The FDIN have a special connection to the Tamil Nadu region of Southern India after FDIN director, Jeffrey Hyman, along with Simon Jones and Romy Shovelton visited local Tamil Nadu based charity SCAD (Social Change And Development) run by Cletus Babu, back in November 2004 just a few weeks before the devastating tsunami hit its east coast.

With your donations through the UK based charity Salt of the Earth, run by Murray Frankland, SCAD are able to put together teams of people on the ground to help those effected by the devastating effects of the tsunami which claimed the lives of more than 170,000 people in southeast Asia the day 2004.

Murray Frankland, of Salt of the Earth, was in India at the time of the tsunami and has been keeping us informed by email, as best he can, of the latest news and developments on the ground in Tamil Nadu. Below are the archives of his email reports.

Tsunami report , Tamil Nadu, India - From Murray Frankland

The tsunami struck the south eastern and southern shores of Tamil Nadu between 9 and 10 am on the morning of December 26th December. Janet and I had arrived in India just hours earlier and had indeed driven down the coast road from Chennai (Madras) to Pondicherry five hours previously. We were first aware of the disaster with the arrival of terrified villagers in the community we were staying in just 3 kms from the sea.

It was rapidly obvious that a full scale disaster had taken place and I telephoned Cletus Babu, the Chairman of our partner organisation Social Change and Development (SCAD), to find out what had happened further south in the project area that we support. He was able to tell me that the 400 villages that SCAD work in had not been affected but that at Kannyakamuri, the southernmost tip of India some 80 kms away, there had been a lot of damage and he was
going to investigate.

Cletus rang me from Kannyakamuri to tell me that the conditions there were very bad in 30 fishing villages. Many hundreds were dead and missing, countless thousands homeless and there was something approaching complete chaos in the area. He asked if Salt of the Earth would fund some of the relief work and, without a moment’s hesitation and completely off the top of my head, I promised him that we would raise £50,000.

I contacted Alan Gledhill and Celia Barden, two of our Trustees in the UK, to ask them if they would organise an appeal with the help of other Trustees. They swung into action straight away and by Friday 31st December all 750 of our supporters received an appeal letter. A magnificent achievement. The money started to come in straight away and at times Celia and Alan were hard put to keep up with the flow. At its height, each postbag yielded over £5,000.

The initial task of Cletus and his team of full time professionals was to set about organising and running emergency centres to house the 50,000 thousand plus people who had been forced to flee. In this they worked closely with the local Catholic Diocese as most of the villages concerned were catholic. At this stage there was no sign of government action and this continued to be the case for many days. After much complaining the local government administrator was transferred and a much more experienced man who was known to Cletus replaced him.

In the meantime it was up to the voluntary organisations on the ground to look after and provide for the terrified villagers. This they did in a magnificent manner. Businesses were canvassed for gifts of food, cloths, sheets and mats and cooking utensils as far away as Mudurai some 250 kms to the north.. Where there were shortfalls SCAD purchased locally with our money. Cletus arranged for a team of 50 Doctors and Medical staff to volunteer to serve in the emergency centres and this prompt action plus the provision of bottled drinking water probably saved an epidemic. The local small government hospital had been overwhelmed within an hour of the disaster and was surrounded by hundreds of bodies. This too had to be dealt with and Cletus drafted in 100 scavengers whose job it is to bury the dead. Once bodies had been identified they were immediately buried. In Kottilpadu alone there is a mass grave of 179 people, mostly children.

Janet and I visited the area on Saturday 1st January and we were both impressed with the amount of organisation and efficiency of the relief effort but appalled at the damage and loss of life. It was however vital that we were there in order to assess for ourselves the degree of need. Although by now the government effort was improving it was apparent that it did not have the infrastructure, skills or money to do everything that was required. At a meeting with Cletus and his top team Janet and I agreed that SCAD would need to be involved in the area for at least a year and that it was going to take a lot of money over and above any government aid.

Meanwhile back in the UK money, enquires and messages of good will were pouring in. Many of you passed on our appeal to your own networks and the message was going out like the ripples from a pebble thrown into a pool. Press releases were sent, radio and TV interviews took place and publicity in local newspapers obtained. I took part in a radio/TV discussion on BBC World Service and had to break off from a visit to a SCAD village to do a mobile phone interview with BBC TV East Midlands. Our website was updated regularly and carried reports from me in India and we were getting a good number of “hits”. Our online donating facility was busy and attracted over £10,000.

In discussions with the other NGO’s in the disaster area SCAD agreed to take responsibility for rehabilitating Kotillpadu and Padhur, two of the worst affected villages. This coincided with a shift in emphasis from the emergency centres to getting the villages ready for the return of the people. The SCAD Colleges played a vital role here by supplying 300 volunteer students every day to help with the clear up. These young men did a marvellous job in shifting debris and cleaning up houses. Bodies were still being found at this time and the going was tough. The Government erected temporary shelters for the homeless giving a family a space measuring 10 x 10 feet and SCAD have built communal kitchens and toilets at the Government’s request.

In many ways the children have been the most affected. Disproportionate numbers of them died and many are still traumatised by events. Schooling was not possible for number of weeks and SCAD has made great efforts to help them. Sports and play equipment have been purchased and many a game of volleyball and beach cricket has taken place. This exercise and play combined with a youth counselling service has made a big difference. SCAD counselling services are also available to adults and the team are planning to stay in the communities for the foreseeable future.

In the last two weeks Cletus has brought in boat builders, masons and carpenters to repair the many damaged boats and houses. This is a vital and timely job which will enable at least some of the families to start fishing again and return to their houses. It will take several months and many more thousands of pounds to complete this task and it is where most of our money is going to. I can’t think of better way to spend our funding than to enable a family to start earning their living again and, to some degree, get back to normality. We are also funding the provision of nutritional biscuits to the 3,000 younger school children in the whole of the Kannyakamuri area. This was requested by local Government Officials because of evidence that the children were beginning to suffer nutritionally from the loss of fish from their diet.

We had a number of meetings with Cletus and Amali throughout our visit. At them we agreed to support the relief work as much as we could but we were all quite clear that this support should not be at the expense of the ongoing work in the 400 SCAD villages to the north of the disaster area. At the last meeting Cletus asked us for a total of £185,000 to help complete the work in the adopted communities in the coming year. By this time, because of the amount of money that was coming in plus what we knew was in the pipeline, we had been able to give Cletus two cheques totalling £120,000. To get the £185,000 we estimated that we needed to raise another £25,000 with the other £25,000 coming from Gift Aid. I told Cletus that we would do our best but that there was no way that I could promise him that we would get it. His instant response of “We will get it if it is meant to be” was typical of the man.

By early February, Cletus reported that the rehabilitation work was in full swing with craftsmen hard at work repairing the boats and houses and more and more families returning to their homes.

Report No.13, TAMIL NADU, SATURDAY 15th JANUARY 2005 - From Murray Frankland

What a day we had yesterday at the disaster area. We talked to many people, heard some harrowing stories and revisited the places we had been some 13 days earlier. We saw again the emergency relief centre and the two villages that we will be supporting.

We had a first class local film crew with us and we shot lots of what we think is very good footage. We interviewed survivors and heard their stories, we met and talked to Father Arulraj, the Catholic Parish Priest in Pudhoor, and we talked to fishermen and womenfolk along the battered sea shore.

The good news is that the disaster affected area has been largely cleaned and cleared up. Most of the damaged houses have been demolished, wreckage taken away and the rubble crushed and flattened level by bulldozers. Each house left standing has been cleared of rubbish and the thick mud and silt residue removed by hand ready for the return of its owners. This considerable effort has been achieved by SCAD students and other local volunteers who turn up every day to the disaster area.

The population of the emergency relief centre had decreased considerably and the atmosphere was much quieter and restrained. The people who are left have lost everything. Houses, boats, nets and, in many cases, relatives. Many are still in a state of shock and are obviously traumatised. Others are more able to communicate about what happened to them.

We spoke to Mothers and Fathers who had lost children, often torn from their grasp by the force of the water, and to one women who had lost 38 out of her extended family of fifty. One fisherman was at sea and was able to ride out the wave in a friend’s boat. On his return he found several of his family dead and all his possessions lost.

The most saddening part of our tour was to visit the site of a mass grave in Kottilpadu. Over one hundred and seventy people were buried there from this village alone within 48 hours of the tsunami. Once the bodies had been identified they were consigned to the pit and several layers were needed to allow all the bodies to be accommodated. It is a rough and ready site at the moment and a suitable memorial and surrounds will be constructed later.

It was sobering but important to talk to Father Arulraj and to hear of the enormous social and practical issues that the villagers face in the months and, perhaps, years ahead. The temporary accommodation provided by the government is clearly unsatisfactory. Families will be living cheek and jowl with no privacy or security and the communal toilet and cooking areas are minimal. Some of the villagers we talked to are hungry. They have already spent the small amount of initial subsistence money paid by the government and many have already used up the 60 kilos of rice per family given to them.

Most of their fishing boats are lost or damaged beyond repair and it will take at least four months to build replacements. As reported before they have not yet got any money from the government to replace their boats and nets and when they do it will not be nearly enough.

Clearly the government will have to provide these people with basic living costs for several months until the fishermen are in a position to earn their own living but, at the moment, there is no commitment from them to do so. It will not be possible for the voluntary sector, willing though it is, to fund what is going to be an expensive exercise.

We are meeting with Cletus and Amali later today to hear of their initial plans to handle this huge problem and to discuss what Salt of the Earth can do to assist them. They are much encouraged by the magnificent initial response from our supporters and they send their heartfelt thanks.

Report No.12, TAMIL NADU, 13th JANUARY, 2005 - From Murray Frankland

The absence of a report in the last couple of days is because Janet and I have been “up country” visiting some of the most remote of the 400 villages that we support. We had a very full programme and were able to visit five villages and have a long meeting with the SCAD staff and village volunteers. The most important part of the visit from our point of view was the opportunity we had to meet with hundreds of villagers of all ages and hear about the progress that is being made. What we heard touched and gladdened our hearts. This interaction is such an important and integral part of the way this charity works.

Back here at our Headquarters we have been able to catch up with the progress being made in the disaster area. Cletus and Amali have been working 18 hour days spending time both in the disaster area and also attending high level government and NGO meetings in order to maximise the allocation of resources to the affected villages.

The new Collector, appointed after the old one was sacked, is making a big difference. He is cutting through the Indian red tape and is prepared to take on the spot decisions and he makes sure that they are implemented. He has a reputation for “kicking ass” if his staff are not “on the ball”. To have such a man in charge of the government’s local emergency effort is a great help and relief to Cletus and Amali.

In the disaster area work continues to prepare the two SCAD sponsored villages for the return of their inhabitants. In Padhuur, some of the villagers have been able to return and SCAD have organised a number of services for them. In the absence of any formal schooling a temporary Study Centre has been set up for the children. Staffed by SCAD personnel, village children can continue their school work or just play. A nursery School for under fives is up and running and the village young men have been organised to help with the relief operation and to generally to get the village back into working order. In Kottilpadu things are not so advanced. The temporary accommodation for the 500 or so families is not yet ready.

The training of 12 SCAD staff to counsel the affected families has taken place. These staff have been joined by 7 experienced volunteer counsellors and all have started work. It is difficult to imagine the mental hardship and torment the villagers have experienced and there is much work to be done in this area.

An unexpected but beneficial outcome of the disaster has been the effect it has had on the hundreds of student volunteers from the SCAD Colleges that have gone to the disaster area. These young people have seen terrible sights and have worked very hard under distressing circumstances. However, the experiences has been overall of benefit to them. They have been grateful for the opportunity of being of service to their people and it has been a tremendous learning opportunity for them. Many of them have also donated money and supplies.

Tomorrow Janet and I will be revisiting the disaster area to assess the situation for ourselves. We will be taking with us a video cameraman and will be filming the situation there. We hope to include interviews with villagers and SCAD staff and to produce a short film which will incorporate previous footage. This will be available to you all as soon as possible after our return.

A thousand families need SCAD’s help but we do not know yet the full extent of what is required. Also unknown is the amount of money that will be available to these villages from the government and the worldwide appeal funds that have been set up. What we do know from past experience is that the funding available from these sources will not be enough, so the Salt of the Earth appeal fund is still very much open.

More news on this and other progress will be sent as soon as it is available.

Report No.11, TAMIL NADU, MONDAY JANUARY 10th 2005 - From Murray Frankland

This will be the last report for a couple of days as Janet and I will be spending tomorrow and Wednesday up country visiting the villages and projects in the Villatakulam Block that we support. All the sponsored children are there and we have funded a number of water projects in the area.

The work to prepare the temporary accommodation in the villages for the homeless is going ahead fast. The structures which will house the 250 homeless families should be ready in the next few days. Electricity and water supplies must be in place before the families can return to their villages.

Cletus and Amali had a long meeting with the new Government Collector yesterday. He was very please with the work that SCAD had already done and is already proving very helpful in ensuring that the two villages get everything that they are entitled to. Cletus and Amali also met the four State Government Ministers appointed by the Tamil Nadu Prime Minister to oversee government relief work on the ground. They too were complimentary about the work that SCAD were doing and valuable relationships were strengthened which will be to the advantage of the villages in the coming difficult months.

Meanwhile SCAD have got other plans to speed the rehabilitation process of these people whose lives have been shattered. SCAD have started a number of initiatives such as forming a Youth Association and Nursery School. Both institutions will start this week. The government is being pressed to build a temporary primary school building to replace the ruined old one. This is hoped to be to open in a week’s time and SCAD staff will help run it and will supply much of the teaching aids and materials.

In the mean time Amali has recruited a team of five experienced counselors to train SCAD staff to counsel the villagers over the coming months. These counselors were involved in counseling the survivors of the Gujerat earthquake some three years ago. This service will be a vital one for the villagers as they seek to repair their lives and look ahead to the future. Training of SCAD staff starts today and Amali is supervising this important programme.

We are SOTE are not standing still either. It is obvious that SCAD will need more financial help from us once this initial emergency phase is over. Cletus and the team are in the process of drawing up a relief budget for the next year and we will be announcing our plans when we have discussed it. In the mean time we have plans to produce a simple video film showing the aftermath of the damage in the villages and the progress that has been made so far. Janet and I will be organizing some of this filming when we visit the disaster area again next Sunday. We hope to make this film available to supporters soon after our return in February.

Every day we read in the local newspapers of complaints and protests from the affected villages of slow and poor progress so it lifts my heart to know that the villagers of Kottilpadu and Pathoor are in such very good hands.

The work goes on -- there is much to do.

Report No.10, Tamil Nadu, 9th January, 2005 - From Murray Frankland

It hardly seems possible that it was only two weeks ago that we arrived in India beating the Tsunami by a few hours. Since then much has happened worldwide and in the Kannyakumari district. Janet and I had a meeting with Cletus and Amali last night to review what has been achieved and to look ahead to what needs to be done. At that meeting it was agreed that we would visit the disaster area again in a weeks time.

It looks like the damaged villages in the Kannyakamuri area are much better off than in the other affected coastal areas in southern India. This is in no small measure due to SCAD and the local Catholic administration who have worked hand in hand to create, maintain and pay for the initial emergency relief operation. In the biggest affected coastal region around Nagapattinam, in the absence of organizations like SCAD, the relief operation has been found wanting and there is still much unnecessary suffering amongst the victims.

Cletus has now agreed for SCAD to “adopt” two of the worst affected villages. They are KOTTILPADU and PUTHOOR. Between them these villages have two hundred and fifty dead and missing and around half the one thousand families have lost everything.

Thanks to the pressure brought to bear by SCAD and the Catholic Church the local government authorities are now reacting reasonably well. The local government chief (Collector) has been replaced by a much better administrator who is known to Cletus. As a result all the affected families in their two villages have received government cash grants of 50 pounds or 25 pounds, depending on the severity of their loss, and 60kilograms of rice. In addition the bereaved families have been amongst the first to receive the government compensation grant of 100.000 Rupees (1,200 pounds) per death. However these payments are likely to be the last from the government at least for some time.

The movement of people away from the emergency camps and back to their villages continues. Temporary accommodation for the homeless is in the process of being constructed in the two adopted villages. This accommodation will have to last up to a year and, at the insistence of Cletus, the roofing material has been much improved from the original specification. He could not however get the government to construct proper flooring so SCAD are in the process of doing this. Each temporary building will hold a number of families who will each have to live in a ten foot by ten foot partitioned area.

However, the biggest challenge ahead is to get the fisher families back to work. Not only will this enable the families to support themselves again, it will give much needed motivation and purpose to their lives. The longer the people stay idle and reliant on hand outs the longer their recovery process will be.

This is not a simple or cheap exercise. The hand made boats are constructed from rare and expensive trees and the wood has to be specially seasoned before the boats can be used. This will take several months and will cost over 350 pounds. To this needs to be added a further three hundred and fifty pounds for nets, making a total of seven hundred pounds. The government has promised to help replace the boats and nets but it is unlikely that this compensation will amount to more than two hundred pounds per family. So, the “net” cost of providing a family with a boat and nets will be about five hundred pounds and there are hundreds of families with this need.

We are SCADs biggest funder but not its only one. Cletus is in discussions with all of his funders to see what sort of financial help can be raised to fund this vital phase. What is certain is that the people of Kottilpadu and Pathoor will need our help for some time to come.

REPORT NO 8, TAMIL NADU, 5 JANUARY 2005 - From Murray Frankland

We took a bit of a rest from report writing yesterday but here we are again keeping you up to date with what is going on here. Before I do this I would like to say how tremendously impressed and encouraged we both are with all the work that is being done back in the UK. It fills our hearts full of joy and gratitude to know that so many good people are doing great things for their fellow humans here in Tamil Nadu.

The news from the disaster area gets better every day. After a slow start Cletus Babu (director of the Indian Charity SCAD) reports that the Government organized relief work is gathering pace. The major task is to continue with the clearances of the devastated villages. This is absolutely key in getting the villagers back to their villages in order that they can start their lives all over again. The Government is supplying the transport and SCAD are providing the manpower.

It is backbreaking work lifting the debris and loading it into the back of the trucks provided by the Government. The volunteers doing this are young students from the SCAD Colleges on the campus and it is quite a logistical exercise to get them there and back as well as to feed them.

As a result of this work, which will continue for some time, some of the people in the emergency camps whose houses are more or less intact are beginning to return to their villages. The Government has started to restore electricity which, hopefully, will be completed in the next few days. Water supplies will take longer.

It is the plight of the families who have lost everything that Cletus and his team is concentrating on. Efforts are being made to find pieces of land close to the fishing villages where temporary accommodation can be built whilst the rebuilding of the villages takes place. It is also important that the fisherman get back to fishing as soon as possible even if it is in a very limited way to start with. Nets and boats will have to be obtained and this is where significant amounts of money will be required.

My emailing efforts to the BBC have born fruit and I am to be interviewed tonight (Wednesday) on the BBC World Service "Talking Points" programme at 1330 GMT. I hope my contribution will be helpful in highlighting the absolutely vital work that local well organized NGOs can play in emergencies and that they need to be financially supported in their efforts until the authorities can get up to speed

At the moment the work of SCAD in the disaster area is being totally funded by Salt of the Earth. As you will know we have pledged £50,000 for this work. Cletus is using the money as sparingly as possible but well over half has already been spent and it is not expected to last more than a few weeks.

Through our various supporters and researching we are attempting to get SCAD plugged into the Disaster Emergency Committee money that is available. We are having some success here and we are hopeful that SCAD will be able to get some medium term funding to carry out the essential rehabilitation work that will follow this initial emergency phase. In the mean time your fundraising is of absolute vital importance.

Thank you all again for your help and best wishes to us and to SCAD. There is a real success story going on here on the ground thanks to your money. Cletus reports that in the biggest affected area of Tamil Nadu around Naggapattinam the situation is much worse because the local volunteer effort has not been as effective and pronounced as here in Kanyakamuri.

REPORT NO 7, TAMIL NADU, JANUARY 3rd, 2005 - From Murray Frankland

I have spoken to Cletus this morning and he reports that SCAD is mobilizing and transporting 300 volunteers to come to the area to further help. The biggest task will be to start to clear the thousands of tons of rubble, sand and silt etc. from the villages. This must be done before the villagers can start to return to the villages.

Having walked the ground I can vouch that it is a huge task. The scenes here are identical to the ones you have been seeing from elsewhere around the world on your TV sets. About the only items to have survived are the coconut trees that, despite everything, are still mostly standing. Of brick built houses there is only rubble left. Of the mud built and thatched roof variety there is nothing. All the fishermen’s nets are gone and their simple craft smashed with many of them washed hundreds of metres inland.

The government presence is now starting to be felt here on Day 8. Money is starting to be given to families to help them through this period. Families who have lost everything are being given 50 pounds and those whose have had partial loss are being given twenty-five pounds. Not everyone will get this and it is nowhere near enough, but it is a start. Government medical teams are appearing and Electricity Board officials are starting to restore supplies.

However it is very clear that the majority of the work now, and in the future, will come from the local voluntary sector with SCAD taking a leading part in all of this.

I have today emailed the BBC “Have your say “ email page. I think it is very important that the world gets to know that, despite what the Indian Government is saying, external aid is, and will, continue to be required. The local Government authorities are not capable of doing the job that the voluntary sector can do. I also think that it is very important that people know of a success relief story that is carried out by local people with, in international terms, minimum and extremely cost effective budgets.

The Trustees are trying to publicize this good news to various media and aid organizations and Cletus and I are very willing to take telephone calls from media and other interested parties to publicize what is happening here . It may be a bit of a sideshow in terms of size but I think that the international community should and could learn a great deal from what is going on here.

As before please spread the word as much as possible and note that the Leicester post code where donations should be sent to is LE3 0JS (not 0SS). Our website www.salt-of-the-earth.org.uk is starting now to give up to date information and people can donate on line there. Also Janet and I would be glad to hear from you on our newly acquired cell phone 0091 9842128221. It is very important to us to hear your views and to know that we and Cletus and his team are being well supported and thought about.

REPORT NO 6, NAGERCOIL, JAN 2, 2005 - From Murray Frankland

After walking the ground yesterday and having just had a much needed good nights sleep I have now had a better chance to gather my thoughts and properly assess the situation here. One of the things that has helped is that, for the first time since the disaster, we have had access to television coverage about what is happening in India and the rest of the affected world.

What is clear to me is that the number one problem here and most everywhere else is that the only immediate aid getting through to the affected people is via local organisations like SCAD. The Governments in developing countries with their bureaucracies and lack of infrastructure are just unable to respond satisfactorily to the immediate survival needs of the survivors of this disaster.

My view now is that we have an even bigger emergency here than was first thought and without the presence of SCAD and other local organizations nothing much would be getting through to the victims. SCAD are deploying their professional and experienced field workers backed up by over a hundred student volunteers from the SCAD campus and locally purchasing with cash the essential food, water and medical supplies to keep the emergency camps going.

Although Cletus is spending as frugally as possible the demand is great. He has already spent over half the 50,000 pounds we have promised him. He estimates that the rest will be gone within a further ten days or so. This money is being used to provide food, water, medical help and basic living requirements as well as to pay for the expenses of keeping over 150 workers in the field.

In the light of all this will you please re double your efforts to raise money from your friends, family, work place, place of worship and Clubs and Society’s. At the moment we have no certainty that we can even raise the 50,000 pounds we have already promised Cletus let alone any further money to keep the effort going on the ground until the serious money starts to come in from the government and big aid organizations.

I can guarantee you that any money you are able to raise or pledge will get out here straight away and be put to work within days of your do\nation. Money given to Government and large organization appeals will take much longer to get here if it ever gets here at all and, it is needed now.

REPORT NO 5 JANUARY 1ST, 2004, NAGERCOIL, TAMIL NADU - From Murray Frankland

A Happy New Year to you all. We have seen some terrible sights today but we have also been much moved and encouraged by the magnificent work that Cletus and his team are doing here.

The reality is that nearly all of the relief work is being done by SCAD, the local Catholic Churches and other voluntary groups. In fairness to the Government there is a huge task to be done and it would be unreasonable to expect them to have been able to respond the way the voluntary sector has. However it is taking a long time for the authorities to get their act together and, in the mean time, the work of SCAD is vital and, in some cases, life saving.

The relief operation is still very much in its first phase. It is estimated that a total of 50,000 people are in 60 emergency centres set up in Churches, Schools and Wedding Halls all over the local area. These centres are staffed by the Churches and Voluntary organisations and we visited one of them. There were up to 4,000 people there and the noise was deafening. The people were generally quiet and it looked like quite a lot of folk were still in some state of shock. However the SCAD staff said that morale there was now better than at first. Donated food stocks are cooked by volunteers and mats, clothing and bedding has been distributed by the volunteers. As yet there has been little or no provision from the Government.

SCAD has had to spend a lot of the 50, 000 pounds we have promised them to provide vital commodities like bedding, clothing and food. Cletus is restricting expenditure wherever possible but it is likely that our target sum will be spent within a couple of weeks. What will happen then? Nobody knows. All Cletus can do is to alleviate the suffering as best he can with the limited money at their disposal and hope that Salt of the Earth and other fund raising bodies will be able to foot the bill. The government has promised to provide money for re-housing and providing new fishing boats and equipment but this is not what is required at the moment.

We have been travelling a lot in the last 24 hours and have seen so much and are both reeling from the enormity of the need. I’m sorry that this report is somewhat short and not as coherent as I would have liked but I wanted to get something out to you all before we crashed out.