India
Contributions by the Canadian Red Cross
Map Courtesy: BBC News Online
Quick Country Facts
(source: United Nations Development Programme)
Capital: New Dehli
Population: 1.09 billion people
Age Structure: 33.5% <15; 5.0% >65
Infant mortality rate: 69 per 1,000 live births
Adult literacy rate: 57.2%
Languages: English, Hindi; Bengali, Telugu, Marathi, Tamil, Urdu, Gujarati, Malayalam, Kannada, Oriya, Punjabi, Assamese, Kashmiri, Sindhi, and Sanskrit.
Impact of the tsunami on India
In India, the tsunami claimed over 10,749 lives and left thousands of people homeless along the 2,200-kilometre coastline of Tamil Nadu, Andhra Pradesh, Kerala and Pondicherry (union territory) and the Andaman and Nicobar Islands.
The fishing communities were severely affected, with large-scale destruction of fishing nets, boats and other equipment. There have also been devastating effects on the livelihoods of other groups that depend on the fishing industry.
Around 10,000 volunteers at various levels were engaged in psychological support, restoring family links and relief distribution activities in the affected areas.
