THE TSUNAMI

                         THE TSUNAMI 

●  ANDAMAN AND NICOBAR ISLAND 

- A tsunami is a very large and powerful wave caused by earthquakes under the sae. On 26 Decemeber 2004, a tsunami hit Thailand and parts of India such as the Andaman and Nicobar Island, and the Tamilnadu coast. Here are some stories of courage and survival. 

Did animals sense that a tsunami was coming ? Some stories suggest that did. 

   These stories are all from Andaman and.Nicobar archipelago. 

Ingenious was the manager of a cooperative society in katchall . His wife woke him up at 6 a.m. because she felt an earthquake. Ingenious carefully took his television set off its table and put it down on the ground so that it would not fall and break. Then the family rushed out of the house. 

When the tremors stopped , they saw the sea rising, in the chaos and confusion, two of his children caught hold of the hands of their mother's father and mother's brothers, and rushed in the opposite direction he never saw them again. His wife was also swept away. Only the three other children who came with him were saved. 

Ashish  was a policeman, serving in the katchall Island of the Nicobar group of Island, he somehow manged to save himself, his wife and his baby daughter from the waves, but then he heard cries for help from the wife of amit, the guesthouse cook. Ashish jumped into the water to rescue her, but they were both swept aways. 

Thirteen year old Alisha was swept away along with her parents and seventy - seven other people. She spent two days floating in the sea. Holding on to a wooden door eleven times she saw relief helicopter overhead, but they did not see her. She was brought to the shore by a wave and was found walking on the seashore In a daze. 

Almas javed was ten years old. She was a student of Cermal Convent in Port Blair where her father had a Petrol Pump. Her mother Rahila's home was in Nancycowry Island. The family had gone there to celebrate Christmas.

When the tremors came early in the morning, the family was sleeping. Almas's father saw the sea water recede. He understood that the water would come rushing back with great force. He woke everyone up and tried to rush them to a safer place. 

As they ran, her grandfather was hit on head by something and he fell down. Her father rushed to help him. Then came the first giant wave that swept both of them away. 

Almas's mother and aunts stood clinging to the leaves of a coconut tree, calling out to her. A wave uprooted the tree, and they too were washed away. Almas saw a log of wood floating. She climbed on to it. Then she fainted. When she woke up, she was in a hospital in kamorta. From there she was brought to port Blair. 

The little girl does not want talk about the incident with anyone. She still traumatized. 

Giant waves swallowed many, with Cuddalore and Nagapattinam districts bearing the brunt, even as nearly 7,000 people were killed in Tamil Nadu.