Saturday, January 8 2005 16:51 Hrs (IST) - World Time -

Nagapattinam: Amid stories of grief and misery, amazing stories of reunion provide some hope for those searching for their missing relatives almost two-weeks after the Tsunami wrecked this coastal district. Already, two boys have been reunited with their parents, while another girl Sowmya, aged 3-years, is waiting for her lucky turn at the Government-run orphanage at Sikkal.

Dinesh, a 6-year-old boy, who was missing from near the Velankanni Church on the tragic-Sunday, was reunited with his parents in Porayar while another boy Veeramani, who was also missing from Velankanni, was handed over to his parents at Puthukottai, a nearby village.

In the chaos that followed the December 26-tsunami at Velankanni, Dinesh got into a bus and was left stranded at Cuddalore, about 10 kms from the Velankanni Church for some days.

"We got a call from the Cuddalore police and we brought him back to Nagapattinam on Jan 3, 2005. The parents came searching for the child here and we are happy to witness the reunion," explained D Kalyana Sundaram, additional SP and in-charge of the Missing Persons Cell at Nagapattinam.

The second boy Veeramani was accommodated at the Mother Teresa Care Home at Velankanni. The photograph of the kid was made available at the Missing Persons Cell, which helped the parents find him alive and well.

But all are not that lucky. In fact, many come here at the Missing Persons Cell, devastated and consider themselves lucky if they could at least identify the photographs of over 1000 dead persons made available at the Cell.

Santhanam, in his mid-20s from the nearby Keivelur village, has been searching for his missing father Doraiswamy (50) since December 26.

At the Missing Persons Cell, he thought he could get some news. "His photograph is not here," he says, as he leaves the office.

For many like Santhanam, at least a confirmation of the death would make it easier to get on with their lives. "The death certificate is necessary for getting the relief money," he says.

Doraiswamy, who used to sell fish in his bicycle, had gone to the beach to procure fish from the fishermen on that fateful day.

For Hari Sreenivasa Rao, in the late-30s, the Missing Persons Cell helped him confirm his worst fear. His sister Premalatha (28) was among the over 6000 dead in Nagapattinam.

Premalatha, who had gone to the Velankanni Church with her friend Ramalakshmi, has been in the 'missing' Category.

Now that he has identified the photograph, taken by the police, before the mass burials here, Rao has to go through other procedures like convincing the police officials here that it was indeed his sister's photograph.

Ever since the missing Persons cell started functioning on January 3, at least 70 missing persons have been identified by their relatives, said Kalyana Sundaram.

The Nagapattinam Police has also started websites, which would show the photographs of the dead persons, taken before they were buried or cremated here. The websites are www.tsunami.nagapattinam.com and www.tsunami.nagapattinam.info.