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People in coastal areas in a state of shock
December 26, 2004 19:14 IST
People in Ayodhyakuppam on Marina Beach, Srinivasapuram and Ennore areas in Chennai, most affected by the tidal waves and incursion of sea water on Sunday morning, are in a state of shock.
In a spate of few seconds, their huts were swept away by the waves and several families lost their loved ones. The entire coastal belt wore a chaotic look. People were seen sitting on the roadside, with a dazed look.
In many of these areas, fishing boats were swept away. Some of them were found on roads, several metres away from the sea.
Three government hospitals, where the bodies of the victims were brought, witnessed heart-rending scenes with the relatives of the victims thronging the mortuaries to identify their loved ones.
Police and fire service personnel brought 57 bodies to Royapettah government hospital, 31 to the government general hospital and 16 to Stanley Hospital up to 1530 IST, hospital sources said.
The waves rose up to six metres and had hit even the second floor of the tenements built by the slum clearance board in Foreshore Estate, which bore the brunt of the waves.
Ganesan, a resident whose wife and child are missing, said several women and children were killed in their sleep.
Gogula, grandmother of Deepak, who was practising a martial art on Marina Beach, was inconsolable on hearing that he had been washed away along with three others. She identified the body of her grandson at the Royapettah government hospital.
The tidal waves, which went up to 10 metres in the morning, uprooted several bus shelters and lamp posts along Marina Beach. Guhan, an old fisherman, said he had not seen waves rising to this level during his 40 years of fishing.
Despite police warning the public not to venture into the sea, people were seen walking on Marina Beach, which is reportedly the second biggest in the world.
Ennore coast, once vulnerable to sea erosion, escaped the wrath of the waves this time due to construction of 'anti-erosion walls'.
For members of the fishermen's community, the day turned out to be a Black Sunday. Fisherwomen, who sell a lot of fish on Sundays, had gathered in good numbers at the Marina Beach in the early hours, only to be swept away by the waves.
Voluntary bodies rose to the occasion by organising shelters for those rendered homeless in marriage halls and provided food.
Many ships in Chennai harbour were tossed about in the rough seas as the anchor ropes got cut.