Karikkattlu Kuppam was a village of 203 families, 35 kms south from Chennai. The three lanes of houses sheltered almost 1500 people. The intimidating waves of the Indian ocean jostled its 100 odd boats to harvest the unbounded treasures of the seas. The men dared to go deeper into the horizon and the women aspired to sell the catches to bigger markets. Its children studied in schools and dreamt of a better future. Karikkattlu Kuppam was a forward-looking village until the Tsunami came. Now, nothing remains.
On the fatal day of December 26 the tidal waves came three times, each time higher and stronger and by the time the sun began to recede the tsunami had consumed everything that they had saved in their lifetime. No trace remains of the 25 houses that faced the sea in the forefront. The concrete houses at the backside have all collapsed or are too dangerous to live in, as the waves had washed away all its underpinnings. The long beams of wood which once used to be their catamarans are scattered all over the beach and the larger motor boats have been thrown 200 meters off shore, damaged past repair. The nets which once caught in its knots their livelihoods are now torn, dangling from the nearby coconut trees.
The greatest lost for the village was of 10 lives. Few days after the waves struck, the bodies of a grandfather, still holding on to his two grand children were thrown up by the waters. The causalities are mostly older people and small children who didn’t had the legs to run from death or the hands to swim to life.
Unfortunately, even almost 3 weeks after the killer waves struck, Karikkattlu Kuppam remained an isolated village, quite neglected from the efforts of relief work currently going on at various places. When relief arrived at Karikkattlu Kuppam in the form of ‘Tsunami Emergency Relief’, a joint initiation of the Namgyal Monastery and the Tibetan Youth Congress, the villagers received us with folded hands and eyes filled with tears of their loss. 5 truckloads of food, tents, clothes and medical aid were unloaded at a makeshift camp for the villagers, as the first batch of basic needs. The villagers headed by their sarpanch, a wise old man of 72, gathered in an abrupt assembly infront of the supply tent proudly floating the nation flag of Tibet. Kusho Thinlay la, the leader of the relief work briefly introduced his team to the villagers through a translator and explained the objectives of the relief work, to rehabilitate the village and ascertain a permanent mode of livelihood for them so that Karikkattlu Kuppam could once again strive for a better future.
Addressing the immediate needs of the villagers, on the first day of relief work of the ‘Tsunami Emergency Relief’, 25 kgs of rice were given to each family along with a sari and lungi each to the female and male members of the village, respectively. The volunteer monks from Namgyal Monastery, led by Kusho Thinlay la, also a former central executive member of TYC and the TYC volunteers from Chandigarh RTYC and Herbertpur RTYC, escorted by Sherab Woeser, TYC CENTREX, took complete stock of the situation and the extreme extent of damage, planning and observing other means to help and support the villagers.
A lot needs to be done. However much given, distributed won’t be even near to enough for the villagers who won’t be having a permanent shelter to live in for atleast a year and have not much of an idea how they will now earn their livelihoods. But most of all they need the courage to hope and dream of the possibility of a bright future for their children. They need the belief that they can once again settle in a village of their own. They need the assurance of a handshake. They need the warmth of a smile and the friendship of a brother in their worst of times and the Tibetan monks and youths are providing all of that in plenty.
‘Tsunami Emergency Relief’ is a joint effort of the Namgyal Monastery and the Tibetan Youth Congress, which started from January 16, 2005.
