Amrita Tsunami Housing Project

June, 2005

The Mata Amritanandamayi Math has finished building a total of 100 houses in Kerala as part of its the tsunami relief efforts. The government of Kerala has entrusted the Ashram with building 1,600 houses in Kerala. The Ashram is the first NGO in India to finish building houses, based on the government plans, for the tsunami victims.

Houses finished

The first batch of 100 houses have been built so far, spread across the districts of Ernakulam, Alapuzha and Kollam. 66 houses in Alappuzha, 16 in the Kollam and 18 houses in Ernakulam. The houses in Ernakulam were handed over on 14^th of April.

The 16 houses in Kulasekharapuram (3 kms away from Amritapuri ashram, near Vallikkav village, Kollam dt.) were built for tsunami victims who had been living right on the seashore. The government allocated land for them in Kulasekharapuram, which is about three kilometres inland. After completion of work there, the construction team has since moved to another plot, of over three acres, allotted by the government for building houses for other tsunami victims who had been living close to the sea.

The 66 houses that the Ashram built in Valiazhikkal (Alappuzha dt.) are on individual private land holdings.

The Houses

Each of these houses, occupying 430 square feet, consists of two bedrooms, two toilets, a kitchen, a living room and a veranda. The electrical, plumbing and painting work in these houses has been completed. These houses were built according to one of two plans: the ordinary houses and the tsunami-resistant houses. The tsunami-resistant house is a two-storey structure built on concrete piles that extend seven metres underground and which extend upward in a column to the top of the superstructure. The beneficiaries have a choice of which type of house they want.

These houses have been built in strict compliance with government plans. Government officials have been inspecting each stage of the construction work, before granting approval to the Ashram to proceed to the next stage of construction.

The 16 houses will be officially handed over to the government on Saturday, June 18^th, 2005.

In Kollam district, construction of houses began on May 11^th, with the laying of the foundation stone. The piling work of almost 300 houses is finished, and the concreting work of 50 houses is already over.

In Cochin, the Ashram was originally permitted to build 50 houses. But land for only 18 houses was allotted. On June 10th, the Ashram started construction work on the other 32 houses following the government’s release of more land.

In Alappuzha the construction of 66 houses is over and the rest of the houses are about 50 % to 80% over.

All in all, more than 1,500 people—including brahmacharis, brahmacharinis and Ashram residents—are serving the cause of rehabilitating the tsunami victims.

The Ashram plans to finish building as many houses as possible before the monsoon gets heavier.

Full story of “M. A. Math Is A Role Model In Tsunami Relief Work”

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