Natural disasters destroy the places where people live, as well as their businesses and livelihoods. The December 2004 tsunami that struck the Indian Ocean Region was no different.

To mitigate the tsunami’s devastating effects, USAID and Project Concern International (PCI) implemented projects to help 875 families in the Nagapattinam District of Tamil Nadu return to normalcy and rebuild their livelihoods. USAID and PCI:

• Constructed 891 temporary shelters
• Repaired 206 fishing boats, helping restart the area’s fishing industry
• Created child day care services and recreation services for youths that freed mothers to seek income opportunities and helped children recover from trauma
• Implemented cash-for-work programs that put people to work repairing shared community infrastructure, in exchange for cash that helped them rebuild their businesses and purchase household needs.

• Services waste and sanitation facilities, keeping temporary shelters healthy and habitable
• Constructs health posts at temporary shelter sites and augments additional health care staff, ensuring that residents have access to primary health care
• Maintains and improves temporary shelters
• Provides child care and educational services
• Repairs additional fishing boats and provides nets to fishermen, expanding the local fishing industry’s rejuvenation
• Creates and supports self-help groups that provide women with small loans and savings security, allowing for increased access to money for starting income-generating businesses
• Initiates vocational training, job placement and small business development activities
• Implements an integrated program of trafficking prevention and awareness that helps women and children avoid being drawn into prostitution and trafficking.