Thursday, January 13 2005 19:56 Hrs (IST) - World Time -

Chennai: Nagapattinam district administration did not contemplate closing relief centres for the tsunami-victims and the centres would continue to be in operation as long as the people wanted it, District Collector Dr J Radhakrishnan said today (Jan 13, 2005).

Denying reports that the administration was forcing the people to go out of these centres, he told sources in Chennai over phone from Nagapattinam that "In fact, the number of centres in Nagapattinam town has gone up from 13 to 21." This was because the affected persons from this district, who had been accommodated in neighbouring districts, had started returning, he said.

Over 30,000 people were now being accommodated in 33 relief centres in the district, he said.

He said the toll in the tsunami devastation in the district stood at 6059.

Relief and rehabilitation work was on in full swing, he said adding the administration had already constructed 2,200 temporary shelters and people had moved into these shelters.

He said despite the heavy casualties, there was no outbreak of epidemics. "To our relief, there is no epidemic in the district," he added.