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STORY: The coastal town of Nagapattinam in southern India is scarred by tragedy.Twenty years ago, on December 26, 2004, a magnitude 9.15 earthquake off the coast of Indonesia’s Aceh province triggered an Indian Ocean tsunami. Having received no formal warning of the approaching waves, residents were left with no chance to escape.Local resident Gandha lost her husband and son in a split second. “When I hear the word tsunami, my whole body shivers at the thought of my husband and child.”This disaster killed more than 226,000 people in Indonesia, Sri Lanka, India, Thailand, and nine other countries.About 6,000 people died in Nagapattinam alone.Millions have been spent since to create a vast network of seismic and tsunami information centers.Warning towers have been set up along India’s coast.And the government has also put together a robust disaster management and early warning system.Here is J. Radhakrishnan a former district collector.“It gave us an opportunity to reflect on what could be done better. There were no escape routes earlier, buildings were not earthquake-resistant or you know, cyclone-resistant and in fact, risk insurance was next to nil. So these were all built-in during the rebuilding program.”Seaside houses in Nagapattinam have also been moved slightly further inland.Gandha now lives in one of them with her surviving son.Though a much safer and sturdier structure than her previous house, its concrete walls conceal a decades-long hurt and sorrow.”We were happily living, me and my husband, along with our children,” she says.”Now, we have a great house. But we are not happy because we lost my husband and child.”
