Ten days after the unfortunate and sad occurance which took so many lives in SE Asia, the accounts of the imaginary Tsunami which hit Goa on 26th December are getting more and more vivid in the minds of people with fertile imaginations. So much so, that the Navhind Times on 06 jan thought it fit to print a front page article about thunderous giant waves hitting Siridao at 2.30 PM on 26th December. The accompanying picture in the article shows all the plants on the beach in perfect condition and not a stone unturned. I was just wondering how such an unlikely event could take place when the sea was absolutely calm at Colva and Benaulim, just a few kilometers south, at the same time. In another article today 07 jan, the NT says that the tsunami hit Betul at 1245 hrs on 26th dec. Perhaps the last paragraph of the article is the giveaway, where the fisherman says that he suffered a Rs. 4000 loss to his nets. Is a claim on the Government the next step for him and the other poor folks who lost property to the so called giant waves? Or maybe the NT is running out of news.
regards, Gilbert Menezes.
Message: 20 From: "Cip Fernandes" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> To: "Goanet" <goanet@goanet.org> Cc: "Fausta Noronha" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>, "Shulin Vaigonkar" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Date: Thu, 6 Jan 2005 09:00:39 -0000 Subject: [Goanet]Goa: Untold story of TSUNAMI impact on Siridao Reply-To: goanet@goanet.org
Untold story of tsunami impact on Siridao NT Staff Reporter
Panaji Jan 5: While the rest of Goa enjoyed its first post-Christmas siesta, the seawater crept menacingly into the beach shacks of Arambol, Morjim and Palolem, but it was a small community that watched in fear and awe, the majesty and might of the dying breaths of the tsunami in Siridao.
“We could see far in the sea the tall waves building up and moving towards us with an eerie howling sound. They crashed on the shore with the fury and din we have never seen before in our lives,” says Ms Domiana Marques of the Sea Shell Fast Food restaurant located right on the water’s edge. On the afternoon of December 26, residents and tourists at Siridao watched the unfolding spectacle of a sea in high turmoil.
Even around 2.30 p.m., people and children were playing on the beach just below the Sea Shell. That’s when people noticed the sea becoming noisy and violent. Somebody called for the people to bring up the children. Then the people also moved up. Around 5.30 p.m. the first of the big waves hit the beach like a thunder sending people scurrying further up. Ms Domiana Marques has lived all of her 56 years in Siridao, but neither she nor the village elders have seen anything like what they witnessed here that afternoon.
At the end of the built-up beach embankment below the restaurant, the first of the fishermen’s boats are tied. “The nearest dinghy was in danger of being washed away. Some of the villagers braved the turmoil to tie the dinghy to the tree on the shore,” Ms Domiana Marques said. Luckily, none of the boats were damaged. All the villagers rushed to the coast stretching from Siridao to Jezu Nazareth to behold the boiling sea burst onto the shore.
“Even in the deep sea, the waves were as tall as the coconut tree,” says 68-year-old Mr Salvador Marques of Modlovaddo, Siridao. He has fished here all his life and with the other fishermen from his community was tending to his nets at the beach today. After the first wave hit, in his own words, “doria sukhon poddlo.” The water receded so far from the shore and so fast, plenty of fish was left fluttering on the empty seabed. “People collected with their own hands, fish like tamoshi, muddoxeo, pallu and akritam. I have felt the earth shake before, but never seen the sea so violent like this,” says Mr Salvador Marques. His young companion, Mr Steven Marques said the waves appeared to move in the southerly direction but even the shallow waters had a lot of strong pull that day.
Also tending to their nets on the beach just below the chapel of Jezu Nazareth today evening was Mr Joaquim and Ms Marie Marques. Alarmed by the fury and noise of the lashing waves, the couple and other fishermen here moved their boats higher up on the beach. “As usual, we had cast our maag (nets) into the sea early in the morning. When the storm came, we did not dare venture into the sea. When we finally recovered our nets the next day, they were torn to ribbons and were full of dirt,” said Ms Marie Marques. But Mr Joaquim Marques said the police had come to warn them not to go into the sea.
“We would not have gone anyway. One cannot play with the sea,” he says. While Mr Joaquim Marques and Ms Marie Marques recovered their shredded nets, other fishermen lost them altogether. That is no consolation to the couple. Their nets are beyond mending and the loss is around Rs 4000.
And back at the Sea Shell in Siridao, residents and spectators watched the sea till well past midnight, says Ms Domiana Marques. Their gaze was held riveted to a rare sight, a more furious version of which, they never hope to see again.
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