The Hindu : Tamil Nadu News : The waves are gone, but their woes have begun

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Sunday, Jan 02, 2005

Tamil Nadu

Tamil Nadu

The waves are gone, but their woes have begun

By Saptarshi Bhattacharya

CHENNAI, JAN. 1. Sitting in his boat, Kumar gazed at the blue horizon, occasionally shaking his head as he recalled the fateful Sunday. "There were no signs, no warnings. It was all over before we could make out what was going on," he said.

Kumar from Nochikuppam here, along with other fishermen, was returning with a fish catch, after a hard night's work. Around 9 a.m., he steered his boat towards the shore and saw the beach just ahead.

As he and the others were preparing to tug the boat into the sands, Kumar felt that the sea was swelling. "Surprisingly, the boat did not touch the beach where it usually does. The waves did not break on the beach but kept advancing into the sands, taking my boat along — right to the place where our shacks stood," he said. "I jumped into the water as my boat kept ramming other boats. As we swam, we saw the waves sweeping our boats up to the road."

Huts swept

The seawater swept through their huts into the Slum Clearance Board tenements behind, depositing several boats on the road between the beach and the colony. While the shacks stood, their belongings inside were damaged. The fishing nets were torn.

About an hour later, another big wave hit the coast, causing further panic, sending the residents scampering to the main road. A third big wave, smaller than the earlier ones, hit around noon. According to Kumar, only one person from his colony died.

Sathyaseelan, another fisherman, joined in: "The boats cost us between Rs. 60,000 and Rs. 1 lakh. They are made of fibre. We are very careful and would not even let even a stone hit our boats."

The waves came and went, but Kumar's worries have only begun.

"The waves crashed my boat on the road. Before I take to the sea again, I need to get it repaired. The engine is sand-logged. Repairing it would cost me at least Rs. 15,000. Where do I raise that money? The government relief for the repairs will take a long while. Till then, how do I survive?"

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