India Groups - Brief status report on tsunami

[Guest guest]

Dear Trix,

 

I am attaching the message I sent yesterday to WSPA in response to a message

from Peter Davies.

 

I give below that an update as ot 1000 hrs IST (GMT+5'30 " ) on Thursday Dec 30. I

have just received a call from the Met office that at about 1pm , a wave

travelling at 150 kms/hr will hit the coast!

 

 

Chinny

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

29.12.2004

 

Dear Friends,

 

As you are all aware, in India, the State of Tamil Nadu has been the worst

affected with over 1000 confirmed deaths so far.

 

Dr. Sarojini Varadappan and Ms. Bhargavi Devendra, President and Honorary

Secretary respectively of the Red Cross Tamil Nadu Branch made a personal

visit to areas upto 200 kms down the coast from Madras (where the Blue Cross

is headquartered) and have personally told us of the literally thousands of

dead animals they saw all along the beaches.

 

In Madras city, our volunteer, one attender and drivers spent the whole of

Sunday and till the early hours of Monday helping whatever animals they

could. The first few hours were spent just cutting loose tethered goats and

cattle but many dogs and snakes (including a king cobra) were rescued. The

snakes were handed over to the Forest Department's Snake Park. Three of the

rescued dogs have littered - the last one just an hour ago while the

Secretary of the Animal Welfare Board of India was in the Blue Cross!

 

Since yesterday, all that we have been doing is feeding some of the

surviving dogs on the city beaches.

 

The city Fire Department also helped save some animals and there was a

lovely photograph in The Hindu of Monday of a fireman with a bedraggled cat

in his hand.

 

International Animal Rescue from Goa have sent two vets in a jeep and we

have requested them to attend to the areas south of Pondicherry - about a

100 kilometers down the coast from Madras.

 

The final death toll in Tamil Nadu will, I estimate, be in the neighbourhood

of at least 15,000 with out taking into account the inevitable epidemics

that will follow.

 

Point Calimere, a wildlife sanctuary about 400 kms south, is still under

five feet of water. It contains thousands of animals, including at least

1800 black buck. All are probably dead.

 

I have just received a message from Elly Hiby asking about the situation.

 

We will be under the pressure of follow up work for the next three to four

weks. Any help will be appreciated.

 

Regards.

 

S. Chinny Krishna

Chair - Blue Cross of India

Madras

 

UPDATE- Dec 30, 2004, 1000 hrs IST

 

In Chennai, things are limping back to normalcy. A touching scene at many of the

relief camps has been the number of dogs the fisherfolk have with them. A photo

from The Hindu today shows a boy sharing his food with a dog.

 

Our volunteers have stepped up the feeding of dogs near the beaches and, amidst

so much human suffering, there has been no resentment. I am mentioning this

because two of the outstation groups who wanted to come down specifically asked

whether the people would object to relief efforts for animals ot this time.

 

International Animal Rescue, Goa, have sent a team of two vets with a jeep and

they started work just south of Mahabalipuram.DIYA (Sujatha and Jaisimha) from

Bangalore have sent a team and will be sending more vols and I have requested

them to work near Nagapattinam. Clementien Pauws and Manjunath from Puttaparthi

are starting work about 50 kms south of Mahabalipuram. Rahul is getting a large

team together. Shiela Rao from CUPA called late last night and said that they

will also join in. In all cases, these teams are raising and spending their own

funds - I am just a contact/coordinating point.

 

I understand that there have been many calls in response to Dr.

Balasubramanian's (AWBI's Secretary) call for assistance.

 

The only good news from today's paper is that Point Calimere's animals and birds

are safe:

 

The good news from today's paper is that Point Calimere's animals and birds are

safe:

 

From The Hindu dt.30/12/2004

 

 

 

POINT CALIMERE ESCAPES TSUNAMI FURY

 

BY S.GANESAN

 

POINT CALIMERE (NAGAPATTINAM DISTRICT) DEC.29

 

Contrary to initial apprehensions, the Point Calimere wildlife and bird

sanctuary has escaped damage except in the forest shelter-belt plantations and

to medicinal plants, following Sunday's tsunami strike.

 

Accoding to Wildlife officials, they have lauanched a survey of the sanctuary,

spread over 25 sqkm, to find out whether any wild animal has died. Staff

members have fanned out to various parts of the sanctuary for an on-the-spot

assessment. Surveyors, who have inspected the remote parts since Tuesday, have

not reported any death of animals, the Forest Range Officer, K.R.Ramachandran,

told The Hindu here today. On the contrary, they sighted several herds of

black buck and spotted deer, major attractions of the sanctuary. These were

said to be hale and hearty.

 

On Sunday, seawater gushed into the sanctuary and the entire campus was under

four feet of water. However, water receded within a few hours, the officials

said. Most parts have turned slushy, with ankle-deep muddy water, and the

sanctuary has been closed to the public. It will remain so at least till this

Sunday.

 

Jagannathan, a forest watch and ward staff member, who was atop one of the watch

towers, said he saw the wild animals desperately running away from the seashore

just 10 minutes before the waves struck.

 

No undue disturbance has been noticed in the adjacent bird sanctuary. The

tsunami struck at the height of the bird season, which runs from October to

March. A large number of migratory birds, including those from Siberia and

other far-off places, arrived here. Hundres of flamingoes, little stints,

painted storks, teals, terns, ducks and other birds could be seen this year.

The congregation is attributed to good rain this year. Some rare species such

as the Indian Reef Heron were also sighted.

 

 

 

From The Hindu dt.30/12/2004

 

 

 

Saved by their sixth sense?

 

 

 

Colombo, Dec. 29

 

As Sri Lanka's human death roll surged, wildlife officials expressed surprise

today that they found no evidence of large-scale deaths among animals from the

tsunami.

 

" This is very interesting. I am finding bodies of humans, but I have yet to see

a dead animal " , said a spokesman for a company, Jetwing Eco Holidays, which runs

a hotel in the Yala National Park.

 

The huge waves washed floodwaters inland into Yala, Sri Lanka's largest wildlife

reserve, but the animals apparently were not harmed and may have sought out high

ground, he said. " Maybe what we think is true, that animals have a sixth

sense. " The park is home to 200 elephants, leopards, wild boar and other rare

animals. - AP

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

And, yet again, from The Hindu today, on page 1 under

 

Fish production will record steep fall,

Reporter S. Vaidyanathan writes:

 

......The sources said that about 6.82 lakhs (one lakh = 100,000) people were

affected by the sea's fury; out of them 85% were fishermen. According to

Tuesday's figures, about 4,000 fishermen were washed away, with Nagapattinam

district alone recording 2,200 deaths. Bodies were being retrieved from the

damaged huts in fishermen's colonies. About one lakh fishermen lost their

houses. This apart, 3,000 poultry birds, 900 cows and 1,000 sheep and goats

perished.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

......

-

Philip Wollen

Dr.Chinny Krishna ; Pradeep Nath ; Erika Abrams ; Ms Sanobar Barucha

Bangalore ; Clementien Pauws ; kartick ; geeta seshamani ; Purnima Toolsidass ;

Chris Townend ; Payal Sodhi

Thursday, December 30, 2004 4:00 AM

India Groups - Brief status report on tsunami

 

 

Hello,

 

Phil is out of range working in the bush.

 

You are probably very busy right now . . . but can you give me a brief status

report on your situation?

 

Thanks,

 

Trix

 

--

 

Philip Wollen

 

The Winsome Constance Kindness Trust

 

Australia

 

Venture Capital for Good Causes

 

http://www.thewinsomeconstancekindnesstrust.com/

 

Telephone (613) 98221662

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Wednesday, December 29, 2004 2:51 PM

Fw: FW: Asian tsunamis

 

 

> Dear Board members and Honorary Vice Presidents

> I realise that you will all be wondering what WSPA can do in

> the face of the calamity which has struck the Indian Ocean

> and Indonesian area.

> We are trying, like so many other human agencies, to gain

> some idea of the extent of the requirement for animal aid.

> Communications do not yet exist in some of the worst hit

> areas; other information is being gathered in slowly. An

> indication of the information we have managed to gather via

> Member Societies is attached from Vadivu who maintains our

> Asia Link from Singapore.

> Those whose Societies may wish to donate to disaster relief

> are asked to hold for the moment until things are clearer(we

> have already had a generous financial offer from Hans Peter

> Haering from the Swiss Society).

> In spite of the fact that the London office is closed until4

> January and our Disaster Relief Director does not join until

> then, DDG Tim Bowman is doing what is possible to gain a

> clear picture of what is required to meet the animal welfare

> needs in the worst hit areas, using where possible the

> agencies of our local Member Societies.

> Further information to follow.

> Peter

> -

> <vadivugovind

> " Tim Bowman " <TimBowman

> Cc: " Philip Russell " <PhilipRussell; " Trevor

> Wheeler " <TrevorWheeler; " Peter Davies -

> Pavilion " <pdavies; " Amanda Seller "

> <AmandaSeller; " Philip Lymbery "

> <PhilipLymbery

> Wednesday, December 29, 2004 9:06 AM

> Re: FW: Asian tsunamis

>

>

> >

> > Dear Tim,

> >

> > Thank you for this email.

> > I've made contact with whoever I could via telephone and

> > have sent others

> > emails. I will send you the report on Friday. But so far:

> >

> > - > >

> >

> > Quoting Tim Bowman <TimBowman:

> >

> >>

> >> Trevor Wheeler

> >> Tue 28/12/2004 14:34

> >> Tim Bowman

> >> FW: Asian tsunamis

> >>

> >>

> >>

> >> f.y.i.

> >>

> >>

> >> vadivugovind

> >> [vadivugovind]

> >> 28 December 2004 06:37

> >> Trevor Wheeler

> >> Cc: Susan Sherwin; Philip Russell; John Callaghan

> >> RE: Asian tsunamis

> >>

> >>

> >>

> >>

> >> Quoting Trevor Wheeler <TrevorWheeler:

> >>

> >> >

> >> > Trevor

> >> >

> >> >

> >> > Susan Sherwin [ssherwin]

> >> > 27 December 2004 18:45

> >> > Jonathan Owen; Gerardo Huertas; Trevor Wheeler;

> >> > Philip Lymbery

> >> > Asian tsunamis

> >> > Importance: High

> >> >

> >> >

> >> > Hi there:

> >> >

> >> > Sorry, I wasn't really sure who to contact, as I don't

> >> > believe Clive

> >> Mantell

> >> > has started yet and I know several people are out for

> >> > the holidays. We're

> >>

> >> > getting calls about the earthquake/tsunamis over the

> >> > weekend. Are there

> >> any

> >> > reports - even provisional ones -coming in from our

> >> > member societies?

> >> > Besides the general animal welfare issues, people seem

> >> > to be especially

> >> > concerned about animals in zoos and sanctuaries (such

> >> > as in Sumatra and

> >> > Pakistan). Any information at all would be

> >> > appreciated.

> >> >

> >> > Best,

> >> >

> >> > Susan

> >> >

> >> > Susan Sherwin

> >> > Campaigns Manager

> >> > WSPA

> >> > World Society for the Protection of Animals

> >> >