Accountability Overdue: Learnings from Participatory Engagement with the Tsunami Affected

Against the numbing tragedy that visits whole communities in disasters like the recent tsunami. Many find the capacity of communities to become central strategists in the post-disaster planning process, difficult to tathom. Yet, the participatory engagement that Praxis undertook in the tsunami-affected villages of nagapattinam and karaikal have proved that community centered planning in post-disaster scenarios is not only teastible, but is necessary. Crucial perspectives that make or mar effective rehabillitation are available only through inclusive planning processes that accord primacy to the views of the affected communities. Accountability Overdue synthesizes insights gained through an intensive community engagement in tsunami-affected areas. It underscores the need for a thorough re-look at the framework of accountability associated with emergency money. it also reiterates the need for interventions to take onboard the question of downward accountability to communities and not just upward accountability to the doors.