Snap shots of Nagapattinam, Tamil Nadu
Kennedy Dhanabalan
29th December, 2004
I reached Nagapattinam on 29th morning at 5A.M. The sound of silence welcomed me. No coffee or breakfast shops opened up. After a motor bike ride with a volunteer, I started walking towards village Keechankuppam. Some Government doctors gave me vaccine shots and a mask to wear. Little did I realize how useful the mask would be. I was shocked to see boats blocking my way on the street. As I went over a bridge two huge boats were dangling from atop the bridge. Bodies were floating in the water below.
Smell of decaying bodies welcomed me at Keechankuppam. People told me that there were 5 titanic waves. The first was at 8.50 (IST) and the last at 9.20 A.M. 20 minutes of the fury of the waves that fateful Sunday morning and the whole peaceful coast became a tangled mess of dead bodies, destroyed houses, markets and vegetation. Few bricks remain of the once popular fish market.
I stood by the sea side and looked towards the village. The whole stretch to my left and right – a two Kilometer stretch with more than 3000 houses was empty – all washed away. Even the concrete houses were smashed by boats and damaged. I saw a 8th standard mathematics book lying open on the beach, vessels , plates and glasses and even brand new silk saris- all lying unclaimed, since those who owned it were claimed by the sea..... I saw a lone woman by name Shanthi crying by the sea. She lost all her 6 children. She was wailing why the sea did not take her too. Her name means Peace, but has lost all peace in her life – I could not imagine her life without those precious children .
I reached the village Akkararaipettai . The stench of burning flesh met me. People were pulling dead bodies and consigning them to flames. A house caught my attention- I thought it was designed in the shape of the boat. A closer look revealed that a boat was atop the house. The whole village had been wiped out. Carcasses were strewn all over. I saw relatives of those missing pathetically looking under the debris of thatches, wood planks and pieces of broken boats for their loved family members. . . .I stopped counting the bodies that were being burnt. I was just too numb with pain.
Just as I was leaving the shore, in a place where perhaps a house stood earlier I found a twenty five paise (cent) coin. I just picked it up in my hand. It seemed that one of the victims had given me this as the first contribution for EFICOR to take up the relief operation. I carefully put it in my pocket.
I just walked back to Nagapattinam to meet the collector. My thoughts just wandered . Who was to be blamed? Some say the nature. Some say it is God’s wrath. Some say the government, as it did not provide early warning to the people. Blaming one another is not the answer. Perhaps the answer lies in being a beacon of hope to those affected by assisting them towards building a future. May God help us in doing it.
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Kennedy Dhanabalan is Manager - Technical Services - EFICOR, currently coordinating relief operations in Tamil Nadu.
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Smashed
By Water And Death Senthamizh is 20 years old and married to Govindhan, a 22 year old fisherman. They are from Sonankuppam village, Cuddalore district, Tamil Nadu. On the 26th morning Senthamizh’s husband went out to fish. Her 4 year old son Goudham was playing outside. She had gone to fetch drinking water and was about to reach home when the Tsunami wave appeared. Immediately dropping the water pot she scooped up her 11month old daughter sleeping inside. Grabbing her son on the way out she ran. But when the wave smashed into them they were thrown into different directions. Within minutes of the wave passing over, she found her son, dead. Senthamizh and her 11 month old daughter Kviarasi survived.
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When will
I see You my Daughter 29th December, 5:30am, and Nagapattinam, Tamil Nadu State, ravaged three days earlier by the tidal wave, is still dark. Suddenly the silence is cut by a high-shrilled wail. Deivanai has just woken up. Woken up to be reminded that her only daughter is dead. Deivanai lived in Akkaraipettai Village, one of the most devastated villages of Nagapattinam. Her daughter Arumai Selvi, meaning ‘Dear One,’ was 18 years old and had been married four months earlier. “She was as bubbling and pretty as a parrot,’ Deivanai moans. She was 3 months pregnant. On the morning of the 26th she had gone to sell fishes. The tidal wave swept her away at 8:50am and her body has not been found. After narrating her story her wail continues: “When will I see you my dear daughter…Whom can I call daughter any more?”
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“……I don’t know where we would be…..” G. Kalpana, mother of 4 grown up children was living in a place called Katchal, one of the worst Tsunami affected place in Nicobar Islands. The day Tsunami struck, the family ran to a village called Mildera which was at a higher altitude. Her house was completely washed away by the tidal wave losing all her family’s belongings. All her family members were safe but many people from Katchal were not as lucky as Kalpana’s family. Her eldest daughter has completed her BA degree, the other two daughters are studying in 11th and 12th standard respectively and the youngest son is studying in class 10th. Though the exam is approaching, the three children don’t have any books to study for their examination. One thing the family is certain - they are not going back to Katchal, it’s too dangerous. Kalpana is not sure where the family will stay, from where the food will come or about the government support - everything seems to be so uncertain. When asked about the camp where she is staying “everything is good here- food, place etc. I don’t know where we would be if this camp were not set up” she answered. Kalpana, whose husband is a Government employee working as an electrician in Katchal, would be happy if the government transfers him to another place, but seems unlikely that the transfer will ever come. She and her family are willing to go wherever the Government allots them land to live except in Katchal. The family just does not have any plan for the future right now.
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Eye-witness account – The Lady in the Red Sari It is 9:20 am. We are walking along the beach at Akkaraiettai Village, Nagapattinam, Tamil Nadu, a wide swath of open land borders the sea where the volunteer says the death toll is more than 1500. “I can prove it is more than 3000,” someone else says. I see a lady in a red sari approaching us in the distance, wandering seemingly aimlessly, her eyes searching the ground. She suddenly sits down, and puts both hands on the sand in front of her in shocked silence. Then after a few moments bursts out in a wail. The woman in the red sari in front of my eyes has just located the place where her house used to stand. I enquire with a person standing nearby. He tells me she has lost everything and everyone: house, husband, children. She was looking for the remains, and before my eyes, found none.
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Through
the Church’s Door It was Sunday morning, 26th Dec, and the local church of the Indian Pentecostal Church denomination located on a beach of Chennai was full with its local congregation, all fishermen. Pastor, a fisherman himself, was giving the sermon. He was preaching about the possibility of danger in our world today: “Anything can happen in our area.” He had heard earlier in the morning about an earthquake in Indonesia. Behind him was a door looking out onto the open sea. That was when the wave hit, literally coming through the door behind him. The wave devastated every house in the area. The church was one of the few buildings that was made of concrete and the only one that was left standing. By God’s grace all those in the church building were unharmed
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