Alert

47/2008 - India

Cyclone Nisha- floods in Tamil Nadu

Geneva, 01 December 2008

Since 26 November, while the world's attention has been fixed on the bombings in Mumbai, Tamil Nadu state in southern India has been battered by cyclonic storm 'Nisha' bringing further flooding and suffering to people in the coastal areas. The progress of the storm has affected ten districts with heavy rainfall and strong winds reaching 75 km/h.

Current Situation

ACT members on the ground report that the districts of Cuddalore, Nagapattinam, Thanjavur and Chidambaram are the worst affected by the cyclone and heavy rainfall. Crops and property have been hit hard and approximately 62 lives have been lost in the state. Churches Auxiliary for Social Action (CASA) and the United Evangelical Lutheran Church of India (UELCI) report flash floods in a number of places, damage to irrigation canals and water tanks, and disruptions to communications and public transport.

Official figures report 2,426 villages and 800,000 people affected, with 4,400 huts destroyed and 273 cattle having perished, though UELCI considers these figures to be under-estimated. The Lutheran World Service (LWS India) team, already operational in the districts of Cuddalore and Nagapattinum, report that people in vulnerable areas are suffering from water logging in their improvised mud and thatch shelters. This includes most of their project areas for on-going disaster risk reduction programmes supported by ACT appeal ASIN82. Some people are moving to nearby schools and other public buildings to take shelter. Inundated areas have been cut off from the national highway. Standing crops, mainly paddy and sugarcane on two million hectares of land, have been submerged in Cuddalore district. Power supplies, telecommunications and public transportation have been disrupted in Cuddalore and Nagapattinam districts of Tamil Nadu. Seawater entered many houses situated near the coast. Urban areas of Chidambaram, Cuddalore and Sirbali are also flooded creating hazards there.

National Response

Fire and rescue services personnel evacuated more than 15,000 persons to safer places as heavy rain continued to pound the Cuddalore district. The district administration in Nagapattinam district reported that 78,000 people have been evacuated to places of safety on 27 November. About 130 relief camps have been set up by the government in Nagapattinam and Cuddalore, and food relief assistance has been initiated. Senior civil servants are being deployed to oversee relief operations. ACT members are not aware of any international agencies providing relief assistance in the affected areas.

ACT members response

The LWSI relief team present in Nagapattinam and Cuddalore districts of Tamil Nadu has been closely monitoring the situation and assessments are in progress. On the basis of the assessment report, relief interventions will be planned to respond to the immediate needs of cyclone affected people. CASA is also closely monitoring the situation and has also deployed emergency field staff to the affected areas to make an assessment.

LWSI have already indicated that they will be submitting an appeal proposal for approximately US $200,000 to the ACT Coordinating Office for support to assist at least 2,000 families with life sustaining support including temporary shelter, family relief supplies including dry food rations, and sleeping mats approx.

UELCI staff along with its member churches in the affected areas- TELC, ALC, IELC, and SALC- are assessing the situation. They have indicated that they will submit an appeal proposal for food relief and non-food items to assist up to 20,661 families in 242 villages in various districts: Chennai, Cuddalore, Nagapattinam, Kanyakumari, Truvannamalai. Further recovery and rehabilitation needs included for shelter repair and educational materials for school children are already foreseen.

Should the situation worsen, CASA also plans to be operational in the area.

Any funding indication or pledge should be communicated to Jessie Kgoroeadira, ACT Finance Officer (jkg@act-intl.org).

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ACT is a global alliance of churches and related agencies working to save lives and support communities in emergencies worldwide. The ACT Coordinating Office is based with the World Council of Churches (WCC) and The Lutheran World Federation (LWF) in Switzerland.