Miles to go

WE'RE finally in Bhuj. Our object was to personally deliver the blankets and clothes sent with much love by the people of our town, Gudalur, in the Nilgiris. Then Martin Macwan, our link to Gujarat, offered us the opportunity to accompany him.

The Abhiyan network of 22 Kutch based organisations had been swamped by volunteers. So we didn't want to add to the tourist type visitors. Secondly, I hate the inevitable, necessary but voyeuristic journalists' job of interviewing victims, asking probing questions to already suffering, traumatised people. Yet it's part of the job.

We (the ACCORD team) decided to tag along. We were glad we did. No amount of TV or news reporting can substitute for the actual, physical sight of the devastation. As we began the odyssey into the Kutch, we were stunned into silence. Enough has been written about the earthquake. So I decided to concentrate on the issues and questions that needed urgent highlighting and exposing. I did this by sitting in at the daily Abhiyan meetings. This was possible because Sandeep and Sushma, the couple coordinating the work, asked us to stay a few days and help at the info desk.

I was, therefore, allowed an inside view of the coordinated workings of the large group of NGOs, International donor agencies, Disaster Management organisations and the Collector with his government officials. A Swiss Disaster expert told me, "I've been everywhere in the world from Rwanda to Bosnia to South America and Orissa. I've never ever experienced a group get their act together so fast and come out with a coordinated, well thought out policy and plan of action two weeks after the disaster. Most people are stumbling around uncoordinated even months after."

One of the major issues is reaching supplies to the most needy. Moving around Bhuj , I found the Congress tents pathetically inactive and empty. The RSS/BJP/VHP combine have done massive work, the RSS cadres proving their mettle with highly disciplined, hardworking zeal in every possible contingency. However, the government has been criticised first, for politicising a disaster by routing supplies through its allies. And secondly for the fact that BJP party functionaries moved massive relief to their caste groups and relatives, neglecting Dalits and Muslims.

Families we spoke to in Kukma, a totally ravaged village near Bhuj, reaffirmed this. "We have received aid. But the best things and the bulk are cornered by the headmen and panchayat presidents who give it to their people. We get the leftovers. If the government distributed it through the PDS or through cards, everyone would get their share."

Dalit groups bitterly observed, "They'd prefer to hide blankets in the fields than give it to us. They give us one tenth of the rations meant for us. They're afraid if we get enough we won't work in their fields anymore when our bellies are full." So the priority here is that the government and NGO's need to address the issue of EQUITY and see that they do not imagine that talking to the panchayat president ensures a democratic distribution.

Martin Macwan, dalit leader, pointed out, "When you're handling relief you must help everyone. But don't imagine that caste is dispensed with in a disaster situation. So when you begin rehab you need to make choices. Discriminate. Consciously choose the poorest and the weakest. In this instance that appears to be Dalit and Muslim groups."

The focus now is on rehab and reconstruction. Shelter is a much debated issue. Many people are still shivering in hastily put together patchwork tents of old saris and pieces of plastic. But tarpaulins have reached many people. The government has announced that the next phase of emergency temporary construction should be finished before the monsoon. And then a post-monsoon third phase will be started.

The question being thrashed out is, should the structures be TEMPORARY tents or as housing experts, T. Krishna, a Gudalur architect and Yogananda, a Bangalore structural engineer advise, "start a PERMANENT one-room structure based on traditional and local design which the people will build upon gradually. Village people traditionally build in this organic way and we need to use climatically suitable materials and advise them about using sound, earthquake-proof measures. In India, if you visit the Himalayan and Garhwal villages, simple illiterate people have built earthquake resistant houses. In the cyclone prone coastal areas they had circular, wind resistant houses. Yet when we reconstruct we think of modern unsound housing. Concrete death traps." The tents being flown in cost around Rs. 16,000 each. A ridiculous amount to be spent on temporary shelter when a permanent, more suitable alternative is possible.

As this goes to press, the government has approved an appalling scheme to put up corrugated tin sheet walls and roofs in a place where the temperatures in summer reach 49 degrees C. Ramdas, our Gudalur team member angrily remarked, "That was what the Japanese used for torture in the Second World War. Perhaps we should put some government officials and Ministers in these tin boxes. Let them roast there for two days and then ask them to approve the design."

Additionally, the government is ludicrously demanding ration cards. Manjula of Navsarjan Trust asks, "The ration cards of genuine victims are buried under the rubble, how can they produce ration cards now? Migrant workers will also be totally excluded. New identification cards are a top priority".

Another urgent need is to put craftspeople back on their feet, to enable them to get on with their lives. SEWA is distributing crafts kits to craftspeople. Saltpan workers too need cash to rebuild their salt pans. People have lost their seed stock and savings for the only monsoon crop possible there.

On the health front, commendable work has been done by volunteer doctors. The need now is for medical centres and ongoing post- operative care. Trauma victims too need counselling. In Orissa, through ACTIONAID, I witnessed a NIMHANS trained team of local "barefoot" counsellors doing a tremendous job. Most women poured out their hearts to anyone who would listen. The talking and unburdening had a therapeutic value. Perhaps Gujarati and Kutchi speaking volunteers could help similarly with the right inputs.

Save The Children was busy contacting different village groups and counselling against the blind adoption policy being raised by well meaning though ill advised people. In Orissa, barbaric though it may seem, young orphaned girls were being "adopted" by relatives who were selling them to brothels for a few thousand rupees. Child abuse, using children as servants, for begging, or for sex are very real dangers. Another issue is that a cultural translocation immediately after trauma may do the children more harm than good. So it is imperative that the government does not go for knee-jerk policies but coordinates its decisions with concerned, informed, experienced child-care groups.

The real work will begin once Kutch disappears from the headlines. If we're rebuilding whole towns, we can do it right for once, learning from the mistakes of Latur and Orissa. For once, money is not the problem, crores are pouring in from NRIs. The crucial question is whether it will reach the people or not.

Send it to sound groups. Two I know of are the Janpath Citizens Initiative , email jvhidrc@icenet.com, attention Gagan Sethi and SEWA, email sewamahila@wilnetonline.net, attention Mirai Chatterjee.

MARI MARCEL THEKAEKARA

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