Tsunami regeneration programme
With operations around the Pacific Ocean, we responded immediately to the Asian Tsunami in late 2004. After initial emergency relief donations we established a Tsunami regeneration programme for essential long-term community rebuilding. Working in partnership with a local charity, the Sri Aurobindo Society, on a five-year project, we are contributing to the redevelopment of two villages in the coastal region of Tamil Nadu, one of the worst affected areas in India. The project addresses education, health, economic development, vocational training, organic farming, water harvesting and attitude changes including the empowerment of women. Learnings from the project will also help to create significant rural regeneration throughout the rest of the tsunami-hit regions and beyond.
Priorities for the first year include: providing simple housing and toilets and repairing and developing eight pre-school centres and three schools. We will also recruit teaching staff, health workers, counsellors as well as an administrator and set up a training and basic IT centre. Providing a sports field and equipment is another priority for year one.
Our trustees will monitor and measure the impact of the project over time. They will be looking for positive developments such as growing numbers of students attending college or achieving vocational training, an increase in the number of children being vaccinated, improvements in adult literacy rates, growth in family incomes, and increased life expectancy.
