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India Tsunami Recovery

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Gowindra, 19, has the "thali" a necklance symbolizing her marriage tied around her neck by her husband during the wedding in Nagapattinum district in Tamil Nadu, India eight months since the deadly tsunami killed thousands August 29, 2005. Both she and her husband's family both lost relatives, their homes and livelihoods in the wave and must live in the temporary shelters after the ceremony. Hundreds of "tsunami weddings" have taken place since December as families received huge amounts of money for their deceased relatives and wished to make allegiances with other families who received money. In India, the girls family must pay a dowry and Gowindra had to pay a staggering 200,000 rupees, nearly $5000 in a community that survives off an average $1 per day. Elaborate and ostentatious wedding functions have become normal fare for those victims of the tsunami who suddenly were given the huge sums of money and alcohol sales have jumped 300 percent. The recovery process is slow and the situation still grim for many of the worlds poorest who were most affected by the deadly wave. (Ami Vitale)

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Tsunami
Gowindra, 19, has the "thali" a necklance symbolizing her marriage tied around her neck by her husband during the wedding in Nagapattinum district in Tamil Nadu, India eight months since the deadly tsunami killed thousands August 29, 2005. Both she and her husband's family both lost relatives, their homes and livelihoods in the wave and must live in the temporary shelters after the ceremony. Hundreds of "tsunami weddings" have taken place since December as families received huge amounts of money for their deceased relatives and wished to make allegiances with other families who received money. In India, the girls family must pay a dowry and Gowindra had to pay a staggering 200,000 rupees, nearly $5000 in a community that survives off an average $1 per day. Elaborate and ostentatious wedding functions have become normal fare for those victims of the tsunami who suddenly were given the huge sums of money and alcohol sales have jumped 300 percent. The recovery process is slow and the situation still grim for many of the worlds poorest who were most affected by the deadly wave. (Ami Vitale)