acilities must be provided to them close to the ‘no development zone' with secure land rights. Creative architects need to provide several disaster-proof building plans where adequate space is provided around a house and only the basic ‘shell' is standardized. Finances should be given to each family to innovate around it in accordance to their needs. Sanitation structures need to factor in the highly porous nature of coastal land. This makes pit latrines a veritable disease bomb. Alternatives such as dry composting toilets coupled with hygiene education are vital. Portable water and rainwater harvesting, where appropriate, should be provided.
Gainful employment in fishing and related activities
Most fisherfolk wish to get back to their livelihoods. This is also one way to get over the trauma which many of them suffered. All the small beach landing crafts – particularly kattumarams -- can be replaced without much lead-time if appropriate wood from forestry schemes in states such as Kerala can be supplied. Nets and small-scale motors are also easily supplied by private companies. The major problem relates to replacing the trawlers which were destroyed. Supplying new trawlers is not the right option. There was so much excess capacity in trawlers in the pre-tsunami phase. This was contributing to economic, biological and ecosystem overfishing. If those who lost trawlers are insistent on getting them back, then the solution should be to provide them with a good second hand one which is easily and quickly available. Trawler crew can be given the option of going back to small-scale fishing or trained for alternate livelihoods.
Coastal aquaculture farms were damaged. However, given the adverse social, ecological and economic impacts which this industry has had on other coastal communities in the past, measures for its rehabilitation away from the coastal belt should be given serious thought. Adequate compensation should be provided to families of fish-farm workers who have lost their lives. Alternate rehabilitation options should be provided to fish-farm workers who have lost their livelihoods.
Decentralized, low-energy using fish processing techniques as well as coastal and market infrastructure for hygienic fish marketing should be popularized. They should focus on the domestic market potentials. These investments will greatly help women from fishing communities to attain improved incomes.
Investment in community-oriented social infrastructure should be given a priority. Roads to coastal areas, bridges, community halls, schools and fishery-related infrastructure are major investments that can absorb a sizable amount of aid contributions and community labour. They can also become realms for both immediate ‘food for work' type of programmes and conscious alternative employment training programmes for many of the tsunami-displaced persons who do not wish to go back to sea for a variety of reasons.
Education and training
Post-tsunami rehabilitation is a good occasion to solve the educational backwardness of the fishing communities. They need a greater range of technical skills. This is an opportune moment to involve young men and women from the community to learn-by-doing. This can also be matched with a variety of training schemes to develop skills in trades which are now much sought after in the service sector -- masonry, plumbing, carpentry, home nursing, geriatric care, water harvesting and ecological sanitation skills to name a few. Residential fishery schools starting from the primary classes onwards will also be a boon for the large number of tsunami orphans and the future generation.
Safety and disaster preparedness
Though tsunamis are rare, monsoon sea ingress, cyclones and tidal waves are a fact of life along the coastal belt. The yearly calamities can be reduced if an early warning system is put in place and safety and disaster management training is provided. A village-based IT-enhanced communications network that is linked horizontally across coastal villages and vertically to higher level disaster management cells wi