New Delhi, Jan 05: State wise update on the Tsunami disaster that struck the south and south east Asia on December 26, with the death toll in India crossing over 14,500.
Tamil Nadu
The Central team is on a visit to Tsunami affected region of southern India. The team was in Chennai yesterday and reviewed the rehabilitation efforts being undertaken there. Authorities are concentrating on providing relief and rehabilitating the survivors by supplying them with food, drinking water, medicines and other essentials.
Every effort is being made to put back life on track in Tsunami`s worst hit
district of Nagapattinam in Tamil Nadu with authorities undertaking massive operations, from clearing debris to issuing ration cards and distributing textbooks.
Meanwhile, schools in Nagapattinam district have been closed "till further orders" as temporary camps for victims of tsunami disaster have been put up in the buildings, a senior district official said.
For the first time after the killer Tsunami hit this coastal district in Tamil Nadu, fishermen ventured into the sea for fishing.
In a bid to instill confidence among the panic-stricken fishermen of Akkaraipettai, which housed over 7,000 such families, the Army repaired some of their large fishing boats and went out to sea along with them.
The 220 mw second unit of the Madras
Atomic Power Station (MAPS), at Kalpakkam, near Chennai, which was shut down immediately after sea water entered the station following Tsunami, has began power production.
The toll in the Tsunami that struck Tamil Nadu has been officially put at 7814, with
Nagapattinam topping the list with 5925 deaths.
A total of 3324 people were injured, according to figures provided by the official website of the Disaster Management and Mitigation Department.
The department said 362 villages were affected by the Tsunami with Nagapattinam alone accounting for 73 and Kancheepuram 74.
As many as 30,300 houses and huts were damaged in the worst-hit Nagapattinam district, affecting 1,76,184 people. In Kanyakumari district, 31,175 huts and houses were
damaged, displacing 1,00,484 persons. Chennai reported 206 deaths.
Andhra Pradesh
The Tsunami disaster has left a trail of death and destruction, claiming 104 lives and rendering thousands homeless in the state.
Prakasam and Krishna districts in Andhra Pradesh are seeing food, clothes and bedsheets come in as relief aid.
Pondicherry
The death toll in Pondicherry after being hit by Tsunami is still at over 500 with Karaikal region reporting 400 death, official sources said.
The IMA, local unit has started collecting antibiotics and anti diarroheal drugs for the displaced villagers in some of the relief camps in and around Pondicherry.
Andaman and Nicobar Islands
Fresh aftershocks continued to jolt the region of the Andaman and Nicobar Islands, ten
days after a massive quake there caused the Asian Tsunami disaster, with five tremors of intensities ranging between 5.2 and 5.5 recorded in the area since last night.
While three moderate intensity quakes rattled the Great Nicobar Island since last night, another tremor was felt in the Little Andaman Island early today, the Meteorological
Department said here.
A tremor measuring 5.3 on the Richter scale was felt south of Great Nicobar at 2049 hours last night and another quake of the same magnitude hit the region at 2357 hours.
In the early hours of today (0038 hours), a tremor measuring 5.2 struck south of Great Nicobar Island, the Met office said.
The strongest of the aftershocks was experienced west of Little Andaman Island seven minutes later. It measured 5.5 on the Richter scale.
Kerala
To accelerate the process of rehabilitation of Tsunami affected people, Kerala cabinet today decided to set up a Disaster Management Department, Chief Minister Oommen Chandy said here.
Director of Kudamshree T K Jose has been appointed as Secretary of the Department that would function under the Revenue Department, he told reporters after a cabinet meeting.
Asserting that there would not be any delay in starting next phase of relief, Chandy said the process of rehabilitation would be speeded up with cooperation of all.
To have a permanent set up to deal with natural calamities, it was decided to bring in a disaster management bill and the state Revenue and Law Minister K M Mani has been
entrusted with the work of preparing a draft for it. It would be introduced in the assembly after being discussed by the state disaster management committee, he said.
Meanwhile, the death toll in Kerala is at 161, more than a week after the deadly Tsunamis struck the south and southeastern coastline of Asia.
Bureau Report
