The
3 hr warning that could have blunted Tsunami's rage
London:
Several thousand lives could have been saved in Sri
Lanka and India had the governments of both countries been
warned about the ensuing calamity three hours earlier, a
British geologist has said. According to Dr. David Booth,
a seismologist at the British Geological Survey, moving
at about 300 mph, Sunday's Tsunami waves probably took about
three hours to reach Sri Lanka. An early warning system
for giant waves such as that used in the Pacific could have
saved lives, he was quoted by The Mirror as saying. The
chain reaction, he claimed, started miles beneath the ocean
floor off the tip of the Indonesian island of Sumatra. Geologic
plates pressing against each other slipped, causing a bulge
on the sea bottom as high as 10 yards and up to 745 miles
long. "It's just like moving an enormous paddle at the bottom
of the sea. A big column of water has moved - we're talking
billions of tons. This is an enormous disturbance," Booth
said. But because tsunamis rarely occur in the Indian Ocean,
there has been no system in place to warn countries about
to be hit by them. Dr Booth said: "With 20-20 vision of
hindsight, that will be reconsidered."
Kalpakkam
reactor closed, Sonia in Nagapattinam (Go
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Chennai:
The Kalpakkam nuclear reactor in Tamil Nadu has been
shut down after Sunday's Tsunami tidal waves killed 3,200
people in the state. The maximum number of deaths have been
reported from the coastal town of Nagapattinam where 2,300
people have died. Cuddalore and Chennai are among the other
areas which have been badly hit. Thirty employees of the
Kalpakkam atomic energy plant have been confirmed killed.
One thousand and five hundred families have been evacuated
from the Kalpakkam township where the nuclear power plant
is in safe shut down mode after water seepage. Meanwhile,
Prime Minister Dr. Manmohan Singh will be meeting the Group
of Ministers set up to coordinate the relief operations.
Union Home Minister Shivraj Patilis cutting short his trip
to the affected areas to attend the meeting. Fishing nets
and boats lie scattered all across the coast of Tamil Nadu.
A dark brown stain covers the area where the sea waters
entered the land. People along the coast have started evacuating
their homes. Some families are not taking any chances. Congress
President Sonia Gandhi, Defence Minister Pranab Mukherjee
and other Congress ministers are visiting Nagapattinam in
Tamil Nadu today. Sonia told the media on her arival in
the area that there is an urgent need to focus on rehabilitation.
HUDCO
earmarks Rs 2000 crores for Tsunami rehabilitation (Go
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New
Delhi: Minister for Urban Employment and Poverty Alleviation
Kumari Selja announced that HUDCO has earmarked a sum of
Rs. 2000 crores, which will be made available for lending
related to the construction and rehabilitation works in
the Tsunami affected areas. Speaking to the media persons
after receiving the dividend cheques from HUDCO here today,
Kumari Selja further stated that a special loan scheme of
HUDCO would be floated with immediate effect for the repairs,
retrofitting and reconstruction of new houses for the economically
weaker sections at a highly subsidized interest rate of
upto 6.5 per cent for the calamity affected regions.
President
cancels new year celebrations (Go
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New
Delhi: The President Dr. A.P.J. Abdul Kalam has decided
not to have any celebrations at Rashtrapati Bhavan on New
Year. Unlike in the previous years, the President will not
receive Rashtrapati Bhavan employees or visitors to exchange
New Year greetings on that day. According to a press release,
the President has taken this decision as a mark of respect
for thousands of people who lost their lives and the many
more left homeless by the calamitous events of December
26th in India and other countries.
Kanchi
junior pontiff says, my senior would not have done it (Go
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Kanchipuram:
The junior Sankracharya of Kanchi, Vijayendra Saraswati,
today came out in the open on the arrest of his senior in
a murder case and said that Jayendra Saraswati "would not
have done this". He was refering to the Kanchi seer's involvement
in the murder of Sankararaman. "I told them that he would
not have done this," said the junior pontiff during his
first interaction with the media persons since the arrest
of his senior on November 11 in the case. The junior pontiff
was addressing the media in the mutt premises on his return
from the special police headquarters, where he was questioned
for three hours today. He also told the police that the
senior seer had advised him not to visit him at Vellore
prison. "They asked me about my plans to meet the Acharya
at the prison. I told them that I had informed him (Jayendra
Saraswati) about my plans to call on him and that I was
asked not to come now. I will go (to meet him) when he permits
me," he said. According to the Mutt advocates accompanying
the junior seer, the police asked him general questions.
17
jawans killed in Tripura, arms looted (Go
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Agartala:
As many as 14 personnel of the Territorial Army (TA)
and two drivers were killed in Tripura this morning when
guerrillas ambushed the vehicles in which they were travelling.
The National Liberation Front of Twipra (NLFT)'s Biswamohan
faction is suspected behind the incident. One militant was
also killed in the subsequent firefight that took place
at deep interior of Dangabari under Birganj police station
of South Tripura. The guerrillas also looted 13 AK-47, one
LMG and two wireless sets from the slain jawans. The 119
Battalion of the TA, Assam regiment, which provides security
to the General Reserve Engineering Force (GREF) engaged
in constructing of an alternative National highway in the
state was ambushed today around 7:40 AM. DG Tripura Police
G M Srivastava told ANI that a contingent of 16 TA personnel
set off for Dangabari in two vehicles. When the vehicles
crossed Gotirampara, the guerrillas perched on roadside
hilltop opened heavy automatic gunfire and lobbed grenades.
Though
the jawans initially returned fire and shot down one guerrilla,
ultimately they were outnumbered and shot dead. As the army
guns fell silent the rebels came down from their ambush
point and decamped with 14 sophisticated weapons. Anil Kumar,
a GREF personnel, said that a heavily armed group of about
100 militants first lobbed grenades and then indiscriminately
fired upon the vehicle. Of late, sources said, both the
All Tripura Tiger Force (ATTF) and NLFT (Biswamohan) faction
were active in Dhalai and South Tripura district. Last year
on October 9, in a similar militant attack on the TA nine
personnel were killed at SK Para village in the same district.
Senior police officials including ADG Pranay Sahay and IG
law and order AK Shukla rushed to the spot with additional
and a joint combing operation is going on to hunt down the
guerrillas.
