ActionAid India tsunami response programme’s first formal series of social audits started with a bang, when traditional drummers joined  more than 400 people gather at a marriage hall in Sembodai village in Nagapattinam district.

The first of four similar events planned in the run up to the second anniversary of the 2004 tsunami, the audits enable those affected by the disaster to better understand their rights and question local leaders and government representatives.

ActionAid and partner VESA (Village Educational Service Association) organized the social audits to target villages indirectly hit by the tsunami.

Made up predominantly of Dalits, who worked in the near by salt pans or as daily wage laborers, these villages lie outside the governments official tsunami relief programme.

In the meetings, local people read out accounts of how their villages and livelihoods were affected by the tsunami and what progress has been made to redress this.

“I am new to this concept but I find it interesting,” says 30-year-old Vijaya who works alongside her husband as a daily wage laborer.

"This process started a month ago when the VESA team came to our village and we had meetings and discussions. At that time I had no idea that I have the right to ask how much money is being spent on my village. I got to learn and know how the other villages are being supported as well.

"Today I know that just like this I can go and ask the government to show the books of accounts,” she says.

With four more social audits lined up in Nagapattinam district with a grand finale on the 23rd of December - the ActionAid and VESA teams are determined to get the message through that people need to know their rights and demand answers to how money is spent.