ACT Photo Essay

South & south east Asia/India 02/05

January 4, 2005

Indian fishermen now fear the ocean

Photos and information provided by Hege Opseth, Norwegian Church Aid/ACT International

What do you do if you're now afraid of the very thing that provided your livelihood? This is the case for Chinnaiyan, a life-long fisherman on the coast of India. He is now afraid of the sea. “How will I be able to feed my family now?” he asks.

Along the coast outside the city of Chennai, people are talking about the monster wave that swept lives and livelihoods away on December 26, 2004. The tsunami waves smashed into their villages at high speed, dragging people, fishing boats and houses out to sea.

Although the fishermen along the coast have generations of experience with cyclones and tropical storms, they are still terrified. The tsunami was both unexpected and unknown. And that’s what scares them. “We were sitting with our nets on the beach. Then the waves started coming in. We had never seen anything like it before. We ran and ran,” explains Chinnaiyan.

With his family, Chinnaiyan is staying in Karikattukoppam, a small camp several miles from the beach. A blue plastic sheet offers shade, and his wife Kalphana has received cooking pans so she can prepare a little food for her family.

The small family of four is among the lucky ones. Hundreds of thousands of people along the coast have been affected by the disaster, and Chinnaiyan and Kalphana have received help. But many more are still waiting.

Several kilometres farther along the coast lie the remains of the village of Kokkirammedu. 120 families lived here, and 20 people were killed. A thick odor hangs in the air, a blend of rotten palm leaves, fish, rubbish, and animal corpses.

Women burn what they can on the beach. Anxiously, they watch the horizon. The sea is calm now.

“I am hungry, my children are hungry. We are eating coconuts to survive,” says one woman.

People now need to recover from the shock, clear their coastline and find the strength to carry on with their lives.

Church's Auxiliary for Social Action (CASA), Lutheran World Service India, and the United Evangelical Lutheran Church in India, all members of the global alliance Action by Churches Together (ACT) International in India, are already fully involved with relief efforts, which include providing food. Preparations are underway for the distribution of other items, from clothing to lighting and cooking pans. Several teams have been dispatched to explore more remote areas and to assess the damage and needs.

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