What can you say?

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200 km south of Pondy lies Tranquebar, a former Danish colony. As I am travelling with two Danish people it was a natural destination for us. Nothing however could have prepared us for what we saw there. 40,000 people in Tamil Nadu alone we killed in the Tsunami and it was the worst affected state in India, Tranquebar was one of the villages hit, it is very close to the sea and the land lies very low. As we stepped off the bus there was something not quite right about this place, a disturbing air set upon us. As we did not have a map we set off to find the Danish fort that we came to see, we started down a road where there were many Tsunami rehabilitation huts but there seemed to be no one there except children who rushed out to see us asking for photos and pens. As we got further into the village, the damage the Tsunami had caused became more apparent. There was rubble and rubbish everywhere. Finally we arrived at the beach where the scene was horrific, it was as if the wave had hit yesterday. No effort had been made to clear up the mess that was left behind, fallen trees, rubbish, broken fisherman's nets and boats but most poignantly the sand was black! There were many new colourful boats that had been donated by the government and various agencies however they were unused and just sat on top on the remains of this village. The fisherman were too afraid to go back into the sea for 3 months! This place was broken and it felt very wrong to be here, especially as we had come as tourists. There is no real way of describing the image I have of Tranquebar, we were all so shocked to have seen it. Given that 7 months has passed, one would have thought that more progress had been made to restore the town and try to make a difference to the lives of the people that lived here to at least restore their hope, this was not the case though. It is sad that a place that is not in the public domain so much and that relies only on fishing and a little tourism to underpin its economy receives so little help and recognition relative to other places in India or indeed other countries affected by the Tsunami such as Thailand. That night, this was the only thing we could talk about and we all felt very sad to have visited such a place. Unfortunately I fear Tranquebar is more than likely a problem repeated across the rest of Tamil Nadu and India.

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Photos

Tsumani Damage
There was rubbish and bricks everywhere along the beach, the sand was black! It was as if the wave had hit yesterday.

Local children living in shelters, oh, and Lars
The effect on the children in this town is awful, many have lost one or both of there parents as a result of the tsunami

More damage
What can you say?

Comments

[salma]

hello
hey rob, this is salma from mubai, i chanced upon your blog somehow.... and its good to read about my country through somebody else's words....