Spiritual community dedicated to unity was among the first to respond when tsunami struck India

By: CHRIS TOMLINSON - Associated Press | Saturday, January 1, 2005 7:20 PM PST ∞

AUROVILLE, India -- Alan Bernard first learned that a giant tsunami had struck the Indian coast when thousands of terrified villagers began rushing into this spiritual community dedicated to promoting world unity and helping others.

For Auroville, a town that was created in 1968 by followers of an Indian guru and has since grown to 1,700 people from 33 nations, the tsunami disaster gave a chance to turn their mantra into action.

Bernard and other Auroville residents immediately went to work setting up tents and a field kitchen that, within four hours, was feeding 1,100 victims.

"Lots of people came up and we knew something had to be done," said Bernard, a 63-year old originally from Paris.

Residents of the town took tents and a field kitchen -- normally used for a children's summer camp -- and set up an ad hoc relief center.

The quake struck at about 8:30 a.m., and the first meals were served by noon. The field kitchen worked throughout the day. By nightfall, the group was feeding 1,200 in the relief center and sending 300 meals to another camp, he said.

As the extent of the disaster became clearer and it was obvious more was needed, Auroville quickly swung into action.

The community has committed itself to helping 550 families in 11 villages who lost everything in the catastrophe, said resident Hemant Lamba, 37. The group would like to help as many as 9,170 families, or 45,000 people, if they can raise the funds and manpower.

"This is an opportunity to prove that our mission can be demonstrated with action," said Lamba, who is originally from New Delhi and recently received a major environmental award from Prince Charles for his work developing small-scale solar energy businesses.

Auroville, located on a high plateau just outside Pondicherry on India's southeast coast, grew out of the spiritual retreat, or ashram, founded by guru Sri Aurobindo, well-known in the 1950s and 1960s for advocating a mission of helping humanity. The community is made up of a series of large compounds filled with futuristic-looking buildings.

Described on its Web site as "an ideal township devoted to an experiment in human unity," it's a virtual modern-day commune though residents don't wear robes or deny themselves an otherwise normal life in the homes they've built or the businesses they operate.

"We are more interested in the practical," said Aurson Bystrom, 34, who was born in Auroville. "My dad called it a kind of research-and-development place for the world."

The town had long supported community development programs in local villages, but this was the group's first major emergency.

The tsunami consumed half of the nearest fishing village, just a few miles from Auroville, and even those who had houses still intact were afraid to return home, not knowing whether another wave would strike

Bernard said they collected as many blankets as they could to help the villagers make it through the chilly first night in the tents. The next day, when it appeared it might rain, the villagers were moved into a secondary school, where the community continued to feed them.

Since the initial emergency ended, Bystrom has been visiting villages in the area to determine their immediate needs. Cleaning up the debris, removing dead animals and ensuring clean water were priorities.

Walking through the destruction, Bystrom spoke to the villagers in their native Tamil language. Young men asked for tools to begin work on their boats. Mothers asked for pencils and notebooks for their children.

Bommiyapalayam Sounderavalli, a 28-year-old mother of three from a nearby fishing village, said she and her children ran up the hill to Auroville to seek refuge and were just happy to be alive when they finally stopped running.

"I never expected that people would provide those facilities. They even took care of the small children," she said. "We are very thankful."

On the Net:

http://www.auroville.org/