Offering of milk, flowers, prayers mark 20 years since tsunami struck Tamil Nadu coast

Chennai: Offering milk and flowers to the sea, silent processions and prayers along Tamil Nadu's lengthy coastline on Thursday marked 20 years since the massive tsunami struck the state on December 26, 2004.

People from all walks of lives joined the fishers and the Tsunami survivors in paying a tearful homage. People visited the mass burial sites since morning and offered silent prayers in remembrance of the lives claimed by the giant tidal wave.

In Chennai, Tamil Nadu Governor R N Ravi along with the fishermen and the families who lost their kin in the devastating 2004 Tsunami, participated in the Tsunami Remembrance Day march at the Marina Beach. He honoured the memory of those who lost their precious lives in this catastrophic tragedy, the Raj Bhavan said.

The giant wave had swallowed about 7,993 people in the state including 6,065 lives in Nagapattinam district alone in the tsunami triggered by an earthquake beneath the Indian Ocean near the island of Sumatra in Indonesia.

The unprecedented devastation due to the fury of the waves affected around 50 town panchayats of six coastal districts of Kancheepuram, Villupuram, Cuddalore, Nagapattinam, Kanyakumari, and Thoothukudi in the state.

As per the intensity of disaster, the affected town panchayats were categorised as worst damaged and partially damaged and 19 out of 50 town panchayats were declared as worst damaged as the loss of lives and damage to property was high, an official said.

The calm Sunday following Christmas had turned into a dreaded nightmare for several hundreds of families in the coastal districts from Cuddalore to Kanyakumari. The huge waves ravaged habitations, and infrastructure besides claiming human lives.

People gathered in large numbers and paid homage at the memorial in Nagapattinam, Cuddalore, and Kanyakumari districts, too. In Thoothukudi, the people lit candles, offered milk and flowers at the sea.

At Nagore, the residents paid homage at a mass burial site on the dargah land and lighted candles.

The Remembrance Day was observed at Pichavaram, and in Mayiladuthurai where the people from 28 fishing villages, too, paid their homage.