- Title: INDIA: BODIES LINE SOUTH INDIAN BEACHES AFTER TSUNAMI
- Date: 26th December 2004
- Summary: (U4) NEW DELHI, INDIA (DECEMBER 26, 2004) (ANI) WIDE OF INDIAN PRIME MINSTER MANMOHAN SINGH ARRIVING TO GIVE A STATEMENT CLOSE OF CAMERAMAN SCU (SOUNDBITE) (English) INDIAN PRIME MINISTER MANMOHAN SINGH SAYING: "I have learnt with the deepest sorrow about the tragic loss of lives and destruction brought about by the earthquake and associate tidal waves in the Andaman Nicobar islands, in Tamil Nadu, Andhra Pradesh, Kerala, Orissa and Pondicherry. My heart goes out to the families who have lost their families. I have been in touch with the respective governments and our fullest support and cooperation is with them." (U3) MADRAS, INDIA (DECEMBER 26, 2004) (ANI) WIDE OF FLOODED AREA WITH OVERTURNED TRUCK IN THE FOREGROUND WIDE OF HARBOUR WITH BOATS AND DEBRIS ON THE SHORE (U4) NEW DELHI, INDIA (DECEMBER26, 2004) (ANI) SCU (SOUNDBITE) (English) INDIA'S HOME (INTERIOR) MINISTER SHIVRAJ PATIL SAYING: "The chief ministers of these states, I have taken steps to provide relief to the affected people. They are in process. The chief ministers have gone to the area. They are in contact with each others in the control room." WIDE OF INDIA'S HOME (INTERIOR) MINISTER SHIVRAJ PATIL TALKING TO REPORTERS
- Embargoed: 6th May 2014 10:48
- Keywords:
- Location: NELLORE,ANDHRA PRADESH; MADRAS; NEW DELHI; TRIVANDRUM, KERALA, INDIA
- Country: India
- Topics: Disasters,General
- Reuters ID: LVA6IWZS3S68M44KGC5UQSVFIGAT
- Aspect Ratio: 4:3
- Story Text: Bodies line south India beaches after killer
tsunami.
Wailing relatives gathered around dozens of bodies
on beaches in southern India on Sunday (December 26) after
a tsunami triggered by an earthquake in distant Indonesia
killed about 2,000 people.
Vast swathes of land were submerged in one of India's
worst natural disasters in living memory as heavy waves and
winds slammed Tamil Nadu and neighbouring Andhra Pradesh,
leaving thousands homeless and hundreds of fishermen
missing.
A government official said at least 1,625 people had
been killed in Tamil Nadu alone.
"After the earthquake, when we were sitting in the home
suddenly a big wave came. It was so big that people who
were near the sea had no chance of survival. It came with
great force. Many children playing at the time died. A lot
of old people have died. About 10 children who were playing
at the beach are missing", a fisherman from Elliot's Beach
in Madras said.
The tsunami that crashed into India and Sri Lanka and
swamped tourist islands in Thailand and the Maldives was
triggered by the world's fifth-largest quake in a century,
measuring 8.9 magnitude.
Shanties on the coast of Madras, where 100 died, were
submerged. Hundreds of people fled to higher ground with
pots, pans and other meagre possessions as water flooded
the huts.
Hours after the tsunami hit, bodies ringed by wailing
relatives lay on the mortuaries while beaches were
surrounded by half-submerged cars and wrecked boats.
In the ruins of a fishermen's colony once made up of
1,500 huts, household debris lay in the mud. Cooking
utensils, fishing nets, broken televisions and slippers
littered the ground.
In Andhra Pradesh, about 400 fishermen were feared
missing and 200 Hindu devotees who had gone to the beach
for a holy dip in the morning were feared dead.
Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh voiced concern at
the disaster and asked Oil Minister Mani Shankar Aiyar and
Communications Minister Dayanidhi Maran to visit affected
areas to supervise rescue and relief work, the prime
minister's spokesman said.
"My heart goes out to the families who have lost their
families. I have been in touch with the respective
governments and our fullest support and cooperation is with
them," Singh said in a televised address to the nation, in
New Delhi.
National Interior Minister Shivraj Patil told Aaj Tak
television at least 200 people had died in Andhra Pradesh.
"The chief ministers of these states, I have taken
steps to provide relief to the affected people. They are in
process. The chief ministers have gone to the area. They
are in contact with each others in the control room" added
Patil.
India's armed forces have been called in to help in
rescue operations at home and in Sri Lanka.
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