Tsunami Aftermath, India - February 2005
Akkareipettai, Nagapattinam. Sarasavathi, 22, already had psychological problems before the tsunami. She received treatment in a hospital in Chennai and was much better. Then the tsunami arrived. She was in the house at the time of the catastrophe. The family didn't have the money for further treatment and to stop her from continually running away, saw no other choice than to constrain their daughter to the shelter by chain. Sarasavathi lives with her parents, her 3 brothers and her sister in this shelter. Her father, Subramaniyan, 48, works as a deckhand on a fishing boat, and earns 350rupees (7 euros) each time.
Her mother, Deivanai, 40 years, do not work. She helps her shower, and feeds her but barely speaks with her.
Sarasavathi sits or lies down behind the door all day . She speaks sometimes but without making any sense. Her chain does not enable her to move around in the shelter but only to go as far as the doorstep. Although her father often checks that the chain isn't harming her, he never removes it from her foot for fear of her running off.