The Hindu : Tamil Nadu News : Where the homeless fear to return

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Friday, Jan 07, 2005

Tamil Nadu

Tamil Nadu

Where the homeless fear to return

By A.V. Ragunathan

CUDDALORE, JAN. 6. The tsunami has wiped out almost all — buildings, infrastructure and more importantly the means of livelihood for a tiny population that had been living on at least four islets off the Killai Special Panchayat in the Chidambaram block.

A chain of tiny islands such as M.G.R.Thittu, North Mudasolodai, Pillu Medu and Chinna Vaikkal, are situated two to three km off this coastal town.

The devastation has rendered over 600 families homeless, who dread the very thought of return. They seek safer places to start their lives afresh despite having lived on the islets for years.

The waves claimed 96 lives — 60 per cent of them children, besides carrying away their boats and cattle. The fear of death stalks them and thoughts of the dead are deeply etched in their minds.

Manivel (25) says it came all of a sudden. A huge wall of water descended on them taking with it the lives of the young and the old, including his parents and grandmother. The few who survived the catastrophe swam ashore only to grieve.

Officials put the toll on the islets as M.G.R.Thittu — 51 (21 children), Pillu Medu — 21 (12 children), Chinna Vaikkal — 13 (eight children) and North Mudasolodai — 11 (six children).

The tsunami has left in its wake dunes of sand and debris five to six feet high. Since people suspect that the waves could have buried scores of the kin deep in the sands, 50-odd men from the Madras Regimental Centre led by Colonel Gupte, along with the Fire Service and Rescue Personnel, are looking for the bodies beneath the debris in M.G.R.Thittu.

Col. Gupte said that none of the tenements is fit for living. There is no water supply as the pipes had been uprooted and power supply is also down.

However, no bodies have been traced so far though the Army men recovered household articles.

The Chairman of the Special Town Panchayat, Thenmozhi Kathavarayan, said these islets were no more inhabitable. Moreover, the people too were unwilling to go back and resettle.

They were apprehensive and were saying that they did not want to be victims of such natural calamities. She urged the authorities to relocate them in safer places that had easy access to the sea.

Ms. Thenmozhi said two places at Muzhukkuthurai had been identified for rehabilitating them and once that was finalised, the Government would extend assistance to them to construct houses.

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