Survivors of Latur
|
COMMENTS 
A decade after the Latur quake killed 8,000 and injured 16,000, there is plenty of evidence of poorly planned and executed disaster management interventions: villages relocated several kilometres from the fields where women work; new toilets constructed but unused because there is no water; newly-built settlements so flimsy that people are afraid to sleep in them
A sea of women, some weeping, their faces lit by the candles they held in memory of the 8,000 people killed in the earthquake in Latur on September 30, 1993.
Over 5,000 women travelled from the Latur and Osmanabad districts in Maharashtra's Marathwada region, Gujarat and other states, to share experiences, and articulate their demands before amazed ministers and district officials, as part of a commemorative event to mark a decade of the calamity.
The World Bank-aided US$ 220 million Maharashtra Earthquake Emergency Rehabilitation Project (MEERP) involved an NGO as a consultant for community participation in rebuilding houses in about 1200 'C' category villages, that is, those that were partially affected. It was the first time an NGO -- Swayam Shikshan Prayog (SSP) -- was thus involved.
The SSP intervention evoked a large response from the community, which reactivated many of the defunct Mahila Mandals (women's groups) and committees on health, water and sanitation in the villages. The large gathering at Latur on September 30 was proof of the space and decision- making power the women have claimed for themselves in the villages, since the calamity.
However, survivors still look back on the day that devastated many lives at 3:56 hours, with fear and sorrow. About 1,274 villages were affected, over 16,000 people were injured, 52 villages were wrecked, and over 30,000 houses collapsed. A study on the psychological distress among survivors a decade after, by the National Institute of Mental Health and Neuro Sciences (NIMHANS) and SSP, found that over 34% of the population suffered from psychological distress and this was higher among women and older people.
Women spoke of increasing problems related to alcoholic husbands, and the study said the emotional difficulties reported by people are likely to be manifestations of psychiatric disorders. Older people who saw their younger family members die, experience guilt even now.
In the relocated villages of Killari and Sastur, which were near the epicentre of the earthquake -- 6.2 on the Richter scale -- there is a lot of fear, and people still prefer to sleep under tin sheds. In Killari village, 40 km from Latur, where 1,250 people were buried alive, frequent quarrels break out over the corruption of the sarpanch (head of village council) and gram panchayat (village council). Women generally complain of more basic issues like access to water, jobs and health care. It is significant to note that NGOs like World Vision rebuilt many houses here, but there is no sustained intervention. SSP did not work in such totally damaged villages.
"The fields are 10 km away, we have to pay Rs 10 (1US$=Rs47) to go and work in them," says Shantabai Rajput. Besides, Kamla Dalal points out, "We all have toilets in our homes but none of us use them as we have no water. We get water once in 8 or 15 days and we have to store large amounts. It is not clean, so there is a lot of diarrhoea and malaria." Kamla points to the tin shed at the back of her house where the whole family sleeps even today. The walls of her house are thin and her bathroom walls have huge cracks.
Chaya Buchade lost her husband recently; she has to support her young daughter and her ailing mother, who still suffers from trauma. "Nine members of my family died in the earthquake. I can't even pay my electricity bill, which has accumulated to Rs 9000. Ten years after the quake, we can only cry - we have only tears left now," she says. There is a lot of mental tension and anxiety among women, and psychosomatic illnesses, says Vimal Hulpule, a school teacher. Men have lost their jobs and there is unemployment among educated youth.
In Sastur, Vimal Bhure laments the death of her 11-year-old daughter. "I still sleep under a tin roof; my father-in-law and brother-in-law were also killed in the quake. We have so many problems here -- many buildings were built but no one uses them. There is a shopping complex lying unused, a school-cum-hostel for handicapped children and other structures, which are rotting. Over 300 people are still homeless."
With a population of 10,000, Sastur -- where 1,421 died -- in Osmanabad district, has a massive building complex meant to house and educate physically handicapped children. In 1998, the Sri Ganesh Shikshan Prasarak Mandal started a school here with students from Latur and Osmanabad districts. However, according to Balaji Nadarge, headmaster, of the school, they were evicted by the collector for encroachment, and arrested. Now the school has shifted to rented premises.
Today, the Rs 4.5 million building is still under dispute while the 60 students, some of them disabled by the quake, gamely carry on in difficult conditions. According to official figures, the Rs 12.84 billion MEERP project spent 65% on housing, 23% on infrastructure, and the remainder on economic, social and community rehabilitation.
While the two severely affected villages of Killari and Sastur seem mired in controversy and unhappiness, Usturi village, 70 km from Latur, has a different story to tell. Here, women organised under the Akka Mahadevi Mahila Mahamandal have built their own information centre and have formed savings and credit groups.
Since 1996, in Usturi, 240 women have been involved in nine self-help groups (SHGs) which give loans to needy women. Many women have started shops selling bangles or groceries, or chili powdering units. An anti-liquor agitation was also launched here as elsewhere, with women closing down many shops. Villages in the SSP areas had samvad sahayaks or community coordinators who mediated between the government and the community to solve problems.
The SHGs, which number 1,504 today, in 775 villages in Maharashtra, with 20,000 members have a capital of Rs 13.5 million. Prema Gopalan, founder and director of SSP, says, "The disaster provided an opportunity for women to organise themselves to access resources and monitor that these went to the right people. They gained recognition by attending to the practical needs of the community in areas of health, water sanitation, and house building."
"Listening to women really pays -- they are the everyday life experts and can assist communities in planning on activities which are close to their lives. We need to shift from a brick and mortar approach to building capacities," says Gopalan.
It is obvious that between the severely affected villages and those (1,200) that SSP worked with, the involvement and empowerment of women has made the critical difference!
Women's Feature Service, October 2003