Irulas say tsunami changed their destiny - for better (Five years after tsunami)

CHENNAI - It’s one of life’s brilliant ironies. The tsunami that struck India’s east coast exactly five years ago in 2004 brings back only sad memories for most - but not the Irula tribe of Tamil Nadu. The killer wave brought them relief they had always been deprived of.

Schools and better economic opportunities have come their way, five years on.

“Before the tsunami I was living along the coast in a small hut. When the tsunami struck, I lost whatever little I had,” Mohana, who is from this community in Nemelli village, told IANS.

“Because we don’t belong to the fishermen community, who were directly affected, we did not get immediate help from the government. However after that, a few NGOs came to us and offered us land to build our houses. This came as a huge relief,” she said.

Mohana said she is also the leader of a self-help group in her village now.

A small group of indigenous, forest-dwelling population that had for generations made a living out of catching and skinning snakes, the Irula tribe mostly live near the coastal areas of Tamil Nadu.

While social hierarchy had already placed them in the lowest rung, the Wildlife Protection Act of 1972 made their means of survival illegal. It was, however, the tsunami that suddenly brought the focus on the community - and a flood of relief along with it.

Chitra of Masimaga Nagar in Kancheepuram district said: “After the tsunami, I lost my house, my belongings…my husband also left me later. However, after the intervention of the NGOs, I got a job in a government run pre-school at my village and slowly my life got back on the track.”

Among the NGOs that came forward to help this tribe rebuild their lives was ActionAid, an international charity and the Irula Tribal Women’s Welfare Society (ITWWS).

Besides registering a piece of land in the name of the women folk of the tribe and helping build houses for families, the NGOs also built schools and spread awareness programmes among the tribe to educate their children.

According to ActionAid, the literacy rate of the Irula population - roughly 150,000 - is just four percent.

“In the initial period, the government schools refused to admit the Irula kids since their parents have a tendency of moving from one place to another in search of jobs and thus the dropout rate amongst the children is high,” Jacob Premkumar of ITWWS said.

“The parents were also not too interested in sending their children to schools initially. However, awareness programmes on the importance of education turned the tide.

“The parents were convinced to send their kids to school and the officials were convinced about admitting them. Today a number of Irula kids go to school and are very happy,” Premkumar told IANS.

He said fishing in the backwaters, working as helpers to fisherman, catching prawn and collecting earthworms were some of the livelihood options for the Irulas.

“But after the tsunami, the fisherfolk treated the Irulas as opponents, thus creating a lot of problems. With the intervention of civil society groups, they are now involved in a host of activities like wood carving, setting up cycle repair shops, tiffin centres and provision stores other than fishing,” Premkumar told IANS.

Five years after the tsunami killed more than 12,000 people in the east coast and snatched the home and livelihood of 200,000 more, the Irula tribe celebrates the disaster that changed their destiny.

(Azera Rahman can be contacted at azera.p@ians.in)