InsideOut and About: Tsunami Aftermath Dispatch From India by Kate Hall

« Khafre Pyramid Reopens | Main | Backpackers Stay in Sri Lanka »

January 02, 2005

Tsunami Aftermath Dispatch From India by Kate Hall

Kate Hall, an InsideOut Travel Magazine contributor, sends this tsunami aftermath dispatch from India where she works for a social development organisation.

As you’ve seen on TV, the effects of the wave have been devastating. Sri Lanka has suffered complete desolation in some areas, with locals and tourists alike losing their lives. Most of the Indian deaths were in the Andaman Islands, where 6,000 people are still missing and where relief missions were delayed because so much of the infrastructure was damaged and aid couldn’t get in.

On mainland India, while the majority of deaths have been in my state, Tamil Nadu, most have been limited to fishing villages and those unfortunate enough to be strolling along the beach at 9 am that morning. In Chennai, 167 people were swept off Marine Drive.

There was no warning of the wave, and it arrived with deadly speed, not growing tall until it reached shallow waters. By the time the people saw it, it was too late to run. The only indication was that the rivers started to spookily flow backwards and the low-lying water on the beach disappeared.

The fishing villages south of Chennai were also badly hit. Ironically enough, those fishermen out on the sea had no idea what was happening until they returned home to discover they couldn’t find their village, and had lost their families.

As the tsunami hit Pondicherry after Chennai, many had time to leave their houses. In fact, lots of people flocked to the beach to have a look. Pondy is no stranger to big waves and has an excellent sea defence and police accustomed to clearing the sea front at a moments notice—which they seem to do regularly and without good reason.

As a result, walking down the promenade you would have no idea that a tidal wave had hit the city at all—Gandhi still watches over the evening strollers and India’s ugliest café still sells popcorn to the masses.

A couple of kilometers up the coast, in the coastal suburb of Kanchipuram where many of
Sharana’s sponsored children live, it was a different story.

Ramya, 13 and her brother Manimaran, 11, live in a thatched hut right by the sea. Half of it collapsed, the other half flooded. They lost everything. Vairum, also 13, and her little brother were in their house when it flooded up to their necks. They’ve lost all their things too.

Down the coast, the workshop where Leila works is right on the sea front, protected by the sea wall. The women there were fine, but Leila was distressed to hear that Silva, the man she works with, had lost his wife and son…to find them again half an hour later—I don’t think Indian English stretches to euphemisms. His house was flooded, but he was able to rescue his motorbike before it floated away. Many of the women in the organization were still in tears when Leila got there.

The main problem now is that the most badly hit areas are very cut off. Plenty of rice has been donated but people don’t have the utensils to cook it with, or buckets to collect drinking water. Many of the coastal villages now have no water as their wells have been polluted by seawater. And above all, everyone is afraid.

The place is rife with false alarms that send people fleeing at all hours, while others are too frightened to go home. The children are too scared to sleep, and spend their days sleeping at school where they feel safe. Homeless families are living in schools and marriage halls, where they get thrown out in the morning and never get a proper nights sleep. Everyone is exhausted.

Sharana is collecting and handing out clothes, bedding and utensils for the affected families. The sea is still very high and the money that the government is providing—2000 rupees per head, about 25 pounds/35 euros—is not enough for them to build another house, even one made of banana leaves like the previous ones.

I don’t know how long they can continue sleeping in these places, or whether they will have to move into tents, as many of the villagers have done along the coast south of Chennai. The fishing industry has been severely affected, which will continue to have an effect on communities in the weeks and months to come.

Certainly, it seems unfair that the people with the least to lose are the ones that have lost the most.

However, it’s great to hear that so many people in Britain—if not the government…have given so much to charities to help these people and those like them.

Although India has suffered greatly it, countries like Sri Lanka and Indonesia bore the brunt of the wave and need as much help as they can get. These people are facing the same problems and more, including infected water that spreads cholera and malaria and the risk of landmines in the north of Sri Lanka hampering relief efforts. We are very lucky to live in a country with no tidal waves, earthquakes or cyclones.

Kate Hall

Are you interested in sharing news from tsunami-affected areas? Send dispatches to editor@insideoutmag.com.

www.insideoutmag.com

Posted by insideoutmag at January 2, 2005 12:42 PM

Comments

can u give us a list of hamlets affected in kanchipuram district

Posted by: misha mariam thomas at January 5, 2005 01:25 AM

Kuruchipuram isn't a district in the legal sense, rather it's a neighbourhood of Pondicherry. It's essentially a fisherman's 'village' next to the sea in the north of the city.

Posted by: Kate Hall at January 6, 2005 01:39 AM

Thanks Kate, I wasn't familiar with that area so I did a search for a map of the region. I found this:

http://kanchi.nic.in/kanchimap.htm

Were the villages along the coast affected by the tsunami?

Helene

Posted by: Helene at January 6, 2005 08:52 AM

Posted by: at January 7, 2005 12:30 PM

Posted by: meridia at January 11, 2005 04:36 PM

Please check out the sites about poker poker http://www.middlecay.org/ online poker online poker http://www.hasslerenterprises.org/ phentermine phentermine http://www.teambeck.org/ viagra viagra http://www.neweighweb.org/ casino casino http://www.hdic.org/ online casino online casino http://www.hometeaminspection.org/ texas holdem texas holdem http://www.mor-lite.org/ texas hold em texas hold em http://www.reservedining.org/ pacific poker pacific poker http://www.paramountseedfarms.org/ empire poker empire poker http://www.parkviewsoccer.org/ party poker party poker http://www.tclighting.org/ cialis cialis http://www.sportingcolors.org/ diet pills diet pills http://www.psychexams.org/ tramadol tramadol http://www.stories-on-cd.org/ play poker play poker http://www.marshallyachts.org/ turbo tax turbo tax http://www.lvcpa.org/ pacific poker pacific poker http://www.rifp.org/ texas hold em poker texas hold em poker http://www.suttonjames.org/ poker rules poker rules http://www.pagetwo.org/ credit cards credit cards http://www.tecrep-inc.org/ hoodia hoodia http://www.rethyassociates.org/ carisoprodol carisoprodol http://www.ingyensms.org/ payday loans payday loans http://www.krantas.org/ buy phentermine buy phentermine http://www.devilofnights.org/ generic viagra generic viagra http://www.ansar-u-deen.org/ h r block h r block http://www.azian.org/ buy viagra buy viagra http://www.twinky.org/ texas holdem poker texas holdem poker http://www.atlanta2000.org/ weight loss diet pills weight loss diet pills http://www.catchathief.org/ weight loss weight loss http://www.nehrucollege.org/ casino casino http://www.casinoequipmentsalesandrental.com/ ...

Posted by: phentermine at January 14, 2005 11:59 PM