Two months have passed. The column inches have shrunk. The airtime has reduced. The memories have faded. Most of us have returned to our daily chores. However, for the survivors of the Tsunami disaster, the journey has just begun - putting together the threads of their life is going to take a while. Promises are being made by the government. Money has been doled out. Plans are getting chalked. Numerous organizations, from far and wide, have come forward eagerly to provide succor to the victims in one form or the other. So, in this clutter, how will AID channelize its limited resources in order to have the greatest impact on the lives of the Tsunami survivors?
In the words of the AID Chennai State Level Co-ordinator, "AID will assess, understand and respond to the needs of the people. Each village, each community will have a different set of needs, and AID will have a multi-faceted approach to address those needs in a timely manner." Many organizations are working on the ground in the worst affected areas. Most of them will stay for a limited period of time, and will be working on specific aspects of relief. But what will happen once these organizations leave after a specific time period? Or rather, what would NOT have happened, after they leave? Will the children's education programs be run, will preventive health care and low-cost sanitation initiatives be set up, will sustainable income generating schemes be devised, will the most vulnerable section of the society (the senior citizens, disabled, children, women, and the poorest) be a part of the rehabilitation plans? These are the areas where inputs and interventions from AID will be most valuable.
As the Government's Officer on Special Duty, Mr. C.V. Shankar put very eloquently, "The Government has enough money for all the infrastructure rebuilding. Organizations like yours that have expertise in running programs in education and health must bring in this facet to complement the government rehabilitation efforts." And that is exactly what we are doing - health and educational materials, developed by AID, are being transmitted 24x7, via satellite radio, from the Government Relief Commissioner's Office, to 68 affected villages across the state.
