AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA

NT Bureau
Chennai, Dec 17:

        Twentythree-year-old Murthy of Gunduppalavadi village near Devanampattinam in Cuddalore was a witness to the 26 December tsunami and had himself rescued many children and elderly people caught in nature's fury.

        But the memory of people who had died during the tsunami haunted and finally left him mentally disturbed. Today, he is back to his normal self after being counselled by community counsellor trained in psycho-social rehabilitation by Academy for Disaster Management Education Planning and Training (ADEPT).

        ADEPT is a non-governmental organisation working in 51 villages in Cuddalore district on psycho-social relief and empowering fishing community to become self-reliant.

        Addressing a press conference here yesterday, Dr U Gauthamadas, director, ADEPT, said, 'within a few days of the tsunami, it came to light that the number of people affected by physical trauma was minimal - less than five per cent of the unsettled population.

        Whereas almost all those unsettled were displaying symptoms of psychological trauma.' He said, 'To treat a largely affected population, we developed a concept of community counsellors who could be trained and sent back to their villages to help others. So far, 1500 community counsellors had been trained.

        More than one lakh people were treated in 51 villages of the district.' He added, 'tsunami can be seen as an opportunity to 'socially transform' fishing communities by empowering them to actively engage in supporting each other by giving them the knowledge and resources they need.'

        ADEPT's focus is on women and self-help groups as they are the most important source of strength. Till date, 242 women members of SHG were sensitised and trained. Women members of fishing community were also trained on alternative livelihood such as pickling prawn and fish.