tsunami update - Jan 8

[Guest guest]

UPDATE AS ON JANUARY 8, 2005 - 1600 HRS

 

We have some bad news.

 

The killing of dogs in Nagapattinam has taken place on the 6th.

Over 80 dogs were killed by the municipal authorities. Our protests

and the intervention of the AWBI Secretary has stopped it and we

have been assured by the Collector and Animal Husbandary

Department that this will not be repeated.

 

A photograph which appeared in today's Kumudam is attached.

 

Other developments:

 

The meeting between the Additional Relief Commissioner, Mr. Vivek

Harinarayanan, the AHD Deputy Director, Dr. Thiagarajan and the

Blue Cross / Karuna representatives, minutes of which were sent

in yesterday's update made us feel quite upbeat. However, this was

short lived as a subsequent meeting with junior officials of the AHD

last evening showed a distinct lack of interest in implementing the

action plan decided on at the meeting.

 

I was pleasantly surprised to receive a call from the Relief

Commissioner, Mr. R. Santhanam, last night to tell me that had noticed

the Blue Cross ambulances and our staff on the beaches of Nagapattinam.

I told him about the problems we were facing.

 

This morning, at a meeting with the Collector at Nagapattinam, our team

was promised all support. A subsequent meeting with the Deputy Director

of Animal Husbandary ended with promises of full support. The AHD have

also offered our team of 18 people the use of rooms at their veterinary

hospital to stay in, thus lessening our expenses to a great extent. A protected

area in their compound has also been earmarked for parking our vehicles at

night. The Indian Bank compound will be used only for the storage of the

hay and green fodder which will be given free by the AHD. Only transportation

is to be arranged by us.

 

We now have four large vehicles in the area. With the addition of Mr. Raghavan,

our meetings with the officials will be much easier since he has been dealing

with many of them in the past and has many local contacts.

 

Tap water supply has been restored in some of the villages, making the

expensive,

time consuming trucking of water less frequent.

 

Many of the cattle and ponies which were on the beaches have disappeared - the

cattle no doubt being transported to Kerala for slaughter.

 

The toll on Clementien Pauws has resulted in her falling ill and being confined

to

bed since yesterday.

 

To sum up: feeding and watering of animals is now being done in the Cuddalore -

Nagapattinam - Velankanni belt by our teams. Abandoned animals found by them

will be removed to temporary camps. As you will notice, one team has moved

further

south to Velankanni.

 

Feeding of dogs on the beaches of Chennai continues - thanks to Gayathri and

Chanda.

 

Feeding of animals in the Kalpakkam - Marakanam stretch in kanchipuram is being

done by the

staff of the C P Ramaswami Aiyar foundation, who have adopted some of the

villages in this area and are helping to rebuild some of the villages. We are

thankful

to the CPRAF for this halp as well as for much more, including the loan of a

mobile

phone to one of our teams at Nagapattinam.

 

Shanthi Shankar has been doing much of the co-ordination for the last

10 days. She has given one of her phones to another team in Nagapattinam.

 

Each of the four vehicles now has a mobile phone and can be reached.

 

Raghavan will be now doing much of the co-ordination from Nagapattinam

itself and will be in regular touch with Shanti and me.

 

Things are moving much more smoothly since this morning and we hope this will

continue.

 

==============================

` CVA/BLUE CROSS MEETING

 

The discussions between Dr. Abdul Rahman, Dr. Palaniswami and myself yesterday

evening

resulted in a decision to proceed as detailed below: This is a draft sent by Dr.

Abdul Rahman.

The only suggestion I have made is that we omit the words " Tamil Nadu " in the

nameand call it

Tsunami Animal Relief Task Force. This will enable us to extend our assistance

to Andhra Pradesh

and Kollam in Kerala when needed.

 

COMMONWEALTH VETERINARY ASSOCIATION

 

Tsunami Disaster

 

 

 

Report on the Meeting of Secretary, Commonwealth Veterinary Association with the

Chairman, Blue Cross of India

 

 

 

The Secretary, Commonwealth Veterinary Association (CVA) Dr. S. Abdul Rahman had

a meeting with Dr. S. Chinny Krishna, Chairman, Blue Cross of India on Friday,

7th January 2005 at Chennai, Tamil Nadu. Dr. K.S. Palaniswamy, Former Professor

and Head, Dept. of Epidemiology and Microbiology and Director of Research,

Madras Veterinary College, Tamil Nadu University of Veterinary and Animal

Sciences (TANUVAS), attended the meeting on the invitation of the CVA.

 

A detailed review was done on the effects of tsunami disaster which has taken a

heavy toll in the coastal districts of Chennai, Kancheepuram, Thiruvallur,

Cuddalore, Villupuram, Nagapattinam, Kanniyakumari, Pudukottai, Thanjavur,

Tiruvarur, Ramnathapuram, Thoothukudi and Tirunelveli districts. Nagapattinam is

the worst affected district in Tamil Nadu with special details to the actual

work being undertaken by various Animal Welfare NGOs right from the first day of

the disaster and the constraints being experienced by the field force.

 

The causalities are in the form of

 

1.. animal and owners have been displaced

2.. animals have been abandoned as the owners are in relief camps

3.. animals are orphaned as the owners have perished

4.. large grazing areas has been destroyed

5.. large quantity of waste such as plastic and non-consumable items have been

washed ashore and has become a source of danger to the hungry animals when they

eat it.

6.. sources of drinking water have either being contaminated or have been

rendered salty due to inundation of sea water.

The Department of Animal Husbandry, Government of Tamil Nadu has started

operating animal camps in the following places.

 

i. Thirumullaivasal

 

ii. Poompuhar

 

iii. Tharangambadi

 

iv. Thandampadi

 

v. Velankanni

 

vi. Vilunthamavadi

 

vii. Pushbavanam

 

The review indicated that the relief measured being undertaken on an urgent need

basis to alleviate the suffering of animals rather than a cohesive organised and

coordinated effect. Different Animal Welfare Organisations some of them from

outside Tamil Nadu were also working in the areas without the knowledge of those

organisations such as Blue Cross, the main body which is spearheading the relief

efforts.

 

There seems to be no unified central command made of up different organisations

such as the Government, Civic Authorities, the Department of Veterinary

Services, NGOs, etc.

 

Priority being given to human suffering, the already overburdened Civic

Authorities are not too sympathetic to take any action or help the animal

welfare programmes.

 

In view of the above, it was decided that a central body - Tamil Nadu Tsunami

Animal Relief Task Force be created with its headquarters at Chennai. This Task

Force will be led by Chairman, Blue Cross of India, Dr. S. Chinny Krishna and

the Secretary of CVA, Dr. S. Abdul Rahman as one of its members. Under this Task

Force, other allied organisations such as TANUVAS, Animal Welfare Board of

India, Department of Veterinary Services, Government of Tamil Nadu and other

NGOs such as Friendicoes and Wildlife S.O.S who are already in the field will

be the other members.

 

The following actions were highlighted and prioritised for action by the Task

Force.

 

1.. Short-term and Immediate Measures

1.. Provision of urgently needed pure drinking water for animals.

2.. Fodder in the form of grass, hay, etc. and concentrates be provided.

3.. Urgently needed medicines and surgical accessories in the form of

antibiotics, antiseptics, disinfectants, anthelmintics, analgesics, surgical

bandages, gauze, disposable syringes, gloves, etc. be sought from donor

agencies. An exhaustive list would be prepared by

Dr. S. Yathiraj, Prof. of Medicine, Bangalore Veterinary College and

submitted to the Secretary, CVA by the 10 January 2005.

4.. The field force has been requested to obtain data of affected animals

from the villages which are being covered. This is needed to ascertain the

potential of possible future disease outbreaks and to counteract them.

5.. Recruitment of retired veterinary livestock inspectors/veterinarians

from the respective areas for relief work in the area on payment of an

honorarium.

6.. Local and International aid to be sought by way of funds, medicines,

vaccines and equipment. Dr. S. Abdul Rahman will coordinate this aid-drive.

7.. It was decided that all financial transactions will be routed through

Blue Cross of India with its account in Chennai. The following are the details

of the account including the swift code for foreign transactions.

Swift Code No. of Indian Bank, Guindy, Chennai 600 032

IDIBINBBGDY

 

Blue Cross of India SB A/c No. 18745

FCRA No. 075900586

 

8.. All contributions obtained through the CVA and this Task Force will be

separately accounted from the general Blue Cross Funds.

1.. Long-term Measures

1.. Anticipating disease outbreaks in the near future, it was decided to

stock vaccines of such important diseases as Haemorrhagic septicaemia, Anthrax,

Botulism and Blue Tongue.

2.. Prof. Palaniswamy will prepare the list of vaccines which would be

needed keeping mind the serotypes available in India.

3.. Dr. Chinny Krishna will liaise with Government of India (Dept. of

Agriculture) for necessary permissions to import vaccines which would be donated

by foreign agencies.

4.. Prof. Palaniswamy will identify the local agencies which are producing

the vaccines and alert them to the possible quantities needed in the near

future.

5.. A long-term project on rehabilitation of displaced farmers and fishermen

would be undertaken with a joint collaboration of TANUVAS and CVA.

6.. A similar project on the effects of this tsunami disaster on ecological

misbalance in the area will also be undertaken.

7.. Involvement of TANUVAS in fish ecology and human resource management for

affected fishermen.

Periodic meetings have been scheduled to oversee the implementations of the

above and to broaden the scope of the Task Force on a need basis.

 

 

 

Dr. S. Abdul Rahman

Secretary, CVA

 

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