TSUNAMI-SHATTERED LIVES IN TAMIL NADU

People Rally For Relief Work

S P Rajendran

“What are men and what are ships

But toys and splinters in the sea’s grip”

TSUNAMI, the killer tidal waves which wreaked havoc in many Asian countries, ravaged the entire coastal Tamil Nadu, particularly the historical port of the Nagapattinam and Kanyakumari, the southern tip of the nation. The state capital Chennai was also not spared.

On the dark Sunday (December 26, 2004), the tsunami stealthily travelled the nearly 2,053 km from Sumatra Islands, Indonesia where the epicentre of the earthquake which registered 8.9 points on the Richter scale, to the Marina Beach in Chennai.

The tsunami hit the seashore, crossed the Beach Road and ravaged Nochikuppam, a huge residential area of fishermen. At least 10 coastal villages were wiped out by the tidal waves. In Chennai alone, 206 persons perished in the disaster, as per the government information.

Cuddalore, an important coastal town of Tamil Nadu, suffered a very big loss with 51 villages totally ravaged and more than 600 persons swept away. A search is on to retrieve the dead bodies from the debris.

In Kanyakumari, the southern-most district of Tamil Nadu, 33 coastal villages were affected by the killer waves and 817 lives – most of them fishermen and some tourists – perished.  In Chollachal town alone, more than 500 fishermen were killed.

In Kancheepuram district, in which Kalpakkam Atomic Energy station is located near the seashore, 124 persons, among whom were 16 scientists, lost their lives. Though the energy station was affected by the tidal waves, it restarted production within five days.

The official death count  in this tragedy is as follows: in Thiruvallur - 28 persons; Villupuram - 4; Thiruvarur - 12; Thanjavur - 24; Tuticourin - 3; Thirunelveli - 4; Ramanthapuram - 6 persons; and in Pudukkottai - 15 persons.

The union territory of Pondicherry was also ravaged by the killer waves Most coastal villages, particularly in the Karaikkal region of the union territory were badly affected.

NAGAPATTINAM

Nagapattinam, an important port town, bore the brunt of the fury of the tsunami waves. The district has two important pilgrim centres – Vellankanni, well-known for its Mother Mary Church and Nagore Dargah, an important pilgrimage centre for Muslims. Though the buildings of these two places of worship were not damaged, the waves swept the habitants and pilgrims away, causing numerous deaths.

Many people of Tamil Nadu and Kerala, irrespective of caste, creed or religion, visit these places of worship. And with Christmas falling a day before these killer waves struck, the damage was maximum in Vellankanni. The actual loss of lives is still being estimated.  But it is feared that at least 1,500 children have died. Around the same time, in Nagore, which is near Vellankanni, the tidal waves destroyed the entire residential area of the fishermen, killing hundreds.

In Nagapattinam port town, the ferocious waves hurled all the fishing boats, including big steamers, some two or three kilometres away from the seashore. The beach road and the railway station of the town were also completely destroyed by the tsunami waves. In Nagapattinam district alone, 73 coastal villages, including the well-known coastal areas of Tranqubet, and Vedaranyam, were entirely destroyed, causing immense loss of fishermen’s lives and properties.

According to government authorities, up to January 3, 5,925 persons had perished in this district alone. But some non-governmental organisations, who are working among the fishermen for the past 20 years, say that at least 13,000 lives have been lost in these 73 villages, which were fully destroyed.

MASS BURIALS

The news of mass destruction by the tidal waves shocked the people of Tamil Nadu as well as the people the world over. A day after the disaster, CPI(M) daily Theekathir’s correspondent visited the places in and around Nagapattinam and found extremely distressing scenes. Only two days before, hundreds of people joyously celebrated Christmas in a big pandal in the Vellankanni church. Post-tsunami, the mega pandal was filled by hundreds of dead bodies. All unidentified bodies were disposed off in a mass burial.

In Nagapattinam district, the stunned government administration woke up quite late in launching rescue and relief operations. Whatever little was done was limited to Nagapattinam town only.

However both the managements of the places of worship in Vellankanni responded immediately and took charge of the situation. They identified the bodies and conducted mass burials. In Nagore all the unidentified bodies of Hindus, Muslims and Christians were buried in the Muslim burial ground of the Dargah.

RESCUE AND RELIEF

The government machinery in Nagapattinam took a lot of time to recover from the shock of mass destruction caused by the tsunami waves and moved into action only after three days, by which time the bodies had begun to decompose. The apathy of the government officials prompted youth teams, particularly the DYFI-SFI activists, to swing into action. They lifted the dead bodies, consoled the wailing relatives, put them in makeshift shelters. Later the Army stepped into the relief operations. Foul odour is still prevalent all over, drinking water is contaminated in the coastal areas and the fear of an outbreak of epidemics looms large.

Meanwhile, thousands of people, a majority of them being fishermen, have lost their everything and are staying in relief camps. In one such relief camp at Thiruvarur, near Nagapattinam, on the second day of the tragedy we spotted a young woman with her child, who was covered totally. We gave the woman some biscuits, which she accepted after some hesitation. We asked her to give the biscuits to her child also. She broke down saying, “My child is dead. I have no money even to bury it.”

Amidst such all pervasive gloom, the people of Tamil Nadu decided not to celebrate the New Year. For the past one week various organisations in the state are fully involved in collecting money and relief materials for the tsunami-hit victims. Thousands of youth and students are working full time to provide relief to the affected people in relief camps.

(January 5, 2005)