Tsunami

Question 1

When was the tsunami?

Answer 1

26th December 2004

Question 2

Why did women want to move away from the coast after the tsunami? (source)

Answer 2

Frightened that another tsunami would reoccur.

S. Chakrawertti, ‘Husbands pitted against wives’, Times of India, 2005

Question 3

Which gender suffered the highest mortality rate?

Answer 3

Women. In some areas, four times more women died.

Question 4

What was the impact of high female mortality rates? (4) (source)

Answer 4

1. Women forced into early marriages, without consent
2. Mental illness
   (Times News Network, ‘Tsunami post-script: Women bear it all’, Times of India, 2005)
3. Weaken the status of women and girls and their ability to negotiate both within and outside the family
   (Oxfam International, ‘The tsunami’s impact on women’, 2005)
4. Women more afraid of another tsunami than men
   (Katharina Thurnheer, ‘A house for a daughter?’, 2009)

Question 5

In which Indian village were 35% of deaths children? (source)

Answer 5

Akkaraipettai in Nagapattinam district in Tamail Nadu

Arun Kumar Dasa, ‘Tsunami children rekindle hope’, Times of India, 2005

Question 6

How did the Kerala and Tamil Nadu governments attempt to provide women with a safer environment in temporary housing?

Answer 6

Stationed women fire and police officers and female doctors

Question 7

Where is Cuddalore?

Answer 7

City in Tamil Nadu

Question 8

How many men and women died in Cuddalore in the tsunami?

Answer 8

146 men and 391 women

Question 9

How many more women died than men in Cuddalore after the tsunami?

Answer 9

3 times

Question 10

How did governments in Kerala and Tamil Nadu try to ensure women’s security?

Answer 10

Initiative to station women fire and police officers and women doctors in the camps and affected villages

Question 11

How did Oxfam International perceive initiatives by Kerala and Tamil Nadu governments to improve security for women?

Answer 11

A very positive move that helped to deter violence against women and provided women survivors with a safer environment

Question 12

What did NGOs and government agencies prioritise in terms of resurrecting livelihoods?

Answer 12

Making fishing supplies and boats available to men

Question 13

How many people were killed in Sri Lanka as a result of the tsunami? (Oxfam briefing note)

Answer 13

More than 30,000

Question 14

How many people were killed in India as a result of the tsunami? (Oxfam briefing note)

Answer 14

More than 10,000

Question 15

Why did more women die than men in Sri Lanka? (3) (source)

Answer 15

1. The traditional role of caring for their family kept them in and around their homes; many women were preparing breakfast when the tsunami struck
2. Women couldn’t climb trees or swim
3. In the fishing village of Dutchbar in Batticaloa District, where over 90% of population killed, women were taking baths in the sea

(Oxfam International, ‘The tsunami’s impact on women’, 2005)

Question 16

Describe the uxori-matrilocal settlement pattern in Batticaloa, Sri Lanka.

Answer 16

Men move into wife’s home after marriage. Contributed to greater autonomy for women. House and its compound predominantly owned by the wife and inherited through the maternal lineage.

Question 17

Describe and briefly analyse one way that aid was channelled to women

Answer 17

Financial grants to establish businesses. Unsuccessful because resulted in many similar businesses offering similar services within proximity of one another. In most cases, economically unviable.

Question 18

What policy did the government in Sri Lanka introduce to move people away from the coast?

Answer 18

Introduction of buffer zones that prohibited any permanent buildings on the coastline. People who had been living in these zones were to relocate and be granted support of housing construction schemes

Question 19

What is the sex ratio in India? (source)

Answer 19

1.08:1 male to female

CIA, 2017 est.

Question 20

What is the literacy rate for men and women in India? (source)

Answer 20

81.3% for men
60.6% for women
(CIA, 2015 est.)

Question 21

What is the gender development index in India? (source)

Answer 21

0.819, which is a ranking of 131 out of 188

United Nations Development Programme, 2015

Question 22

Why did more women than men die in India? (3) (source)

Answer 22

1. Gendered division of labour: while men were out fishing, where waves could pass under boats, women were waiting on the shores for their husbands to return with the catch
2. Women lost minutes by attempting to gather children and the elderly; left with only one or no hands to fight the waves
3. Saris and long hair got caught on debris and foliage; if saris were stripped away, women were too embarrassed to climb into rescue boats naked
   (Luke Juran, ‘The Gendered Nature of Disasters’, 2012)

Question 23

What issues were there with government initiative to put new housing in both spouse’s names?

Answer 23

Failed to adjust property inheritance laws, so single women residing with parents were unlikely to inherit the home and wives feared that jointly-owned properties would be seized by sons or male relatives if their husband passed away.

Question 24

What issues where there with temporary shelters? (3)

Answer 24

1. Lacked a common work-space for women, which prevented them from resuming their home-based occupations
2. Privacy and security concerns; women felt vulnerable given the number of unemployed, unoccupied male strangers loitering in camps
3. Sanitation and health needs of women not factored into design and construction of shelters, as well as a shortage of female doctors

Question 25

Statistic for sexual violence towards women in Tamil Nadu after the tsunami (source)

Answer 25

Estimates suggest that one third of women experienced sexual violence after the tsunami
(Luke Juran, ‘The Gendered Nature of Disasters’, 2012)

Question 26

How many pregnant women in Indian tsunami region at time of disaster?

Answer 26

8,300 women pregnant and 1,380 in the third trimester

Luke Juran, ‘The Gendered Nature of Disasters’, 2012

Question 27

How did the Indian government attempt to extend assistance to those who lost their children?

Answer 27

Subsidised reverse-sterilisation

Question 28

What were the issues with reverse-sterilisation? (3)

Answer 28

1. Low success rate
2. Fed into preexisting cultural biases against childlessness
3. Many women forced to undergo surgery

Question 29

What does Oxfam suggest natural disasters do to the status of women and girls?

Answer 29

Events of this kind can weaken the status of women and girls and their ability to negotiate both with and outside the family
(Oxfam, The Tsunami’s Impact on Women, 2005)

Question 30

What does K. Thurnheer argue post-tsunami interventions reveal about power-relationships in aid?

Answer 30

Outcomes of post-tsunami interventions reveal asymmetrical power-relationships inevitably at work in the field of humanitarian and development aid
(K. Thurnheer, ‘A House for a Daughter?’, 2009

Question 31

According to J. Hyndman, why did the government propagate fear of another tsunami?

Answer 31

The government, directly and indirectly, propagated a fear of another tsunami to legitimate its contentious regulations and to gain control over the population
(J. Hyndman, The Securitisation of Fear in Post-Tsunami Sri Lanka, 2007)

Question 32

According to K. Thurnheer, how does women-focused aid often strengthen gender imbalances?

Answer 32

Women-focused aid often strengthens gender stereotyping and keeps women in poorly-paid economic niches. For example, Unsuccessful and economically unviable small businesses.

Question 33

What does L. Juran argue about social inequalities in times of disaster?

Answer 33

Pre-existing inequalities are reified and magnified in times of disaster
(L. Juran, The Gendered Nature of Disasters, 2012)

Question 34

According to L. Juran, why do more women die than men in disasters?

Answer 34

Socially constructed and set in place by male-dominated societies that have established the general inequality of women throughout the globe