News
|
||||
Livelihoods
once drowned by waves, now by indifference Sixty-two-year old Sinnyo Almeida who’s about to join the rest to go out to sea says little has changed. “Though some nets, and boats have been replaced, life is still a struggle. We have to go to sea daily to feed our families even if the seas are rough.” The very word seems to take him back to that day in December. “It was a day just like today, and as usual I walked onto the beach, and left the nets to dry. The waves were calm and everything seemed normal. I walked away asking the others to keep an eye on the nets. It was around 9.15 a.m. when the first wave lashed onto the beach shifting the positions of our nets and boats. But before we could get everything inland, another bigger wave started chasing us,” he recalled. He and his family survived but he lost his house and fishing gear. Now he lives in a temporary shelter like many other fisherfolk.During midday, when many hide from the scorching sun, 40-year-old M.S.N Salith gets ready to go to sea. “It was 9.10 a.m. when the first wave splashed the shore. I was in a boutique which was quite far from my house. I rushed towards home, but soon another wave came and I was knocked against buildings and trees. I survived inspite of severe injuries.” When he reached home, he saw the bodies of his wife and two daughters. Later that day, he found out that his sister-in-law and her family had also died. He lost nine loved ones in a few seconds. It took eight months for Salith to recover from the mental and physical trauma. Now he lives in a temporary shelter with two of his surviving children and mother-in-law. “Out of the many destroyed boats, we got only one third of them replaced. Though many NGOs helped us, the government provided very little assistance. We want big boats so that when the weather is not good we can still go to sea,” Salith said. Initially he was afraid of the sea but he was compelled to overcome his fears as he had to feed his surviving family members. “What do I have to fear now? I lost almost everything I had” he says squinting at the horizon. The situation is the same in the North-East where fishermen were compelled to overcome a fear of the sea because of sheer poverty and the need for survival. “Some of the affected fishermen got boats and fishing gear but many were left high and dry after the initial bout of assistance. Many of them are still in temporary shelters,” S.Thavaratnam, Head of the Jaffna District Fisheries Corporation Union said. He said many of the victims were initially displaced as a result of their properties coming under the ‘High Security Zone’ forcing them to live by the coast. Now they have been displaced by the tsunami. Currently, they are battling unfriendly weather conditions, with heavy rains, keeping them from going to sea. Although fishermen in all affected areas blame the Fisheries Ministry for not playing a bigger role in assisting them, they say that it is only the NGOs that assist them. Fisheries secretary E.Jinadasa says that it was only through the efforts of the government that NGOs and other donors are able to assist the fishermen. “It is the government that asks donors to assist these people. But since they don’t see us getting involved directly they think the government is doing little or nothing to help them,” he said. Commenting on permanent housing for the fisher folk he said many NGOs and donors have signed MoUs with the Urban Development Authority to construct houses as soon as they got land. “How soon the fisherfolk will get houses will depend on how soon the NGOs are able to do their work,” Mr.Jinadasa said. |
||||
Copyright © 2001 Wijeya Newspapers
Ltd. All rights reserved. |
