Aerial view of the damages to the SOS Village Puducherry homes

January 4, 2012: Eighty-five-mile-an-hour winds struck India’s eastern coast on December 30, killing at least 47 people. Most of the deaths were from electrocution and collapsing walls. The wrath of Cyclone Thane, which tore through southern India, fortunately did not harm SOS children and mothers at the SOS Children’s Village in Puducherry (formerly Pondicherry).

“All the children, mothers, and staff are safe,” according to SOS Regional Editor, Amit Kumar. 
However, fierce winds damaged the roofs of some of the SOS homes, the SOS Children’s Village has lost power and water supply, and road access is restricted. Schools are closed.

The SOS India Director and staff from the SOS Children's Village at Nagapattinam, south of Puducherry, are on site to help the local team assess the damage. SOS has secured generators and is locating alternate water sources.
 
Puducherry town, the capital of Puducherry Territory, is located on the Bay of Bengal, about 95 miles south of Chennai. Chennai, capital of southern India’s Tamil Nadu state, was barely affected by the cyclone. The worst hit areas are Puducherry, Cuddalore, Tiruvallur, and Villupuram -- all districts along Tamil Nadu's northern coast.

Structural damage to SOS Puducherry homes caused by Cyclone Thane

The SOS Presence in Puducherry Stems from Previous Disaster Relief
 
In December 2004 the destruction left by a massive tsunami in the Indian Ocean precipitated an SOS emergency relief effort that formed the basis of today’s SOS Children’s Village at Puducherry. That earlier disaster killed more than 300,000 people, including residents of Puducherry. To meet the needs of India’s coastal victims, SOS created child protection centers and reconstructed a number of villages.

The government of Puducherry subsequently asked SOS Children's Villages to build a permanent Children's Village in Puducherry province for children who lost their families to the tsunami.

SOS Children in India Photo courtesy - Conor Ashleigh

The SOS family-based model has been helping these orphans overcome their traumatic experiences with the help of a warm home, an SOS Mother, siblings, and a sense of belonging. Because of these children’s previous encounter with natural disaster, SOS staff are particularly attentive to maintaining a sense of stability through this latest storm.   

SOS-Puducherry is one of over 40 SOS Children’s Villages in India, where SOS has been helping vulnerable children since 1963.

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