Tuesday, January 4 2005 11:57 Hrs (IST) - World Time -

Kollam (Kerala): Nine days after the Tsunami waves swallowed the Alappad village near Kollam killing over 100 people, the area left with a few dismantled structures and broken lives is yet to recover the shock of the December 26 tragedy.

Women and children, who survived the assault of waves, living in relief camps in Karunagappally, are yet to muster the courage to have a look at razed homes.

A visiting source could see only a few men and voluntary relief workers in Alappad, a narrow strip of land between the backwaters and the sea.

The area still looks as battered as it was left by the killer waves since the authorities had not yet begun the work of clearing up the debris. Big stones, piled up in some places to protect the area from sea-erosion, lay scattered metres away from the coast, giving a clue about force with which the waves struck.

The blind forces unleashed by the seas did not spare even places of worship as only idols of deities and two flag posts are all that remains of Pastchimeswaran temple in Srayikkad village. But for the remnants of some houses, the waves had not left anything in the area to call it a village.

Susheelan, a fisherman, who managed to save his wife and children from deadly waves, said that many of them saw the strange spectacle of the sea water receding far away from the shoreline and fish left on the beach writhing for breath.

"We thought it was only a variation in tides. But to our shock, the water this time rose to about ten feet and rushed towards us. We ran helter-skelter trying to save our relatives and kids," he said.

Living in a narrow strip hemmed in by the sea and backwaters, only those who were able to climb atop strong houses could manage to survive the Tsunami strike.

Showing a spot where a house once stood, Susheelan said that only an old man of the family of five in that family had outlived the mortal blow that came from the sea. The man is now in a relief camp near the place where his kith and kin were buried.

The progress of rehabilitation effort being tardy, the relief workers are yet to reach villages for cleaning up work. Communication and power supply are yet to be restored. The State Electricity Board had just started work to relay cables.

However, water supply in the area is not hit as badly as it was initially thought since underground water is available through pipes. Some women have come back to their damaged house on getting information that Revenue officials would come to assess the damage as a prelude to giving compensation.

Babu, a local activist, wanted the Government to provide jobs to at least one member of each affected family. Sand mining, he said, should also be strictly banned, as that is one of the main reasons for natural disasters.

Complaining that those who were in genuine need were not getting relief being distributed, he said that the officials should immediately prepare a list of the affected people and the loss suffered by them. Some believe that the casualty could be higher than the official tally as the waves had hit the spots where there was not even piled-up boulders to modestly blunt the force of the sea-surge.

The immediate priority should be to provide the fisher-folk with fishing materials, they said. The women were more concerned about the future of their children whose education is left uncertain.