Women survivors of tsunami face high risk of violence
In many places, women were more vulnerable to abuse by men after the tsunami uprooted their traditional way of life, according to the report, released at the weekend by 174 organisations, including ActionAid International.
The report was released ahead of a summit of South Asian leaders in New Delhi on Tuesday and Wednesday, and its authors want the governments to pay heed to the plight of female survivors of the tsunami and provide them with better protection.
“They would often beat their wives after getting drunk and would force them to have sex in the camps, sometimes in front of children,” said Sriyani Perera, ActionAid International’s women rights coordinator for Asia.
The report covered five countries — Sri Lanka, the Maldives, Thailand, India and Somalia — and more than 7,000 women had been interviewed.
In the southern Indian state of Tamil Nadu, where more than 7,000 people died when the monstrous waves struck on December 26, 2004, some women who had lost their houses or livelihoods had to sell their kidneys to make ends meet.
“We were shifted to a place where there was no work and no food to feed our children,” a woman from Tamil Nadu was quoted as saying in the report. Her name was not given.
“I sold my kidney and got a small amount,” she said. “They did not give me the promised amount. Now I suffer with heavy abdominal pain and I can’t work.”
The report said that women were often not consulted in the distribution of relief — material or financial — and men often misused the funds for drinking, leading to further abuse of women.
Single and older women as well as those with disabilities were particularly vulnerable in the post-tsunami rehabilitation period.
The giant waves, triggered by one of the most powerful earthquakes ever recorded, pulverised villages along the shores of the Indian Ocean. Around 230,000 people were killed or went missing. Another 1.5 million were left homeless.
