Since the disaster there has been systematic discrimination against untouchables seeking emergency relief. Untouchable families have been driven out of emergency shelters reserved for the dominant caste. They’ve been refused food and supplies, or given only leftovers. They’ve been forbidden to drink from tanks of clean water donated by international agencies because their touch would pollute it....
...see anti-caste article: ON CASTE DISCRIMINATION AGAINST SURVIVORS OF THE SOUTH ASIAN TSUNAMI
See also:
Tsunami can’t wash this away: hatred for Dalits (The Indian Express)
Even Govt divides survivors on caste, says it’s practical (The Indian Express, January 8, 2005)
India's untouchables forced out of relief camps (Agence France-Presse)
Low caste survivors denied food and water (The Telegraph (UK), January 8, 2006)
Nagapattinam inching closer to normalcy (January 12, 2005)
India: End caste Bias in Tsunami Relief (Human Rights Watch, January 14, 2005)
Tsunami Opens Fault Lines in Old Caste System (The Washington Post, January 18, 2005)
`Untouchable' caste find themselves deprived of tsunami aid (The Independent (London), January 22, 2005)
Caste cloud over tsunami relief (rediff.com, September 15, 2005)
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