Friday, December 31 2004 17:31 Hrs (IST) - World Time -

Colachel (TN): The people of Kottilpadu near Colachel, an area worst hit by Tsunami waves in the coastal Kanyakumari district, might never have dreamt of such a New Year in their entire lives.

There is almost no one among the 4,500-odd population who has not lost one of their kin in the fury. The entire village is now in shambles - huts, houses, schools, churches and all.

"We have buried 257 bodies till now and some 320 others are missing from the village," Father Xavier Lawrence, parish priest of Kottilpadu, who is in charge of the camp where evacuees from the village stay, told sources in Colachel.

Lawrence, who himself was injured when the waves hit the church, said the number of injured would come to around 2000.

Kottilpadu and Azheekale were the two villages in the Colachel region where one can see only dilapidated buildings and upturned vehicles.

The casualty was high among children, young girls and the bed-ridden, he said. "It was all over in three-and-a-half minutes," he said.

Around 3,000 people are in the camp set up at a marriage hall in Colachel, where only 500 can be accommodated at night.

Most of them go to their relatives' houses after collecting relief materials.

Yes, the evacuees do want to go back to what once was their home or the places where they had stood in the New Year.

"But they are too scared. The Government should do something to reassure them so that they can get back to normal life," Fr Lawrence said.