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Between 6.30 to 6.35 hrs. on 26th December, 2004, a severe earthquake measuring 9.3 on the Richter scale followed by devastating Tsumani tidal waves hit the Andaman & Nicobar Islands leaving 10,000 families homeless and more than 3500 people dead or missing. The southern group of islands were the worst hit, the islands of Car Nicobar, Katchal, Teressa, Chowra, Kamorta, Nancowrie and Great Nicobar taking the brunt of the Tsunami. 149 Relief Camps were set up in the affected islands in which about 38,000 people were accommodated. However, most of these Relief Camps were perforce makeshift tents of tarpaulin and the next big challenge was to put up temporary housing before the long and severe monsoons set in by April.
The constraints and compulsions in this project were varied and at times seemed insurmountable. 10,000 temporary homes with basic facilities like sanitation, drinking water and electricity had to be put up in a period of a maximum of 2 months. Almost all the construction materials had to be shipped out from the main land. There was scarcity of skilled manpower in islands, road communication in some of the islands had either been completely washed away or severely damaged, the islands continued to be rocked by severe aftershocks which had a very debilitating effect on the morale of the workers and almost no mechanical equipment was available in the affected islands. The logistic problem was made worse by the fact that jetties and cargo handling equipments in 8 affected islands had been severely damaged and was not functional. Thus the transportation of construction material to these islands involved moving load by load from the ships to smaller boats and pontoons and then reloading further on the island shores. Since many of the islands had no road connectivity the construction materials had to be moved over uneven and rough terrain through long distances manually.
Designs For Intermediate Shelter
A team of housing experts was deputed by the Ministry of Home Affairs headed by Prof. Anand S. Arya, National Seismic Advisor, and the designs and specification of all the shelters were drawn up keeping constraints of time, logistics, availability of manpower and mechanical equipments, preference of the tribal population and seismic zone and cyclonic wind speed criteria (Andaman and Nicobar islands fall in the seismic zone V) in view.
Three different Models were finalized keeping the average covered area of a dwelling unit at 21-25 sq. mtr. Per family (including kitchen and toilet) as given below:
Six unit blocks for the non tribals in Port Blair, Little Andaman and Campbell Bay.
Four unit blocks for tribals in Car Nicobar and
Two unit blocks for tribals in Nancowry group of islands.
The following specifications were finalized for the shelters.
· Roofing with CGI Sheets
· Walls of CGI Sheets
· Frames of steel or wooden posts
· Raised compacted earthen flooring
· Common kitchen, bath and toilet facilities
· Provision of CFL lights and fans
· Provision of doors and windows.
Principal Features of Shelters
· Minor changes such as “Machan” as per the local requirement, need, choice of the beneficiaries etc. have been allowed.
· The structure is designed to cater to Seismic zone–V and Cyclonic Wind speed criteria.
· Internal and external electricity connection has been given at each and every site. MCB, CFL lamp, Fan and other fittings have been provided.
· Separate Bathing and Toilet facility have been provided for each unit.
· 2 doors and 2 windows have been provided in each unit to allow proper ventilation.
· Special emphasis has been given for regular water supply through public hydrants. Rain water harvesting has also been taken up at the sites and has already been completed in South Andaman. This has also been extended to other islands.
· Proper approaches have been provided to the shelter sites.
· Work on Footpath and drainages has also been taken up.
· Certain value addition works like provision of CC flooring in dwelling units and lean to roof Verandha have also been taken up.
· Provision of Social infrastructure such as Relief Godown, Primary school, Community center, Primary health care center, Anganwadi have been created as per the site requirement.
· Playground for children has also been earmarked. Construction of the same has already been started in South Andaman.
· Construction of “Chowpal” has also been taken up in the shelter sites in South Andaman.
Sourcing and Transshipment
The single largest challenge was sourcing and trans-shipment of construction materials from the mainland to Port Blair and the Southern group of islands. The Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) undertook the procurement of 6500 MT of CGI sheets and 8000 MT of structural and non structural steel items including even toilet and electrical fixtures, and tool kits. These materials were transported by air and by sea and with the assistance of Ministry of Defence who generously helped in providing air connectivity. The State Governments too made significant contributions. The Government of Kerala provided one lakh bamboos and the Government of West Bengal provided 10,000 Sal Ballies free of cost. The Government of Andhra Pradesh assisted in the procurement of heavy equipments such as JCBs, tippers and other earth moving related equipments. The Governments of Punjab and Maharashtra arranged for procurement of several miscellaneous but essential construction materials.
Construction Agencies and Manpower
In the tribal areas, the beneficiaries of the intermediate shelters were given wages for construction of their own units since the tribal population had very specific requirements for construction of their residences that they wished to carry out on their own. In the non tribal areas, 8 NGOs were associated with the construction of 3300 units namely in South Andaman, Little Andaman and Campbell Bay. The remaining units were constructed by the Andaman Public Works Department. 10 Executive Engineers, 26 Asst Engineers and 63 Junior Engineers of APWD supervised and monitored the construction work.
The Andaman and Nicobar Administration undertook to ship and transport the construction material to each construction site while NGOs took the responsibility of motivating the beneficiaries to participate and monitor the construction work. In the initial stages, there was a severe manpower shortage as the migrant labor population had fled the islands after the Tsunami and the beneficiaries were still undergoing the trauma of losing their homes and their family members. To cope up with the situation, manpower was sourced from the Forest Department and the unaffected Northern islands. Since steel frames were to be fabricated from steel pipes, fabrication units had to be trans-shipped to the larger islands to enable mass production. Skilled manpower such as fitters and welders needed for fabrication work along with masons were mobilized from Kolkata and Chennai.
Execution And Accomplishment
There were several unfortunate accidents and the rough sea too added to the serious problems of transporting materials often upsetting schedules by one or two days especially during full/new moon. The gravity of the logistics can be gauged by the fact that each of the 60,000 CGI sheets transported from the mainland weighed approximately 14 kg and each MS Pipe also transported from the mainland weighed 26 kgs and most of these had to be loaded from ships to small boats and pontoons upto the islands and then again unloaded on the shore as most of the jetties were non-functional. A pontoon carrying 100 tons CGI sheets overturned in the sea at Kamorta injuring several workers. A loaded pontoon drifted away while crossing the 10 degree channel and three ships were pressed into the search operation. The pontoon was finally located and brought back to Car Nicobar.
Against all odds the intermediate shelters were ready by April 30, 2005 well before the monsoons set in with full force. A seemingly impossible project was made possible by the grit and determination of the people of Andaman and Nicobar Islands, the Andaman and Nicobar Islands Administration, the Ministry of Home Affairs, the Ministry of Defence and the co-operation of some dedicated NGOs.
A view of the Itermediate Shelters constructed for Tsunami victims
An Intermediate Shelter at Brichgunj
An aerial view of shelters ready for occupation
Construction of Intermediate Shelters in progress in Car Nicobar
Materials for Intermediate shelters being off-loaded
Uploading materials for Intermediate shelters
View of Intermediate Shelters being constructed for Tsunami
Work in progress in South Andaman
*Inputs from the Ministry of Home Affairs
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