Kalpakkam still in shock and awe
Tuesday December 28 2004 00:00 IST from Newindpress
KANCHEEPURAM: Nisha and Parveen - both aged about 10 - were being carried away by the huge tidal wave and as they were being swept past him, Sumesh Kumar, all of 14, swam along the tide and managed to take them to safety.
But while rescuing them, he saw his neighbours Sakunthala, 45 and Sharmila Banu, 8, being thrown to death by the killer wave, Kumar of Sadras Kuppam narrated the tragedy with fear.
After those few minutes of tryst with the monstrous waves, he searched for his mother Lalitha Surendran and ran without turning back to the Atomic Energy quarters in Sadras for safety.
After spending a sleepless, hungry night at a friend’s house, he had returned to his house. Mercifully his mother was alive but their life was in ruins. All that he could find was a three-foot-tall wall, clothes scattered all over and soaked text books.
Their neighbour, Noor Mohammed, Department of Atomic Energy (DAE) former engineer, recalled that he heard his neighbours shouting water, water and before he could venture out of the house to see what was happening, he saw water gushing to his house. And he ran for his life.
After watching the waters recede with fear, he went down to find his pucca concrete house brought down, as if with a bulldozer - the balcony, a concrete pillar and a portion of a wall, all thrown 75 meters away from his house.
Even inside the Department of Atomic Energy quarters too the situation is no different. S Selvamathimarapandian, scientific officer with DAE, said all that he could pick from his house was slush, more slush, mud and nothing else. Other household articles, untensils had been damaged beyond repair and reuse, he lamented. The floor of his house has been carpeted with slush and wet mud.
The scientific officer ran for safety to his friend’s house on the second floor of Central Avenue and had been thriving there ever since. Compounding the problem was the absence of communication lines, many victims lamented.
‘‘We want to assure our relatives that we are safe,’’ an officer of IGCAR said, and added, ‘‘but we cannot. we’re completely immobilized. Our vehicles are all caught int the sea waters that had engulfed our colony...’’ Nearly 4,000 vehicles in the residential complex had been damaged, he said.
Sargunman, a survivor and an IGCAR employee said, they heard that the management was taking efforts for providing clean water and food. But we haven’t got any by afternoon, he complained.
28 Dec 2004