Indian Tsunami 2004 Anniversary

4th Anniversary of Indian Ocean Tsunami of 2004

Friday, December 26, 2008

Tallahassee, FL, USA

Sea Water has moved inland more than 1 kilometer

In 2004 the seawater has come almost 1 kilometer inland (picture taken on 12/27/04 ~ 2 PM IST; almost  1day and 4 hours after the tsunami hit Vedaraniam)

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In 2004 the seawater has sumerged huts 1 1/2 kilometers inland (picture taken on 12/27/04 ~ 1:30 PM IST; almost  1day and 4 hours after the tsunami hit Vedaraniam)

This morning (in the United States, but it was four years ago the same time, in India) was just as cloudy and muggy here in Tallahassee as was in Vedaraniam on Sunday, December 26, 2004. Around 9:15 AM IST the skies went bit darker, house flies started to land in larger numbers (despite the fact it was middle of winter), the power went out suddenly (not a surprise) as we were having showers to get ready for our impending visit to Nattu Mada Mariamman Temple. Sweet pongal and regular lentil pongal were already prepared for the offering to the Godess.

All the siblings from our family had gathered on the day. We had abondanded the plan to visit to the beaches (What a God’s gift to our family!!) since during the previous weeks it had rained plenty and as Vedaraniam, Agasthiampalli, and Kodiakarai. And our soil swampy with lots of clay content made it unattractive for the kids and adults to the enjoy the beaches.

About 1/2 hour we heard in the TV News that there were some mild tremors in Chennai city. Just then we started to hear crowd noise on the streets and there was big commotion with people running on the streets shouting, “the sea is coming”, “the sea is coming (kadal varuthu, kadal varuthu). Thus started the day that will take several people in my town of Vedaraniam.I spent several minutes today thinking about how lucky we were and prayed for those who perished on that fateful day.

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