Tsunami disaster – countries in crisis

Real lives

Two fishing villages in India tell their stories

Fishing villages along India’s southern coast bore the brunt of Sunday’s tsunami. Entire villages in the southern states of Kerala, Tamil Nadu and Pondicherry were wiped out by the surging waves. More than 400,000 survivors are now in relief camps.

By Jeemon Jacob

© UNICEF India/2004

Many fishing communities are affected by the disaster

AZHEECKAL VILLAGE, India, 28 December 2004 - Azheeckal, a fishing village in the southwestern state of Kerala, looks like a haunted place. Fallen trees, broken houses, and barren landscape all tell the story of the devastation that has recently visited this peaceful village. Silent men are fearful that another deadly wave will come and kill more people. Weeping women are overwhelmed with unbearable grief.

“I saw the mounting waves coming, tossing trees, houses and everything. I just clinched my son. Thank God we are alive,” says 42-year old Chandrika Nandagopan, who was rescued by a relief operation team. Chandrika was greatly worried, as her husband Nandagopan had gone to the sea before the tidal wave wreaked havoc in her village.

Nandagopan confirmed that there were no early signs of trouble. “The sea was calm. I had gone to the sea in the morning. My friends called me on mobile when the killer wave hit our village, and told to me to return home urgently. I rushed back home,” says the 50-year old fisherman.

Satyapalan, 62, sits in front of the Karunagapally Government hospital mortuary. His eyes are as cold as death. He has lost his wife Vanajakshi in the disaster, and has been waiting to recover her body. “We have lost everything. The only thing I can do now is to bury her. But I don’t have land to bury her.” Satyapalan was living with his wife on a small piece of land along the coastal belt of Azheeckal. Their burial ground has been washed away by the killer tsunami waves. He is not alone. Another 65 local families also have to find new burial grounds.

“To hell with tidal waves. I lost my friend Ramu. I believed in Kadalamma (Mother Sea), and thought she would bring only luck to me. Look at these dead bodies! What have they done to meet this end?” asks 40-year old fisherman Babu.

 

© UNICEF India/2004

Four-year-old Subin Sureshkumar was injured by the tidal wave and lying in the bed at Kayamkulam Government Hospital in Alappuzha district of Kerala. His mother Meera and brother Sudhi were also injured and hospitalized.

SAMANDAPETTU VILLAGE, India, 30 December 2004 – Death came to the small fishing village of Samandapettu in the southeastern state of Tamil Nadu last Sunday when tidal waves surged into the village.

Suresh Kumar, 12, and his older brother Jayakumar, 14, managed to survive, though they have painful telltale signs of the tsunami: bruises and gashes that go several inches below the surface. The gash on Suresh’s left thigh is already festering, in spite of first aid.

“We were lucky but the sea took away my little brother, Nausausa, age nine, who was playing besides us while we were fishing to supplement the family income,” says Jayakumar.

“Will I find my Nausausa Madam?” asks their grief-stricken mother, Vaduwave. “Why don’t you answer?” she pleads. “Is it that you don’t understand my grief?”

All along the 703 kilometers of India’s eastern coastline right down to India's southernmost tip, entire fishing communities have been wiped out. What were once villages are now just piles of rubble with only lone mattresses or household goods floating in the water to suggest that once there were people here.

The headquarters of Nagapattinam district has turned itself into a relief camp to accommodate the rising numbers of homeless and displaced. Over 1,000 homeless people are seeking shelter inside the three-story building. Food, clothing and shelter have been provided for.

The fishermen and their families will eventually leave the shelters and return home, hoping that the sea will not be so cruel again.

 

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