In April 2012, Agnes went to the Regional Fisheries Technical High School in Valiyathura, a coastal village in Kerala’s Thiruvananthapuram district, with her son Sharath, and daughter Sharanya.
She was not there to seek admission for her children. She needed a roof over her head. Agnes was one of 40 villagers from Valiyathura – 10 men, 13 women, and 17 children – who lost their homes to beach erosion that year.
The 40 villagers needed a place to live until they were rehoused. So they set up home in four classrooms. Schools in Kerala are closed for the summer vacation in April and May so their stay did not hamper the school’s functioning initially.
But when school re-opened in June, the villagers still did not have another place to go to. They told the school principal that they would stay till the government rehabilitated them. Left with no alternative, the principal converted hostel rooms into classrooms and resumed classes.
Five years after the 40 villagers first arrived at the school, it still doubles up as their home.
Beach erosion: Annual phenemenon
Beach erosion is common along Kerala’s 580-km coastline during the South West and North East monsoon. Erosion takes place when high energy storm waves move away sediment and soil from the shore. After the monsoon is over, low energy waves bring back the eroded sediment and soil. The cyclical process of erosion and accretion ensures that beaches remain intact.
In most places, the beach erosion season runs from June to August, but in Valiyathura, it starts earlier, in April.
Apart from natural causes, it has been established that human intervention, such as construction of coastal protection structures like groynes and breakwaters in one place can also result in beach erosion in another. While breakwaters are constructed in the middle of the sea, groynes are small structures built along the shore to prevent beach erosion. Researchers say all the structures aggravate the erosion process by disrupting the natural movement of sediment.
Beach erosion left a trail of destruction in Valiyathura this year too, damaging more than 100 homes, according to Sheeba Patrick, Valiyathura ward councillor in the Thiruvananthapuram city corporation. It even badly damaged a concrete building belonging to the National Centre of Earth Science Studies, as well as the Valiyathura pier.
Another 100 homes in the nearby fishing villages of Poonthura, Panathura and Bimapalli were also damaged due to beach erosion in June and July.
Schools lying close to erosion-prone coastal villages in Kerala often function as temporary relief centres during the monsoons. But Valiyathura school has set a record of sorts by becoming the longest-serving relief centre in a school in the state.
Inside the camp
At the Valiyathura school, the villagers live in an asbestos-roofed building. Three families occupy one classroom. Their personal belongings, beds, kitchen utensils, wardrobes, and cooking stoves are packed into this small space. They use the school’s toilets to relieve themselves, and the playground to bathe.
The metal doors at the entrance of the classrooms have rusted and cannot be used.
“We are living in an unsafe zone,” said Jolly, a mother of two girls. “We are worried about our safety. Girls and women live in fear. Mothers stand guard when they use toilets and change their clothes. We want to escape from this place, but we cannot afford it.”
Every afternoon, women in the camp assemble near the staff room, ignoring the students playing football and cricket in the nearby playground. Sometimes, a batsman hits a ball into their side of the school. At other times, footballs careen into the grille doors of their classrooms. This does not perturb the residents.
“This is the only place we can meet and talk,” said Agnes. “We do not bother the students and teachers.”
Teresa, a single mother, who works as a domestic worker, pointed out that she and her fellow villagers had no choice but to stay in the school. “We don’t have anywhere to go,” she said. “That is why we are staying here for the last five years. We will die here if the government fails to give us a shelter.”
Arun, the acting principal of the school, said losing four classrooms have affected its functioning. “We have converted hostel rooms into class rooms,” he said. He added that he hoped that the state government would construct homes for the displaced people soon. “I would like to see them return to their homes so that we get our classrooms back,” he said.
Kerala’s Minister for Fisheries J Mercykutty Amma told Scroll.in that the government would give all the families living at Valiyathura school new homes by January. “The government has taken their rehabilitation seriously,” she said. “The construction of the flat complex is in progress in Muttathara that lies just two km from Valiyathura. It will be completed by January.”
She added: “We will rehabilitate 192 families who live 50 metres near the sea in Thiruvanananthapuram district in that complex. Priority will be given to those who live in Valiyathura school.”
Risking lives
Apart from driving people out of their homes, beach erosion has made fishing a risky proposition in Valiyathura during the monsoons.
Fisherfolk in this village traditionally use beach-landing boats that set off from, and can be pulled onto, sandy shores. They sell their fresh catch in the local market, and thus help the local economy to flourish.
However, with erosion destroying Vlaiyathura beach, fisherfolk are unable to anchor their boats on the shore during the monsoons. A few boat owners take their boats and crew to Vizhinjam, where there is a beach, but this is an expensive proposition due to the high cost of transportation. Those who cannot afford this option, stay put at Valiyathura, and anchor their boats near the pier.
To get to their boats in this season, fisherfolk have to walk up to the end of the pier, jump into the rough sea, and swim to get onto their boats. Each boat has a minimum of five members.
“Jumping is risky when the sea is rough,” said Marydasan, a fisherman. “There are chances we can get caught in the strong undercurrents. But we have to fish even when the sea is rough otherwise our families will starve.”
When the fisherfolk return, they put their catch in a basket and tie it to a rope. A person on the pier then hauls the basket up.
The fishermen have to tie a rope around their waist climb up the pier. “Almost all fishermen suffer minor injuries while climbing up,” said Marydasan, just before he jumps into the sea on his way to work.
This is the final in a two-part series on sea erosion along Kerala’s coast. Read the first part here.