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India
The tsunami battered the southeast coast of India, killing some 10,000 people and ravaging the lives of 2.5 million survivors. CARE, which has worked in India since 1950, is helping some 100,000 people in the states of Andhra Pradesh and Tamil Nadu and in the Andaman and Nicobar Islands rebuild their lives. We reach the most socially and economically marginalized communities (including households headed by women and the lower caste groups) and are helping to ensure their participation in the rehabilitation process. In fact, CARE was cited in a major impact study of nongovernmental organizations, commissioned by former U.S. President Bill Clinton in his capacity as U.N. Special Envoy for Tsunami Recovery, for our efforts to examine the processes of social exclusion and discrimination in the tsunami recovery process in India. CARE was the first international organization to initiate this "social equity audit."
Our efforts address a variety of needs, including shelter, income opportunities, clean water and trauma counseling. We have improved access to clean water and sanitation conditions for some 20,000 families by repairing or constructing latrines and showers, desalinating wells, installing pumps and new water systems, and forming community committees to manage these improvements. We built more than 500 transitional shelters and are mid-way through construction of 2,000 permanent disaster-resistant homes. CARE is ensuring that the new communities are equipped with electricity, drainage systems, roads, parks, health clinics, schools and community centers. We also carried out an extensive training program that equipped 3,000 people — including teachers, village health workers and other community members — with the skills to provide counseling to traumatized survivors. To help people get back to work, CARE provided training and supplies (such as boats, seeds, agricultural tools, sewing machines, etc.) for over 23,000 people. We are also establishing a "livelihood advancement center" to offer trainings in boat repair, mechanics, seafood production and masonry.
CARE is also working to make sure that future disasters will not have the tsunami's devastating effect. We are partnering with the government on a disaster risk reduction program, which entails organizing disaster drills, stocking emergency rescue and floating kits, training for community members on disaster response, and developing contingency and mitigation plans. Other initiatives include partnering with financial institutions to provide insurance to 5,500 coastal families.
Indonesia
The coastline of Indonesia was closest to the epicenter of the earthquake that triggered the 2004 tsunami. Of the approximately 230,000 people killed worldwide, more than half were in Indonesia. With 40 years of experience in Indonesia, CARE has helped more than 350,000 people gain access to clean water, distributed more than 1 million bottles of water purifying solution, distributed 700,000 food rations and provided essential nutrition and other health services to thousands of women and children.
CARE continues to work to restore livelihoods and rebuild quality homes. In a survey of 35 organizations working in Aceh, CARE's houses were recognized as being "above and beyond" the building code in terms of construction quality, and our reconstruction work and community planning activities have been cited as the best in Aceh in terms of accountability to our project participants. CARE has employed 2,000 construction workers in our shelter program and more than 96 percent of our total target of 1,835 permanent houses are now either under construction or completed. Other livelihood activities include the establishment and training of 255 community groups to set up small businesses such as food stalls, coffee shops, furniture manufacturing and repair, motorcycle service, welding, salt farming, tailoring, barber shops and electronics.
In partnership with the Department of Agriculture, CARE is training thousands of farmers and providing high-quality seed and advice on market access. CARE is also helping local communities to rehabilitate mangroves destroyed by the tsunami, thus restoring critical habitat for juvenile fish, a vital resource for fishing communities. We have trained hundreds of health workers on maternal and child health. Each month, more than a thousand women are equipped with information about breastfeeding and nutrition, and approximately 2,500 are screened for malnutrition and provided with supplements. We have rebuilt four community health centers and continue to improve health clinics in 25 villages. We also organize activities to help women and children heal emotionally, include sewing trainings, handicrafts, dancing and arts.
Somalia
The Indian Ocean tsunami extended as far west as Africa's eastern coast, including Somalia, where some 300 people died and 44,000 people were affected. CARE began operations in Somalia in 1981 and has partnered with local organizations in the northeast coastal area of Puntland to meet the needs of around 32,000 people.
Following the disaster, we distributed a total of 491 tons of food to 70 percent of the affected households. The tsunami destroyed nearly all of the shallow wells in the coastal area, resulting in an acute shortage of drinking water. In response, CARE delivered water to more than 5,000 families in 45 communities. As a long-term solution, we are installing water systems and building private latrines.
CARE initially planned to provide boats, engines, nets and ropes to help some 2,300 fishermen get back out to sea. Realizing that there was a greater need not being met by other agencies, we expanded our livelihoods program to support approximately 32,000 people, at least 75 percent of those affected. Our projects to restore livelihoods and improve incomes include supporting fishermen's associations and conducting training to help preserve marine resources, promote the consumption of local fish and improve the processing of fish products.
To date, CARE has built five schools and four health centers after working with participating communities to form education and health management committees, which are responsible for managing the new facilities and paying for the services (teachers' salaries, etc.). Before the construction of 125 houses, CARE held lengthy discussions with communities on the design and location of the homes and convinced them to build outside of the old village so they will be above sea-level and less vulnerable to future disasters. CARE received a "recommendation for excellence" from the Puntland government for the impressive quality of the houses built.
Sri Lanka
The tsunami devastated eastern and southern coasts of Sri Lanka, killing at least 30,000 people and displacing more than half a million people. At least 100,000 homes were either partially or completely destroyed. CARE's tsunami recovery efforts are focused on the districts of Ampara, Batticaloa, Galle, Jaffna, Hambantota, Mullaitivu and Trincomalee, where we are helping some 160,000 people put their lives back together.
With the involvement of affected and neighboring communities, we built more than 1,700 high-quality transitional shelters that included water and sanitation facilities for some 7,700 people; some of those shelters were ready to be lived in one month after the tsunami. We distributed food and essential relief items to 32,000 families in the immediate aftermath of the disaster. Our efforts to provide clean water and proper latrines for 24,000 families have helped prevent disease and keep people healthy. With our continued support in the form of trainings, tools and equipment, and cash-for-work programs, some 11,000 families — including farmers, fishermen and small traders — have started to earn an income again.
Of the 1,330 houses CARE plans to rebuild, 361 have been completed and 665 are on hold due to ongoing conflict affecting Jaffna, Batticoloa, Trincolmalee and Killinochi/Mullaitivu, where all but lifesaving activities have been suspended due to security risks. While continuing to support the financial recovery of tsunami-affected families, CARE is also promoting their emotional recovery. More than 5,000 students, 4,500 parents and 200 teachers have benefited from CARE's psychosocial program in schools.
To promote long-lasting change, CARE and other organizations have advocated for land and other legal rights for women, and set up a women's coalition for disaster management and women's action groups that empower women living in temporary camps to prevent and report violence. CARE also continues to advocate for a peaceful resolution to the current conflict, which is displacing and severely disrupting the lives of thousands of civilians.
Thailand
In Thailand, where CARE has worked since 1979, the tsunami claimed the lives of at least 5,000 people and affected more than 35,000 across three provinces (Phang Nga, Krabie and Ranong). CARE has built permanent houses; helped vulnerable groups access basic health and education services; established 126 revolving loan funds, which are enabling some 34,075 people to access funds to repair or replace boats, fishing supplies and homes; provided marketing and business training to occupational groups; restored coral reefs and mangrove forests; and helped communities improve emergency preparedness.
CARE is also advocating for the rights of vulnerable, marginalized groups such as undocumented migrant workers and minority groups like the Moken (sea gypsies). Without the necessary documentation to prove their nationality and ownership of assets, these vulnerable groups are denied access to government compensation and services available to other tsunami survivors. We are also training health workers and volunteers to work with these affected communities.
CARE has also organized a national conference on disaster risk management to be held in January 2007 for 200 participants representing 40 agencies — including community-level, government and private sectors — to promote greater coordination of emergency preparedness and response activities in Thailand.
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