Tsunami & Disability: Report of Visit to Indian Islands

National Centre for Promotion of Employment for Disabled People (NCPEDP) in association with Disabled People's International - India and Vidya Sagar has launched a campaign to get disability issues included in the relief and rehabilitation work for the victims of Tsunami. As part of our efforts to gather facts and information, we visited Andaman & Nicobar Islands, which has suffered the heaviest loss in India, due to Tsunami.

During our two-day visit (19th & 20th January), we met with the Hon'ble Lt. Governor, senior officials of Welfare & Health Ministries, other Government officials involved in relief, NGOs doing relief work and common non-disabled and disabled people of the region.  

We were accompanied by two local people -- Shri J.K. Mukherjee, a person with disability from the Andaman District, who is also running an association for disabled people in the region and a partner in the National Disability Network (NDN) and Smt. Piyali Halder, who is a parent of a child with Cerebral Palsy, living in Middle Andaman.

The objective of the visit was not only to do gather data / information on the number of people disabled as result of Tsunami but also to know about the persons with disabilities, who have survived, but are affected by the disaster. Our aim was also to understand the overall disability scenario in the region (administrative framework; implementation of the Disability Act, existence of disability NGOs - their functioning & reach, awareness levels, etc.), which will help in planning the work for the future.

People's Voices:

"Disabled people in the Islands are worse off than Adivasis," Hon'ble Lt. Governor.

"There was a polio epidemic in Car Nicobar Island several years ago, which resulted in about 700 people becoming disabled. I went there three days after the disaster but could not locate a single disabled person! They may be dead, as they may not have been able to run up the hills to save their lives. Those who could run have survived", Dr. S.P. Saha, Head of Orthopaedic Department in G.B. Pant Hospital, Port Blair.

"1000 - 1500 cases of injury, most of them due to panic than Tsunami. They are in various hospitals. I can only give information about my hospital. Many have fractured their limbs; about 10 cases required major surgeries, 110 were given aids & appliances (many were disabled from the past who had lost their appliances); one case of amputation, some cases of spinal injury, due to earthquake", a doctor.

"There is a girl whose lower extremity has been completely paralysed, as she was immersed in water for 2 days, before she was rescued. Her other family members were washed away by Tsunami. She has refused to come to Port Blair for treatment. She is living in a camp in Car Nicobar Island", Shri Uday Kumar, Director, Social Welfare.

"There are an innumerable number of people in trauma. We don't know how many people will cope up and how many will need long term counselling," doctor in G.B. Pant Hospital.

"The Government will give jobs to non-disabled people and I may get left behind. I am not even educated. I do not want to go back to the island. It is not safe there any more," a young fisherman with disability from Hudson Bay.

"The prevalence of disability is quite high among the Nicobari tribe, as a result of consagenous marriage, under nourishment, etc," parent of a disabled child.

Disability & Tsunami:

• The total number of injured due to Tsunami is 1489, according to the Report prepared by the Coordinating Officer, Port Blair.

• Exact number of people who have been severely injured resulting in physical disability is not known.

• No special effort is being made by the Government to find out the exact number of people who have become disabled from Tsumani and also about those with disabilities who have survived the disaster and are in various relief camps.

• We visited only two relief camps in Port Blair - 1. ITF Camp and 2. HADO Telugu School. We made one announcement and 28 disabled people identified themselves in ITF Camp and 15 disabled people came forward in the HADO Telugu School. There were children, youth and adults with different disabilities. This finding was totally contradictory to the Director Social Welfare's claim that there are no disabled people in the relief camps.

• There are number of people in trauma. But the statistics are not available with either the Health Ministry or the Welfare Ministry. We were told that volunteers are going from camp to camp giving counselling but there are no comprehensive efforts yet.  

Overall Disability Scenario in the Andaman & Nicobar Islands

• According to Census 2001, the total number of disabled people in the Andaman & Nicobar Islands is 7057, which is an underestimate. If we take 5 %, which is an acceptable estimate, the total number of disabled people in this region works out to approximately 20,000.

• No rehabilitation services are available for the disabled people in this entire region.

• Not a single disability NGO is receiving any grant from the Government or from any other donor agency.  

• The Director Social Welfare, who is also officiating as the Disability Commissioner (dual charge) sits on the first floor. There are no lifts/ ramps in this building, which is a new construction!

• The Secretary Social Welfare's office is also on the first floor.

• No trace of implementation of the National Trust Act.

• There is no channelising agency for the National Handicapped Finance and Development Corporation (NHFDC).  

• They have an Integrated Education (IED) Scheme, under which   942 disabled children have been identified and enrolled. However, the quality of the services, according to the beneficiaries is very poor. IED teachers do not know Braille or sign language. There are only 24 IED cells in the entire region. They are not accessible to many disabled children living in far flung areas. Many parents (those who can afford) prefer to go to the mainland (Chennai & Kolkata) for rehabilitation, spending huge amount of money from their own pockets.

• Sarva Siksha Abhiyan ('Education for All' Campaign) for disabled people is yet to be implemented in the region.

• There are no posts reserved for disabled people in Group A & B services in the Departments, which includes the Social Welfare Department.

Visit to Relief Camps:

We could visit only two relief camps in Port Blair. Contradictory to the information given by government officials, we found several disabled people in the relief camps. We identified 43 disabled people in just these two camps.  

Food, clothing, etc. are not a problem. They are being provided by the Government & NGOs. Some camps were more chaotic than others. It is still a very temporary arrangement. People are living under one huge tent and families do not have separate shelters.

As the schools are being reopened on 24 th January, there are plans to shift the camps located in schools. There are discussions for building temporary and permanent shelters.

Meeting with the Hon'ble Lt. Governor

The one to one meeting that we had with the Hon'ble Lt. Governor, Shri Ram Kapsay was positive. He admitted that disability is a neglected area in the region. He offered his immediate support and also invited us to start services for disabled people in the Andaman & Nicobar Islands.  

NGOs Meeting organised by the Planning Commission:

Ms. Syeda Hameed, Member, Planning Commission, Government of India, had convened a meeting of NGOs on 20 th January at the Secretariat, to understand the present situation vis-à-vis the relief & rehabilitation work.   About 50 NGOs   (International, National & Local) attended the meeting. Not a single disability organisation was present, other than us.

Till now, the focus has been on immediate relief, which seems to be more or less under control. However, NGOs complained about lack of coordination amongst themselves and with the Government, resulting in duplication of work.

NGOs are keen to begin the rehabilitation work, but have not got a clear go-ahead from the Government.

Some valuable suggestions that came up at the meeting were -- allocation of work to NGOs; setting up of a Coordination Committee, which can meet periodically to plan & monitor the rehabilitation work, etc. We also shared our findings and suggestions with regard to inclusion of disability in the relief & rehabilitation work, which was taken positively.

Recommendations:

1. There is an immediate need to collect data of disabled people, who have been affected by Tsunami - those who have been rendered disabled; those with disability who have survived but are affected and people with psychosocial problems, as a result of the disaster.
2. Disability Representatives should be a part of the Coordination Committee that the Planning Commission is going to set up for planning, coordinating & monitoring the relief & rehabilitation work.
3. Concrete and time-bound plans to address disability concerns in revival of livelihoods , achieving convergence among all on-going programmes of sustainable development and reconstruction.
4. Disabled friendly and Inclusive built environment, when reconstruction of shelters (temporary or permanent), schools, health centres, housing facilities, water and sanitation facilities, etc. takes place.
5. International & other NGOs supporting the Government in relief / rehabilitation / reconstruction work should include disability on their agenda.
6. Disability should be a priority area for any policy that is being formulated for preparedness, mitigation & management and other efforts to prepare ourselves to face similar challenges with confidence & competence in the future.
7. It is a good opportunity to correct the past mistakes. The Disability Act, the National Trust Act should be enforced in the Andaman & Nicobar Islands. As the first step, a full-time Disability Commissioner should be appointed for the Union Territory immediately, which can really speed up the process.

Note: Recommendations from 1 to 6 are common & applicable to all Tsunami affected areas.

Ms. Rama Chari is a Senior Programme Officer, in the National Centre for Promotion of Employment for Disabled People (NCPEDP), New Delhi and Ms. Rajul Padmanabhan is the Deputy Director of Vidya Sagar, Chennai. They are members of the Core Group, which has been constituted by NCPEDP in association with Disabled People's International - India, as part of the campaign to get disability included in the relief & rehabilitation of Tsunami victims.

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