The Hindu : Tamil Nadu News : A year marked by nature's fury

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Tuesday, Dec 28, 2004

Tamil Nadu

Tamil Nadu

A year marked by nature's fury

By Our Staff Reporter

NAGAPATTINAM, DEC. 27. It has truly been a year of the elements. Successive calamities inflicted by nature have pummelled the people of the delta.

The year started with the marriage hall fire tragedy at Srirangam, followed by the scourge of the Kumbakonam school fire mishap.

The four-year drought ended this season, but only to ravage the area in the form of floods. But this was the worst tragedy of all, as the earth joined forces with the sea to wreak havoc. Hundreds of families have been hit hard by the successive play of the elements.

`Too harsh'

"Nature has been too harsh on us this year. We have been struggling to make ends meet as drought and the floods have hit us below the belt. Even as the memories of the gory Kumbakonam mishap could fade, we are reeling under another onslaught," says a native farmer.

The devastation of Sunday's tsunami may not have been fully estimated as yet. Indications are that Nagapattinam could be in for another disaster — on the health front this time.

With bodies lying buried under shallow ground and debris, many of them starting to decompose, the threat of a major epidemic looms large, unless the Government machinery steps in quickly and manages to launch a large-scale inoculation drive.

Villagers point out that carrion-eaters would soon pick on the human flesh and scatter it around. Even the unlettered survivor seems to be aware of the danger. Already an overpowering stench of death pervades Nagapattinam and the coastal villages. "We urgently need to get some shots of immunisation to prevent another tragedy in the making," says a fisherman.

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