, which states that, the parents
are willing to send their children to this area, for their uninterrupted studies, in the
future.
REHABILITATION PROJECT FOR TSUNAMI AFFECTED PEOPLE
The estimated cost of the project:
Cost of land (1.35 Acre) 15,00,000/-
(Fifteen Lakhs)
Construction cost of 70 houses
70,00,000/- (Seventy Lakhs)
Total cost of project 8.5
Millions (INR) |
APPEAL – We earnestly appeal to the individuals and Institutions to
come forward and extend helping hand in this project. The Trust has already received
15,00,000/- (Rupees Fifteen Lakhs) for the cost of the land. We require 70,00,000/-
(Rupees Seventy Lakhs) for construction cost of 70 New Houses for Tsunami survivors.
May Allah reward you immensely in
this world and in the hereafter. The cheques and DD may kindly be sent in favour of
Ta’awun Trust. |
