Navaz in Kari Kattu Kuppam [K K Kuppam] saw it as it happened. As he puts it: "I heard what I thought was a tipper truck unloading rocks on the sea shore and ran to see where the truck might have come from". It was the tsunami visiting India for the first time in living memory.

Navaz ran down to the shallow part of K K Kuppam where a hut floated off like a boat and smashed against a wall a neighbour had built. In it was an old man and his four grandchildren, soon to be discovered dead. Nearby, the grandmother lay pinned down by a power post. Luckily the power lines had snapped. Navaz and a few fishermen rescued her. She was Rajathi Ammal, a champion of community rights and a foot soldier in ECCO's battles. She survives. No more people than these five died. That's the human score. Soon to die was the fishermen's natural confidence about the sea.

Navaz and Juno, his neighbour, did some rescuing, and ferrying the injured to the hospital. They had no clue that they were but pieces in a stern God's large, cold plan. DV, in the city had no idea either, that the flea-bite of a tremor he felt in his bed, was part of the same plan. By 9am he began getting calls from the village and he raced around to shops buying all the bread, biscuits and bananas he could manage. Loading the car full, he headed for Muttukkadu, even as people were fleeing it in fear. The usual 40 minutes drive took two hours because of the detours and the crowds on the streets. But despite all panic, there was order, dignity and acceptance.

People of K K Kuppam had run out in waves as water swirled into their hamlet. They broke up and scattered; they scrambled on to every vehicle they found, wherever it was headed. The rest of the day was spent in dashing everywhere to reunite families. The proud fisherfolk were huddled in a panchayat school grounds in Egattur about 5 km inland. Never before in their history had this happened. As dusk fell, the disorientation was not yet fully defined. They were delighted because families were together again. They mentioned it a few times, but it will be days before they realise they have suffered a separation from their habitat of 200 years.

'Tsunami' is a word we learnt later that day from the TV. The following extracts from two mails sent to friends reflects our narrow view with much innocence:


from dv:
hello friends...
this is my one-for-all mail for friends who have been calling in and enquiring about how the tidal wave impacted me.
so directly to the main question: i am well. i was in the city and felt a tremor that was so quick that i thought i had imagined it. but by 9am i began getting calls from my village about the tidal waves. in fact no one had known a tidal wave. storms and cyclones, yes. but not one that was a 10 foot high water wall that was approaching you as you looked up from net-mending or a hand of rummy on the beach.
it was not one wave, but kept coming back with no predictable interval. i swooped on shops, loaded my car with relief food and drove to my village, even as there was an exodus in the opposite direction. and when i was there, i saw another wave advance. it was quite a daunting experience, i will not forget in a hurry.
for those of you who know my farm, the news is, it is untouched. the water came in about 300 metres and house is 600 m away. but what happened to the fishing village is another story. 4 children and an old man were drowned. by 2pm we managed to gather most of them in a school about 5 km inland. pity was, earlier people had boarded any vehicle leaving the village and in the process many families got split. mothers whose children went missing, were understandably inconsolable.
people wheeled around --among them me-- to reunite families. we went to villages all around in search. barring about 15 still untraced children, people are together now.
but i visualise what happens after 3 days when my village and others fall off the front pages. every fishing boat has been lost, every net and every outboard engine. and the incident has left the fear of the new demon that comes without a hint. when the fisherfolk return to the village, they will never be same. they don't feel safe in their village. their means of livelihood is gone. they would have lost the world's mind share.
the loss has not been just in lives or property. it is the loss of confidence that we may not regain for decades.
that's the day for you from near chennai..
thanks for the calls.
dv
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from navaz to friends
It was a day with blue sky, beautiful looking ocean and then suddenly and without any warning at 9:05 am., I heard what sounded like a tipper truck unloading rocks. I went to see what was happening (since I knew it was from a side where no road existed) and saw this mass of blue water gushing into the land.
The first wave caught everyone unawares and swept many elderly people. One hut that the wave carried and crashed on my neighbor's compound wall had 3 children and their grand father trapped inside it. One girl survived.
Since yesterday I have received several phone calls from friends and well wishes like you asking if my family and I were okay and if you could help.I confirm that my family and I after realizing that it was not a freak phenomenon and that it was coming in cycles we evacuated at about 11:30 or so.
The village and the villagers are devastated and the lucky ones have what's left of their boats and homes. The unlucky ones had their boats washed away and ALL of them have lost their nets and engines. All the villagers have moved to a camp about 3 km. inland and are scared to go back as of now.
______
Day2 for Muttukkadu refugees: