First 25 Tsunami Homes Finished in Kanyakumari
28 August 2005 — Parapattru, Kalkulam Taluk, Kanyakumari
District, Tamil Nadu
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The Ashram has finished the construction of
25 homes for tsunami-affected families in Kanyakumari,
the second-most devastated area in India. The
houses will be inaugurated and the residents
will move in around 9 September.
The homes are in Parapattru, a village near
Mandakkadu, in the Kalkulam Taluk. The 360-square-foot
houses comprise one bedroom, a living room, a
kitchen, a bathroom, a veranda, and a staircase
leading to the roof, where shelter can be taken
in case of future flooding. |
The villagers who will soon be calling the new houses
home hail from an area three kilometres away. But as
their previous houses—which were all destroyed by
the massive waves—were directly on the beach, the
government has relocated them to Parappattru, which
is a half a kilometre inland. At least three people
from the 25 families were killed during the tsunami.
Construction on the homes began on 6 July,
and the Ashram was able to finish in two month's
time—despite the monsoon. "We worked in rain
or shine," said one of the brahmacharis
who worked on the construction. The Ashram has
also constructed a main road for the houses,
dug a bore-well and installed water tanks. The
Ashram's were the first tsunami-relief homes
to be completed in Kanyakumari.
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In all, the Ashram is building 100 houses in the Kanyakumari
District. With the first phase of 25 homes now finished,
it will begin the second 25, in Kolachal, imminently.
—KaliCharan
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