Another disaster; many more to follow. regards, Samir ----------------------------------------------------------------------
Tsunami hits south India; over 1,000 dead December 26, 2004 15:21 IST Last Updated: December 26, 2004 15:29 IST Tidal waves killed over a thousand people in Tamil Nadu, Andhra Pradesh and the Andaman and Nicobar Islands, Home Minister Shivraj Patil said on Sunday. Tamil Nadu was the "worst affected", with possibly over 800 people killed, Patil said after a meeting of the Crisis Management Group in New Delhi. In Andhra Pradesh, over 200 people were feared killed, he said. In Andaman, as many as 14 people were killed, the minister said, adding that the damage due to the tidal wave in Car Nicobar and Greater Andamans was "higher", but details were yet to come in due to snapping of communication links. Patil said that the coastal areas of West Bengal had also suffered damage, but he had not been able to contact Chief Minister Buddhadeb Bhattacharya. He said he would visit the affected areas either in the evening or Monday morning. Patil said thousands of people were evacuated from the affected areas. He said the priority was to provide food, medicines and blankets to the victims. Authorities in Tamil Nadu and Andhra Pradesh were carrying out relief and rescue operation on a war footing, the minister said. The Centre, he said, was doing everything to mitigate the suffering of the people. The tidal waves were triggered by a massive earthquake -- 8.5 on the Richter scale -- that hit the Indonesian island of Sumatra. That was followed by at least six moderate to strong aftershocks. Flash flooding in Indonesia claimed almost 100 lives, and many more deaths were feared in Thailand after huge waves hit the tourist resort of Phuket. The Thai government declared a state of emergency. Six deaths were reported from Malaysia's Penang island. Sri Lankan authorities reported 500 deaths from the waves. Witnesses in the eastern Sri Lankan port city of Trincomalee reported waves as high as 40 feet, hitting inland as far as a kilometre. The Lankan government declared a state of emergency. © Copyright 2004 PTI. All rights reserved. Republication or redistribution of PTI content, including by framing or similar means, is expressly prohibited without the prior written consent. Share your comments
