Dr K Sekar and Dr C Jayakumar, experts in psychiatric social work (PSW), National Institute of Mental Health & Neuro Sciences (NIMHANS), who, along with other mental health experts from NIMHANS, were at ground zero, narrated the impact of the deadly earthquake under the Indian Ocean on women and their mental health.
"Majority of victims (of the tsunami) were women. Most of them did not know how to swim. There was death, devastation, loss and raw emotions of people. They were angry with kadal (ocean), which they had looked upon historically as god till that fateful morning of December 26, 2004. In Cuddalore, there was a belief that tsunami was the wrath unleashed by the sea goddess after some menstruating women touched the sea," said Dr Sekar.
The tsunami exposed and tested the vulnerability of women like never before.
"While many widowers got remarried, widow remarriage was not an easy option in many of the affected places except for some of those, who were childless and were given huge compensation by the government. This was in Nagapattinam," he said.
This story is from the December 27, 2024 edition of The New Indian Express Kollam.
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This story is from the December 27, 2024 edition of The New Indian Express Kollam.
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