Truthout eyewitness report of the Asian tsunami

[WilliamPitt]

http://www.truthout.org/docs_04/122804X.shtml

Editors Note | t r u t h o u t reporter J. Sri Raman lives in a fishing village in Chennai, India, an area devastated by the tsunami. Below is an eyewitness report on the suffering caused by yesterdays tragic event. - smg

Deaths by Water - and Environmental Degradation
By J. Sri Raman
t r u t h o u t | Report

Monday 27 December 2004

Chennai, India - Selvaraj, 38, sturdy and ebony-dark, set out on the catamaran, the ancient Tamil raft of tied logs, a little past six in the morning. He did not return. Some eight hours later, rescuers found his body washed ashore, like the bodies of scores of other fishermen.

Kannan, 14, went out a little later that Sunday morning to the Marina Beach, the pride of this South Indian city, its little piece of paradise. He carried his cricket bat, with a sticker of Sachin Tendulkar, the star of the game, on it. He, too, did not return home. His frail, little body was also found hours later on the once inviting sands. Search was still on, though, for the bodies of the other members of his team and their opponents who were to play a weekend match on a field with a backdrop of waves.

Krishnamurthy, 67, had driven there for a brisk morning walk along the long beach line, as had been his wont for a couple of years. They found his car, smashed and upturned.

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