Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Monday, Dec 10, 2007
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Online edition of India's National Newspaper Monday, Dec 10, 2007 ePaper |
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Tamil Nadu
“We have arranged for a grand Christmas celebration this year to divert their attention” 
Coming to terms: Tsunami-affected children preparing for Christmas celebrations in Madurai. MADURAI: It was one of the deadliest natural calamities in recent years. It separated children from their parents, brothers from sisters and wives from husbands. Three years later, the tsunami that struck the coastal areas on December 26, 2004 still haunts those who survived the macabre catastrophe. “My younger brother Ajith (8) was playing cricket when the giant waves washed him away. I and my mother rushed to save him, but the water snatched away my other brother Satish (2) from my mother’s lap,” recollected M. Anushaya (11) of Nalliyanthottam in Nagapattinam district with tears rolling down her eyes. Choked with funereal emotions, she said: “I was saved by a girl in our neighbourhood and my mother too escaped but Ajith died on the spot. Satish was gasping for breath as he had drunk a lot of sea water. Immediately, on the advice of local doctors, we rushed to a hospital in Thanjavur where he passed away at 1.30 a.m. I can never forget that Sunday night.” The experience of M. Chandralekha (14), daughter of a fisherman at Akkarapettai, was no different. She, along with her sisters M. Deepa (12) and M. Revathi (10), got stuck in the tidal waves. Luckily, a few volunteers rescued all of them. But by then, their house and all other belongings were washed away as their parents stood helpless. Now, these three sisters stay along with 20 others at a Samuel’s Special Home for Tsunami Affected Children at Tirunagar near here. Dudley M. Thangiah, administrator of the home, said that it was founded by Ashok Samuel, a non-resident Indian. “We have admitted all these children in a nearby matriculation school and provide them with food, clothes and shelter. Utmost care is taken to ensure that they overcome the trauma. We have arranged for a grand Christmas celebration this year to divert their attention from the 2004 Christmas season,” he added.
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