A tree for each Tsunami victim
174,542 trees were planted in Tamil Nadu within 24 hours, one for each person who perished in the Tsunami. The project was promoted by NGOs too: it is hoped the plants will eventually serve as an "ecological barrier" against the sea.
Nagapattinam (AsiaNews) A total of 174,542 trees have been planted in Tamil Nadu in memory of victims of the 26 December Tsunami. One tree for each victim was planted within 24 hours: the massive task was undertaken by 300 residents in the villages of Naaluvedapatti and Pushpavanam (district of Nagapattinam, Tamil Nadu state, southern India). They beat the record of 80,244 trees planted in 23 hours in Naaluvedapatti.
Tamil Nadu was the hardest hit Indian state on that "black Sunday" with a death toll of 8,010, including 6,025 in the district of Nagapattinam alone. A small fishing town, Nagapattinam lost nearly all the children to the fury of nature; they were too little to resist the wrath of the ocean.
People now hope these plants will eventually create an ecological barrier. The casuarinas (Australian trees), palm and eucalyptus trees planted in Naaluvedapatti in 2002 bore the brunt of the killer waves, and thus protected this small village from destruction. Seven people died there. Another village about 60kms from Nagapattinam, with a population of about 6,000, was saved by its own green barrier and 19 lives were lost.
Fr Xavier, rector of the Basilica of Our Lady of Good Health in Velankanni, another area devastated by the Tsunami, told AsiaNews: "The NGOs also promoted the project. These plants and trees will form mangroves to protect the lives and property of villages, not only against another possible tsunami, but also from the fury of the monsoons."
Fr Xavier also recalled Tsunami victims who had come on pilgrimage to the shrine: "It was a watery death for hundreds of pilgrims thronging the shrine on the Sunday after Christmas It should have been time to celebrate Mass in our church. But sadly, our shrine suddenly turned into a burial ground.
"While the compound wall of the Shrine, which had been broken by the force of the winds, has been reconstructed, and the damage to the walls repaired, the damage done to the pilgrims cannot be recompensed. The lives of the pilgrims were snatched away as they were celebrating Mass. At the time, the local people were taking care of pilgrims through church-based NGO's like Caritas. Now, the pilgrims still need closure to their trauma, and this brings them back often to the Shrine of Velankanni.
"On the Anniversary of the Tsunami, that is, on 26 December, we will be having a commemoration ceremony for the victims. Every year, thousands of pilgrims come to the shrine to celebrate the feast of Our Lady of Lourdes. This year it will be different, we will organize an inter-faith prayer meeting. All those who either escaped the fury of the waves, or who want to mark the memory of their dear ones, are invited to attend. At the burial site of those who perished in the waves, we will be erecting a huge stone column, engraved with passages from sacred writings of different religions."
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20/06/2005
