The Hindu : Tamil Nadu News : The sea was too harsh on fishermen

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

Tamil Nadu

Tamil Nadu

The sea was too harsh on fishermen

By R.K. Radhakrishnan

CHENNAI, DEC. 27. Kalyani, a fisherwoman at Nochikuppam here, is the lone survivor in a family of four.

Her sons had gone out fishing and her daughter was near the beach when the tsunami struck the Chennai coast yesterday. Her hut was flooded and the receding waters took away most of her belongings; the concrete floor sinks as one walks on it. "Why has the sea left me alone? Why did it not take me also," she asked the former Deputy Prime Minister and Bharatiya Janata Party leader, Lal Kishen Advani, who came today to offer his support and relief.

Mr. Advani had no answers. He patiently listened to each of the affected and promised them that relief would reach them quickly. He would impress upon the Union Government the need for providing quick relief.

"A team from the Gujarat Government is coming," said the BJP national secretary, L. Ganesan. It will assess the situation and decide how best it could help.

With the catamarans gone, the only means of fishermen making a living has been wiped out. Everyone is scared. "The people who talk to you are those who have got over the initial shock. There are many who refuse to talk about their trauma," says Gopalan, a fisherman at Nochikuppam.

He says each family there has a similar story to narrate. His relatives at Royapuram and Kasimedu say not a single fishermen family has been left unaffected.

None of the old-timers could recall an incident in which the sea "attacked land" and took away people's belongings.

"There is a fear that rehabilitation of the fishermen will be a great challenge," says an activist of a non-governmental organisation, who talked to fishermen on the outskirts of the city along East Coast Road.

But first an unofficial census has to be taken to find out how many are missing and from where. Anganwadi workers have been pressed into work to enumerate the fishermen communities and the others affected along the coast. While the local bodies have been providing relief and temporary shelters in schools, revenue officials are working round the clock, assessing damage.

Food aplenty

Fishermen along the Chennai coast and elsewhere say food is available in abundance. The local body is providing food, so are political parties and NGOs. At Neelankarai, both the Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam and the All-India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam have opened `food centres'.

Party flags fluttering atop the makeshift shelters, where food is provided to the needy.

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