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Last updated
27/02/07

The purpose of this Interim Report is to summarise the work done by Sewa Bharati and the work presently on and also the preliminary estimate of the devastation. This is to invite the attention of the Authorities, donors and well wishers to the immediate task of providing temporary housing by way of tented accommodation if the relief and restructuring is to proceed further."... more

Tsunami Disaster &  Tamil Nadu

[see also Tsunami Disaster & Tamil Eelam ]

Tamil Nadu suffered a loss of Rs.47 billion, accounting for two thirds  of the total losses suffered in south India, followed by Kerala (Rs.13 billion), Pondicherry (Rs.5 billion) and Andhra Pradesh (Rs.3.4 billion). (Indian Govt. Release. New Delhi,7 January 2005)

"...The wave was one huge wall, strong, dark and menacing, casting its own shadows. Frothing and fuming, it was advancing towards the shore at very high speed....Chennai-based film-maker, R. V. Ramani, lived to pen the tale"

Tsunami and the Ugly Relic of the Varna System - V.B.Rawat

"...What perturbs me most is that there were allegedly 6 community kitchens opened by the Swami in this area. As usual we were being informed that it is just the fishing community who is the victim of Tsunami while it is blatant lie. When some of the fishermen saw Dalits eating in the community kitchen they became so violent that Swami has to intervene. He was forced to start a separate kitchen for Dalits. Even in such a situation, we did not have the courage to challenge the status quo. More then 52 people died in this village and yet such racism has not died from the minds of the people.... Unfortunately, this Tsunami, on whose destruction we all are crying, have not been able to demolish the most powerful and destructive system of caste in India. Perhaps, we need a stronger Tsunami to destroy the ugly relic of caste system and racial discrimination from our society. " more

"Doors are being slammed in the face of Dalit survivors here—and the Government is quietly doing some of the slamming. Yesterday, The Indian Express reported how Dalits from 63 affected villages are facing the brunt of the powerful Meenavar fishermen (a Most Backward Class): being thrown out of relief camps, pushed to the rear of food and water lines, not being allowed to take water from UNICEF facilities and in some cases not even being allowed to use the toilet. Now it’s been learnt that the Government, instead of ensuring justice, was reinforcing this divide—both caste and communal. In fact, a day after the killer waves struck and thousands began pouring into these camps, revenue officials were asked to quietly go about dividing the victims and report to their superiors. They were asked to see that the numerically powerful and politically significant Meenavars had their ‘‘exclusive’’ relief camps. The equally battered Muslims, Dalits, Nadars, Pillais, Devars and other lower castes— mostly non-fishermen— were shunted into camps of their own. This has since been accomplished in most parts of this district. When asked how the Government could endorse this discrimination, Nagapattinam Sub Collector Dr Umanath said that this was a conscious decision and a practical one. ‘‘There are the real divisions and distrust among the communities,’’ he told The Indian Express today, ‘‘a crisis like this is no time to experiment with casteist and religious amity.’’ The Government, Umanath said, just could not risk putting them up all together. When asked what the risk was, Umanath declined to comment..." more

"They are the "untouchables"; the lowest of the low in India's ancient caste system. No job is too dirty or too nasty, and they are the ones cleaning up the rotting corpses from last week's killer tsunami.The overwhelming majority of the 1,000 or so men sweating away in the tropical heat to clear the poor south Indian fishing town of Nagapattinam, which bore the brunt of the giant wave, are lower caste dalits from neighboring villages.Locals too afraid of disease and too sickened by the smell refuse to join the grim task of digging friends and neighbors out of the sand and debris. They just stand and watch the dalits work."

On Tamil Nadu's Coromandel coast, fishing has been a way of life for thousands of years. But the tsunami has caused such devastation and trauma that many fear their beloved industry will never truly recover.

"Students, lawyers, doctors, slum-dwellers, IT professionals... help is pouring in from all quarters for post-tsunami relief works.... Chennai has never seen anything quite like this before. Lawyers, doctors, IT professionals and chartered accountants are taking one and two months of leave to clamber on trucks piled high with relief material and head to remote tsunami-struck villages to help volunteers find, lift and bury rapidly decomposing bodies. Young people are packing knapsacks and hitching lifts to the coast to offer both brains and brawn in an attempt to help devastated villagers. Students from city schools and colleges are sitting up late, sifting through and meticulously cataloguing the never-ending flood of food, vessels, clothes and money, coming from all over the world, everyday. The most amazing part of the story is, perhaps, the fact that, in this current time of trouble, everybody is pitching in. "The city has risen up magnificently to face this tragedy," says one volunteer, just back from Nagapattinam. "All along the coast, in all the villages I visited, there was an overflow of aid. Stacks and stacks of clothes, more-than-enough cooked food, volunteers on call... All class, caste, religious, social and economic barriers have simply faded away as people stand shoulder to shoulder helping put villages back on their feet."

As southern India and the Andaman and Nicobar Islands struggled to recover from Sunday's tsunami strike, armed forces and civilian agencies took up massive rescue and relief operations, looking for survivors along the coastline and rushing food, clothes and medicines to the tens of thousands displaced.  The toll has gone up to 7000. Hundreds of bodies were found buried in the sand. As the seawater receded, rescue teams gained access to the badly battered areas.

"Funds for relief and rehabilitation work have started pouring in with Haryana government, some companies and industrialists contributing Rs 12.98 crore for the tsunami-affected people of Tamil Nadu, an official release said here today.The donations were given to the Chief Minister's Relief Fund and handed over personally to Chief Minister Jayalalithaa by Haryana Finance Minister Sampath Singh and other representatives of corporates.On behalf of Haryana government, Singh handed over a Rs three crore cheque.Hyundai contributed Rs two crore, Susan Energy Ltd. Rs 1.11 crore, Wheels India Rs 1.02 crore, Larsen and Toubro Rs one crore, Coca Cola India Rs 50 lakh and Tamil Nadu Milk Producers Cooperatives donated Rs 30 lakh, the release said."

"The toll in the Tsunami that struck Tamil Nadu on December 26 has been officially put at 7814, with Nagapattinam topping the list with 5,925 deaths.A total of 3,324 people were injured, according to figures provided by the official website of the disaster management and mitigation department on Monday. Nagapattinam district reported 1,922 injured, while Kanniyakumari district reported 817 deaths and 329 injured. Cuddalore district had 603 deaths and 214 injured."

"Tamil Nadu was the worst-hit state on the Indian mainland, with almost 7,000 people killed...'It is very difficult to find the words to describe the situation here. On the seashore, there are many mothers and fathers still sitting on the sand, in the only clothes they own. Some of them look kind of mentally disturbed. They are repeating over and over again the name of their lost sons and daughters. They say, "My daughter, I'm waiting for you. Come soon. Please, come soon." 'Some of them cannot cry any more. They say they have exhausted all their tears. It is a very sad experience. What can you say to console these people? There is nothing. They need aid urgently. But I know that no matter how much help they get, it will never be enough to compensate for their loss..."
 

"A week after the sea's fury brought unprecedented death and destruction along India's coastal region, the enormity of the tragedy is still unfolding.The country has already counted 8,955 dead - by official estimates - in the deadly waves that battered the Andaman and Nicobar Islands, Tamil Nadu, Pondicherry, Kerala and Andhra Pradesh and thousands are still missing, mostly in the Andaman archipelago..."

"The biggest challenge now in the tsunami-devastated areas is to provide immediate relief and rehabilitation to millions of people rendered homeless by last Sunday's tragedy."

"A total of 30,000 families and 33 out of the 44 fishermen villages in Kanyakumari district had been affected by the deadly Tsunami. Stating this, District Collector Ramesh Chand Meena told reporters in Nagercoil on Saturday that ten villages, including Colachel, Kotilpaud, Melamanakudy, Keezhamanakudy and Alikal, were the worst-hit.Putting the toll in the district at 817, Meena said 499 of the deaths had occurred in Colachel and Kotilpaud areas."

"The estimated damage incurred by the Tamil Nadu tourism department due to the tsunami was around Rs five crore... Mamallapuram and Kanyakumari were the two major tourist destinations affected by tsunami. Though there were minor damages in other tourist spots, no other major destination was affected... both in Kanyakumari and Mamallapuram the monuments were not affected, only the structures were damaged. In Kanyakumari, which reported heavy losses of life, the Vivekananda rock and the Thiruvalluvar statue were not at all affected..."

"Worst affected along the 700km coast of Tamil Nadu are 600 communities of up to 700,000 fisher folks, where over 7,000 people have been confirmed dead. Giant walls of water struck the coastline killing women and children in large numbers. Action Aid has 30 full-time staff and nearly 300 partners and volunteers working in the area providing safe drinking water and sanitation, essential medicines and food supplies to families. A mobile team of doctors is in place and ActionAid is also counselling traumatized survivors using experts from the National Institute of Mental Health and Neurological Science. ActionAid is working with local fisher folks groups and the Dalit Collective in Tamil Nadu to start the process of recovery so that they can overcome their fear of the sea and start to rebuild their lives...About 100,000 people have lost their primary source of living from fishing and selling. Survivors are so traumatised by the tsunami waves that for the first time in history local communities now have a fear of the sea. They are in a complete state of shock."

"Situation in several parts of Tamil Nadu's Tsunami-hit coastal areas is slowly limping back to normal five days after disaster struck claiming 6,238 lives in the state and the administration and the civic authorities are now busy undertaking restoration and relief works."

Rescue and Relief Operations in full swing in Tamil Nadu

After his tour of the tsunami-hit areas, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh today sanctioned Rs 250 crore to Tamil Nadu for taking up relief work.

at Chennai, Marina Beach

The devastating tidal waves that lashed several coastal districts of Tamil Nadu  (Chennai, Thiruvallur, Kancheepuram, Cuddalore, Nagapattinam, Tiruvarur, Thanjavur, Thoothukudi, Ramanathapuram, Tirunelveli and Kanniyakumari)  on Sunday  around 9.00 am have left at least 6238 dead and rendered many people homeless.

"Three days after the tsunami disaster hit coastal areas of the country, Tamil Nadu and Pondicherry are still counting their dead with the toll mounting to a staggering 7,000 today amidst stepped up efforts to prevent any break out of epidemic and speed up rehabilitation work..."
 

"Sunday's deadly tsunami waves have now claimed almost 6,500 lives on India's southeastern coast. In India, Tamil Nadu is one of the worst affected states where 3,000 people are reported dead. In Andaman & Nicobar Islands as well, 3,000 people have been killed. In Pondicherry, 337 people have died and hundreds of fishermen are still missing. 97 casualties have been reported from Andhra Pradesh, while the toll in Kerala has touched 150... More than 300 people have died in Cuddalore too while the death toll in the state capital Chennai is 200...."