Tsunami & After

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Only memories left for this grieving father

     Seruthur (Tamil Nadu): R Kolandavelu can't get the picture out of his mind - three of his five children playing outside their beachfront hut in southern India moments before they were washed away by the Indian Ocean tsunami. His wife, Lakshmi, tried to flee with their youngest, two-year- old Subhash, but the killer wave tore him from her. More than three weeks later, she still does not believe he is dead. She refuses to believe her husband, a fisherman, as he tries to convince her that all four children are buried in a mass grave, like thousands of others killed by the December 26 tsunami that hit India's southeast coast. Only 10-year-old Saranya survives, who was dragged to safety at the last minute by her aunt. "When the waves hit us, our kids were playing and suddenly the water came and we all ran. In that hurry, we could get only one kid with us. We were thrown out to the road," Says the 38-year- old fisherman who has shaved his head, a custom followed by some Indians after a death in the family.

     Hardly a fishing family on this stretch of coast, the worst hit part of India, was untouched by the tsunami that killed more than 168,000 people from Asia to Africa -- 16,000 in India. Kolandavelu lost his home -- barely 50 metres from the water -- and all his possessions. Today, there isn't even a hint that a house once stood here, home to a family of seven. A few piles of sticks, some damaged boats and garbage are littered near swaying coconut palms. Crows scavenge on the beach. Without even a single photo of any of his dead children left, Kolandavelu has enclosed the spot where they last played with dry palms on three sides and placed a small white stone slab inside as a memorial. Most of the victims on the Indian mainland were fishing families like Kolandavelu's. For many, their memories are horrific, their future uncertain. "The tsunami memories still haunt us and we are very scared of that Sunday. I don't think in the near future we would be able to go back to work because the fear is still there. But we are too poor," he said. Kolandavelu, Lakshmi and Saranya now live in one of countless tiny identical cubicles, made with cardboard walls and tin sheet roofs, provided by authorities as temporary shelters for survivors. One corner of their dingy home is filled with utensils, a sack of rice, a stove, provisions and straw mats. New clothes hang on a line strung across the cubicle.

      Although the local government is promising 4,000 rupees to each survivor and another 100,000 rupees for each death, Kolandavelu says he has yet to receive anything. The amount is huge for a fisherman earning barely 3,000 rupees a month. But Kolandavelu doesn't care about the money. And he doesn't know how to start again.
- Jan 19, 2005

Tea break saved railway workers from tsunami (Go To Top)

     Nagore (Tamil Nadu): About a score of railway workers in southern India had a providential escape from the December 26 tsunami when they took a tea break. The workers, many of whom lost their houses in the huge tidal waves, at the non-descript Nagore railway station in Tamil Nadu, took a tea break after the late arrival of a train. The Kamban Express arrived at the station at 5.30 am and all the passengers left the station and only railway staff were there. Around 9.05 a.m (local time) the fateful Sunday, V.Ponnan and his other staff decided to have a cup of tea before they were to shunt the train to the yard. When the tsunami waves struck, panic-stricken railway staff ran up the stairs leading to the building terrace. They witnessed nature's fury as they saw with their own eyes boats and catamarans being carried by them getting slammed against the rakes of the Kamban Express. Only a little water entered the station as the coaches, parked on the sea front, acted as a barrier preventing the boats and catamarans from hitting the station building. "We thought of shunting the train which arrived at the station at 5.30 a.m. But we decided to do that after having a cup of tea. Meanwhile, huge waves came and water gushed into the railway station. The train was covered with water but we did not run away from the station," Ponnan said. To most of the people passing by Nagore railway station, the rake consisting of 12 coaches, now lying stationary on the tracks, may just be another train. But for the railway staff here, it is the life saviour when the tsunami wrecked the Nagapattinam coast on December 26. Except Ponnan and another station worker, all other staff of the Nagore station have taken long leave and left for their home towns.
- Jan 17, 2005

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