India. Tragedy in Tamil Nadu: A Fishing Village after the 2004 Tsunami
On December 26, 2004, a massive tsunami (tidal wave) struck coastal areas surrounding the Indian Ocean. With an intensity exceeding 23,000 atomic bombs of the type dropped on Hiroshima during WWII, a magnitude 9.2 earthquake caused an abrupt rise in the seafloor, displacing millions of square meters of water. Harmless and barely noticeable in deeper water, the tsunami wave became backed up when it reached shallow coastal areas, forming a wall of water three to five meters high that obliterated nearly everything in its path. It is estimated that more than 228,000 people lost their lives in India, Thailand, Indonesia, Malaysia, Sri Lanka, and other countries bordering the Indian Ocean. Without an early warning system, most victims were taken by surprise.
In 2005, I participated in research to evaluate local relief and recovery efforts in the hours and days following the tsunami. Our project focused on a quiet fishing town in eastern India called Nagapattinam. Located 250 kilometers south of Chennai in the state of Tamil Nadu, the port town sustained more than 6,000 deaths (76% of all tsunami deaths in Tamil Nadu). Prior to the tsunami, Nagapattinam had a dozen fishing colonies, many operating from its small harbor.
The first massive wave arrived at 9:05am. Catholic Mass had just ended at Velankanni Basilica, and parishioners were taking morning strolls on the beach. Without warning, a 4.5-meter-tall wave swept people off their feet. Some were able to outrun the wave, but many others were caught in the torrent including children ripped from their parent’s arms. Successive waves uprooted trees, smashed buildings, and carried fishing boats and debris inland. Overwhelmed by the carnage, rescue crews and other volunteers took the injured and dead to the city’s hospital or other buildings that had escaped destruction such as the basilica. Concerned about the transmission of disease, hospital workers and volunteers were forced to move quickly. Bodies that could be identified were released to family members, but hundreds of others were buried in mass graves.
My research assistant and I arrived in eastern India in June 2005. Our task was to meet with officials and local residents who would help in documenting mass grave locations in and around Nagapattinam. The work was emotionally exhausting, especially for my research assistant who was a native of Chennai. Our fieldwork involved capturing Global Positioning System (GPS) coordinates of gravesites, including their physical dimensions.
We relied on help from witnesses or local officials in piecing together information about the number and religious affiliation (whether Muslim, Christian, or Hindu) of the dead. In some places, plastic pipes installed to vent gases helped in locating larger mass graves. We also recorded locations of individual graves, some marked by wooden stakes or small palm trees.
One positive experience was meeting “Savior,” a local man who made repeated trips into the turbulent water to save people. Almost six months after the disaster we could still see evidence of the tsunami’s catastrophic damage in the form of dilapidated buildings and smashed fishing boats. Along the beach were subtle clues such as fragments of clothing.
If you are interested in learning more about the 2004 Indian Ocean Tsunami in India, please see my co-authored article: Mass Fatality Management After the Indian Ocean Tsunami (© 2008 Emerald Group Publishing Limited).