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When tragedy struck Vadakku Vanjore

By Rajesh Nair

KARAIKAL, JAN. 5. Vadakku Vanjore is a small fishing hamlet some 10 km from Karaikal. The village is on an elevated landmass, around 200 meters away from the shoreline. On the fateful Sunday morning, the villagers saw the `killer' waves approaching their hamlet. Only a few of those who saw the wall of water are alive today, but not because the waves reached their village. Theirs is a tragedy of different sort.

When the waves came rushing in, those who saw it raised an alarm. Many ran from the hilly area to the paddy fields, not knowing that water had engulfed the fields. Mostly children and women who rushed to the field got washed away.

Fishermen like Pakkersamy, even though entangled in the waves, swam to safety. He said, "Those who ran to the field were killed in the waves. The water did not enter the village. Only the surrounding areas beneath their village got inundated".

Even the houses that were damaged were the ones that situated on the fringes.

Out of the 21 people killed, 17 were children, including a 20-day-old baby, he said.

Pakkersamy says, "This is a safe place and close to the sea. But we are also worried over the fact that the sea has encroached at least 20 meters into the land after the tsunami".

But he feels that the deaths could have been avoided had the wall constructed along the 20 km coastline in Karaikal been stronger. The wall was completely demolished.

Ten days after the disaster struck, the villagers are yet to overcome the grief.

The eerie silence in the village is interrupted only by the shrill cry of Valli, who lost her children, and others.

A major problem that confronts them now is whether to move out of the present place to a fishermen colony that the government proposes to build for relocating those affected in the tsunami.

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