Project Period: 2004-2007
Project Location: Poombuhar Village, Tamil Nadu
Direct Impact: 1500+ citizens
The Tsunami occurred on 26th December, 2004. The undersea megathrust earthquake triggered a series of devastating tsunamis along the coasts of most landmasses bordering the Indian Ocean, killing 230,000 people in 14 countries including over 13000++ lives in India and injurng another 5000+ Indian citizens and leaving over 100000 people homeless and inundating coastal communities with waves up to 30 metres (100 ft) high. It was one of the deadliest natural disasters in recorded history. Indonesia was the hardest-hit country, followed by Sri Lanka, India, and Thailand.
At United Way Mumbai we always looked to see how to seek the most sustainable outcomes for our charity investments. Based on our requests generous donations poured in from all parts of the world including The United States of America National Football League, United Way International’s Southeast Asia Tsunami Fund Indian and multinational corporates in India such as AIG. After much thought and a review of over a 100 possible partners, United Way Mumbai finalized on the project in partnership with local NGO Sevai to rebuild 300 homes in Poompuhar, a village 300 kms south of Chennai in Nagapattinam district. Poompuhar a major port city is said to have played a significant role in the maritime history of India. This city was swallowed by a 400 feet tidal wave some 2000 years ago. Now an extension of this city still exists in the form a sleepy fishing village, that once again lost several of its fishing community homes which were on the coastline during the 2004 Tsunami.
This project entailed accurate earthquake resistant construction of homes being undertaken with the best of international construction experts, negotiating with the local material suppliers as the cost of cement and iron started exponentially rising once mass construction began. There were endless negotiations with the changing village panchayats on who should get which homes and who should not, several meetings on kind of toilets per home as the concern was how often would litch pit toilets be cleaned, construction and placement of sewage treatment plants, working with the local public works department for building of roads, pathways lighting and ultimately cajoling and motivating each of the residents to plant trees and bring the surrounding back to the once upon a time verdant surroundings that it was.
In 2005 Poombuhar I knew was merely row of tinsheds. In 2013 I had the good fortune of re-visiting my Poombuhar and it had transformed into a community that reflected peace, cleanliness virtually a verdant green haven.
As a sailor, I bow down in gratitude to having had this opportunity to serve the once upon time great, majestic port of Poombuhar the capital city of the famous Chola kings. A city which was rich in maritime trade and the kingdom had trade with Romans and Greeks. This ancient port is recognized in the travelogues of Greek Geographer Ptolemy, Pliny and in Buddha’s Jataka Tales and many historical pali literature, temple inscriptions, tamil epics Cilapadikaram are replete with mention of this once upon atime great city and port of Poombuhar.
