Reminiscences of the tsunami

Particles of huts and trawlers are strewn round Cuddalore seashore on December 31, 2004, 5 days after it was struck by killer tsunami waves.
| Picture Credit score: PTI

It was an in depth shave with dying for Gagandeep Singh Bedi on December 26, 2004, when the Indian Ocean tsunami struck Tamil Nadu. The Cuddalore District Collector was at Lodge Tamil Nadu on the ocean entrance of Mamallapuram to attend an AIDS workshop when he bought a name at round 9 a.m. A fisherman at Cuddalore informed him that the ocean had “flooded” and destroyed his village. When Mr. Bedi was about to finish the decision, he noticed an enormous wave in entrance of his lodge and ran out of the room. It was solely then that he realised the magnitude of the catastrophe.

Mr. Bedi rushed to Cuddalore. He travelled by Tindivanam, because it was not protected to journey on Chennai’s East Coast Highway. “I first visited the federal government hospital, the place I noticed a lot of our bodies,” recollects Mr. Bedi, who’s now Further Chief Secretary, Rural Improvement and Panchayat Raj. Because of his crew of officers within the district which included Rajendra Ratnoo, who’s now Government Director of the Nationwide Institute of Catastrophe Administration, D. Jagannathan, who’s Commissioner of Business Taxes within the Tamil Nadu authorities, and Anu George, who is without doubt one of the Secretaries to Tamil Nadu Chief Minister M.Ok. Stalin, he initiated the method of emergency reduction. “Inside [a] few hours after the tsunami, the district administration had swung into motion to rescue the affected folks and brought up rehabilitation measures to convey [back] the normalcy of life,” states the Cuddalore District Catastrophe Administration Plan, 2024.

One of many key choices Mr. Bedi needed to take pertained to the disposal of our bodies. Contemplating the gravity of the scenario, the State authorities acceded to the proposal of the Cuddalore administration for enjoyable the stipulation of submit mortem earlier than disposing the our bodies. “The then Commissioner of Income Administration and State Aid Commissioner, R. Santhanam, bought the clearance for my request very quickly,” recollects Mr. Bedi. After discussions with senior members of the fishing neighborhood, mass burials had been organized on the night of December 26.

The dimensions of destruction was unprecedented. Mr. Bedi says the lack of lives and cattle was “fairly important”: 610 folks died in Cuddalore and 38 folks went lacking. Public infrastructure was affected. Thirty-one coastal villages had been affected and a few 5,000 fishing vessels had been broken.

Cuddalore bought numerous consideration nationally and internationally. Movie actors similar to Vivek Oberoi, Smriti Irani, and Poonam Dhillon, Swiss tennis participant Roger Federer, and former U.S. President Invoice Clinton both got here right down to Tamil Nadu or had been concerned in reduction work. Mr. Oberoi was criticised although — the then Chief Minister, Jayalalithaa, later blamed him for doing nothing and making an attempt to get publicity. “However celebrities have the potential of producing goodwill. We, the authorities, sought to faucet that and succeeded to a big extent. On the identical time, we maintained a good distance from them,” Mr. Bedi says.

The southernmost district of Kanniyakumari suffered the biggest dying toll (799) after Nagapattinam (6,065). “There have been 72 individuals who may by no means be traced. As many as 44,000 households in 33 coastal villages had been affected,” says Sunil Paliwal, who’s Chairman of the Chennai Port Belief. He was transferred from Theni to Kanniyakumari as Collector almost two weeks after the tsunami.

Given its location, the district was not within the limelight the best way Nagapattinam and Cuddalore had been. Nevertheless, that was not an issue for Mr. Paliwal and his crew. “The district administration took up a number of measures by itself. Mr. Santhanam was extraordinarily responsive and supported us.”

What he remembers probably the most is that the delicately balanced non secular combine of individuals within the district (Hindus represent round 48%, Christians 46% and Muslims 4%, as per the 2011 Census) was no barrier to the district administration for endeavor reduction and rehabilitation measures. “I’d name Kanniyakumari a spot of good communal concord,” Mr. Paliwal says, including that he may see a way of unity among the many folks in instances of adversity.

Each Mr. Bedi and Mr. Paliwal proceed to be in contact with the folks of the 2 districts. Of their evaluation, the folks have left behind the trauma of the tsunami.