Introduction The word Tsunami is of Japanese origin, which means, harbour wave .

Tsunami are large waves that are generated when the see floor is deformed by seismic activity, vertically displacing the overlying water in the ocean. The quake occurred at a place where several massive geological plates push against each other with massive force. Tsunami has very low height while traveling over deep ocean. High waves occur only when it reaches the shallow waters, typically near the coast. The mega thrust earthquake-measuring 9.0 at Richter scale, off the western coast of northern Sumatra (Banda Ache), Indonesia was the largest of its type since the 9.2 magnitude Good Friday earthquake off Alaska in 1964. The deadliest natural disaster caused by the tsunami generated from an undersea earthquake on 26 December 2004 in the Indian Ocean has shaken up the world. The 2004 tsunami generated waves of up to 15 meters in height and even hit Somalia at a distance of about 4500 km west of the epicenter. The tsunami traveled slowly and took seven hours to hit the farthest coast at the west. Because of the 1200 kilometer of the fault line affected by the seaquake was in a nearly north-south orientation, the greatest strength of the tsunami waves was in the east-west direction. The 2004 Indian Ocean earthquake was an undersea earthquake that occurred at 00:58:53 UTC (07:58:53 local time) on December 26, 2004. The earthquake originated in the Indian Ocean just north of Simeulue island, off the western coast of northern Sumatra, Indonesia. The resulting tsunamis devastated the shores of Indonesia, Sri Lanka, India, Thailand, and other countries with waves of up to 15 m (50 feet) high, even reaching the east coast of Africa, 4500 km (2,800 miles) west of the epicenter.The Unieted States Geological Survey recoreded the magnitude of the earthquake of Sumatra at 8.9 with the epicenter lying 10km below the seabed. Aftershocks struck in the magnitude 7 range. The quake occurred at a place where several massive geological plates push against each other with massive force. The survey said, a 1000 kilometer section along the boundry of the plate shifted, a motion that triggered the sudden displacement of a huge volume of water. An interesting phenomenon of the seismic tidal waves in the different part of the world was that people saw sea water disappearing away from the beaches in the minutes before the giant wave lashed back with infernal fury devouring whatever come on the way of their lethal onslaught. Scientists say the effect is caused by tidal waves shocking shallow coastal waters out to see before returning them as a massive wall of water.

The titanic tsunami that wrought unprecedented death and destruction in South and South-East Asia will go down in history as one of the greatest natural calamities of the modern times. The great disaster caught the people and the government off guard and in a matter of minutes, snuffed out

more than 2,00,000 lives. Across the more than twelve countries. The number of people rendered homeless might run into millions, as no estimate is immediately available as to how many children have become orphans, how many women become widows and how many families have been wiped out in a single sweep. Impact of Tsunami in India

Almost all the countries situated around the Bay of Bengal were affected by the tsunami waves in the morning hours of 26 December 2004 (between 0900 1030 hrs IST). The killer waves were triggered by an earthquake measuring 8.9 on the Richter scale that had an epicenter near the west coast of Sumatra in Indonesia. The first recorded tsunami in India dates back to 31 December 1881. An earthquake of magnitude 7.5 on the Richter scale, with its epicenter believed to have been under the sea off the coast of Car Nicobar Island, caused the tsunami. The last recorded tsunami in India occurred on 26 June 1941, caused by an earthquake with magnitude exceeding 8.5. This caused extensive damage to the Andaman Islands. There are no other well-documented records of Tsunami in India. It was all quiet on the waterfront on the Sunday morning after Christmas in 2004 at Kanyakumari, the famous Marina Beach in Chennai and elsewhere on the Kerala coast and Andaman Nicober Islands. There was the excitement of a holyday with an offbeat mood with swarms of people on the sea front: children playing cricket and man and women on their morning work at the Marina. Elsewhere, fishermen were putting out to sea for the day s catch. Then all on a sudden, a curious thing happened. The holidaymakers at Kanyakumari were awestruck when the sea receded from the shores. In the present tsunami, India was the third country severely battered after Indonesia and Srilanka. In India the State severely affected by tsunami are Tamilnadu, Pondicheri, Andhra Pradesh, Kerala and Andaman and Nicober Island. The following Table.1 shows the average scenario of tsunami devastation in the respective areas. The data relating to the Andaman and Nicober are yet to be assessed, for which it does appear in the e Table Table. 1 (Tsunami damage in India) Tsunami damage in India 1

Factor

Andhra Pradesh 211,000 790

Kerala

Tamil Nadu

Pondcherry

Total 3,415,000 4,067

Population affected Area affected (Ha) Length of coast affected (Km) Extent of penetration (Km) Reported height of tsunami (m) Villages affected Dwelling units Cattle lost

2,470,000 691,000 Unknown 2,487

43,000 790

985

250

1,000

25

2,260

0.5 - 2.0

1-2

1 - 1.5

0.30 - 3.0

3-5

7-10

10

301 1,557 195

187 11,832

362 91,037

26 6,403 3,445

876 110,829 9,116

Unknown 5,476

(Source: DiMaRF, India-2005)

Tamil Nadu The state of Tamil Nadu has been the worst affected on the mainland, with a death toll of 7,793. Nagapattinam district has had 5,525 casualties, with entire villages having been destroyed. Kanyakumari district has had 808 deaths, Cuddalore district 599, the state capital Chennai 206 and Kancheepuram district 124. The death tolls in other districts were Pudukkottai (15), Ramanathapuram (6), Tirunelveli (4), Thoothukudi (3), Tiruvallur (28), Thanjavur (22), Tiruvarur (10) and Viluppuram (47). Those killed in Kanyakumari include pilgrims taking a holy dip in the sea. Of about 700 people trapped at the Vivekananda Rock Memorial off Kanyakumari, 650 were rescued. In Chennai, people playing on the Marina beach and those who taking a Sunday morning stroll were washed away, in addition to the fisherfolk who lived along the shore and those out at sea. The death toll at Velankanni in Nagapattinam district is currently 1,500. Most of these people were visiting the Basilica of the Virgin Mary for Christmas, while others were residents of the town. The nuclear power station at Kalpakkam was shut down after sea water rushed into a pump station. No radiation leak or damage to the reactor was reported

Pondicherry An estimated 30,000 people are homeless in the Union territory of Pondicherry. The current official toll is 560. The affected districts are Pondicherry (107 dead), Karaikal (453 dead). Kariakal is the most devastrated area from the Pondichery Union territory.Where massive destruction and loss of casualities accure.This mishalp occure because of uncover stone block.Mostly fisherfolk are affected due to location and distance between sea and their basti (village).Fishing peoples are just preparing for venturing into sea and within fraction of seconds every thinng wash away and their boats are damaged they lost every thing in terms of life and property. More than 453 people are died so far and still some are missing . Kerala The current official toll is 168. The affected districts are Kollam (131 dead), Alappuzha (32 dead), Ernakulam (5 dead).The tsunami that hit the Kerala coust on December 26,2004 , were three to five metres high ,according to the National Institute of Disaster Management,(NIDM) which functions under the ministray of home affairs.The Tidal upsourge had affected 250 killometers of the kerala costline and entered between one or two kilometers inland.pounded 187 villeges affecting 24.70 lakh persons in the state .As many as 6,280 dwelling units were destroyed. As many as 84,773 persons wee evacuated from the costal areas and accomedated in 142 Relif Camaps opened in Kollam,Alappuzha and Ernakulam Districts. According to NIDM,131 Lives were lost in Kollam,32 in Alappuzha and five in Ernakulam,taking the official death tole to 168.High wave sweept the cost along a 40-Km stretch ,from Sakthikulangare in the south to Thrikunnapuzha in the north.This stretch has two narrow strips of land sand wiched between the sea and back water. Andhra Pradesh The current official toll is 105. The affected districts are Krishna (35 dead), Prakasam (35 dead), Nellore (20 dead), Guntur (4 dead), West Godavari (8 dead) and East Godavari (3 dead). Andaman and Nicobar : The Andaman and Nicobar Islands comprise 572 islands (all land masses in both low and high tides) out of which 38 are inhabited, both by people from the mainland and indigenous tribes. The islands lie just north of the earthquake epicentre, and the tsunami reached a height of 15 m in the southern Nicobar Islands. The official death toll is 812, and about 7,000 are still missing. The unofficial death toll (including those missing and presumed dead) is estimated to be about 7,000. The Great Nicobar and Car Nicobar islands were the worst hit among all the islands because of their proximity to the quake and relative flatness. Aftershocks continue to rock the area. One fifth of the population of the Nicobar Islands is said to be dead, injured or missing. Chowra Island has lost two thirds of its population of 1,500. Entire islands have been washed away, and the island of Trinket has

been split in two. Communications have not been restored with the Nancowry group of islands, some of which have been completely submerged, with the total number of the population still out of contact exceeding 7,000. Among the casualties in Car Nicobar, 100 Indian Air Force personnel and their family members were washed away when the wave hit their air base, which was reported to have been severely damaged. The St. Thomas Cathedral (also known as the John Richardson church after John Richardson, a missionary and member of parliament) was washed away. The church, established in 1930 was one of the oldest and prominent churches in the region. A cricket stadium named after John Richardson and a statue dedicated to him were also washed away. The majority of the population of Andaman Islands is made up of people from the mainland, mostly from West Bengal and Tamil Nadu. The natives of Andaman and Nicobar Islands are endangered tribal groups, such as such as the Jarawa, the Sentinelese, the Shompen, the Onge and the Andamanese. They are regarded as anthropologically significant as they are some of the world's most primitive tribes and considered the world's only link to ancient civilisation. Most of these tribes have maintained their aboriginal lifestyle for centuries, and government policy has been to not interfere with them unless absolutely essential. It is reported that most of the native islanders survived the tsunami because they live on higher ground or far from the coast. The Onge (with a 2001 census population of 96), Jarawa (240), Sentinelese (39) and Andamanese (43) have been reached by survey teams and are confirmed to be safe although the number of dead is unknown. The Sentinelese live on a reserved island and are hostile to outsiders which is making it difficult for Indian officials to visit the island. They have shot arrows at helicopters sent to check on them. In the Nicobar Islands, the Nicobarese, a Mongoloid tribe (2001 population of 28,653), have lost about 656 lives with 3,000 still missing. Surveys are being conducted on the Shompen (2001 census count of 398) located on Great Nicobar island. India's only active volcano, Barren 1, located at Barren Island 135 kilometres (80 miles) northeast of the capital Port Blair, erupted because of increased seismic activity on 30 December 2004. People have been evacuated since then and there have been no reports of any casualties.

Chronology of events

DECEMBER 26 Quake strikes off west coast of north Sumatra at 3.2670N, 95.8210E at 0758.53am (0058.53 GMT), triggering tsunami that hits countries bordering Indian Ocean over several hours. (Times in GMT). 0440: First report that tsunami hit Sri Lanka. 0450: Thailand's Phuket tourist island hit. 0555: First report from southern Indian coast that 20 people killed in Chennai (Madras) capital of Tamil Nadu state. 0630: Thai Prime Minister Shinawatra orders evacuation of devastated areas. 0750: Sri Lankan President Kumaratunga declares emergency. 0800: US Geological survey upgrades quake to 8.9, the fifth largest since 1900. 1315: Maldives declares state of emergency. 1840: Toll put at 11,300. DECEMBER 27 0520 Sri Lanka's national Meteorological Centre says tremors detected near Sumatra and warns of more tsunamis. 0940: Toll rises to 16,421. 1600: Myanmar's military government says 34 people were killed in the Irrawaddy delta. DECEMBER 28 0550: Toll reaches 26,013. 1630: World Health Organisation says disease could kill as many as died in tsunami. DECEMBER 29 0005: Toll 63,114. DECEMBER 30 0600: India puts out fresh tsunami alert and warns people to leave southeast coast areas. 0620: Toll 82,847. 1253: Toll in Indonesia's Aceh province rises sharply to 79,940. 1352: Total death toll 120,000. 1450: Toll in India 13,268

1500: Total death toll 125,500 and rising. This is the graph for the earthquake/tsunami. It is the entire day Dec 26, 2004, graphed out against the ecliptic. The transiting declination Moon is at Max OOB North position of 27-28 North. The Sun is at Maximum Declination South at 23 S26. Lilith ( the dark Moon) is parallel the Moon. Lillith often shows up where there is trouble and social unrest and social changes. The Midheaven was passing over Jupiter at the time of the earthquake, and naturally since it was sunrise, the asc and east point were parallel the Sun. This chart (1.1) certainly shows us the dynamic combinations of these effects, and the potential combination of planetary positions might reveal such a harsh collective destiny. The part of fortune also reached the Moon and Lilith at the time of the earthquake, and first tsunami s.... Considering the Nodes had just entered Aries and Mars had just entered a stellium including Mercury Venus and Pluto in Sag we can see that the transiting POF reflects difficult fortune in this case.... see Robert Hand's article for some insight into the pof. From Robert Hands article Dec 26, 2004 6:58 am local time -007 Sumatra time, Banda Aceh, Indonesia.

Chart 1.1

The worst natural disaster.... What's ahead......... Dec 26 one month ahead......... Uranus and the South Node are moving closer together. The Mercury Mars parallel which continues moves back into parallel the last week of January..2005 Have a look...

Chart 1.2 Now lets look carefully at January... From my Field visit, Relief operation, observation and discussion with the affected people (Tamilnadu, Kerala, Pondicherri) and local community; I got following information from the devastated site; Economic problems-- 1) Many of them never had a bank accounts regarding their savings. 2) Another point is about their business i.e. some of them lost their boat and some of thems boats were partialy damaged, in this funniest part is that govt. of Kerala has prepared some data about this boats and

their expenses in that the number of boats dameged r less in number than lost boats and govt. is paying more for the dameged boats. I have collected its particulars i.e. gove documents.3) People use to keep money in houses it all gone in tsunami. 4) They need money to restart their business. 5) Basic infrastructure is need to be develop, (5) Govt. should provide both financial and subsides to restate their business and there should be need of need for storeing, canning and draying facility for the long term rehabilitation of affected people with the government initiatives and assistance. Social Problems--- 1) disturbed Minds 2) bad habites like drinking 3) societal problems in between some social groups like schedule cast and other casts 4) Psychological problems in the students need to be sort out. 5) Fear about sea in childrens 6) Proble of migration from sea cost may arise 7) some other elements who r not suffered r taking govt. facilities because of which a group of people is dissatisfied with the govt. 8) Many of the distructed houses were of schedule cast people 9) role of NGO and govt.

Need Assessment

Livelihood Restoration in the affected areas: Restoration of livelihood of the tsunami victims is on the front side of rescue operations continuing in the affected areas. Shelter, water, food, and medical relief continue to be priorities of the people in the tsunami devasted areas, which need to be addressed on warlike basis. Oxfam, Unicef, CARE, Action Against Hunger, AmeriCares, World Vision, Save the Children, and many others bringing in (or purchasing locally) supplies for hundreds of thousands of tsunami victims for the coming weeks and months. But there are other problems to be addressed, too: Establishing distribution systems. One of the most vexing problems facing the relief effort has been the difficulty of getting the relief where it is needed most, especially in Banda Aceh. The International Organization on Migration and the Red Cross, along with many partners, have worked to set up distribution systems in the affected areas, requisitioning warehouses and trucks tomanage the large quantities of aid materials flowing into the region. Military helicopters from the United States and elsewhere have been essential in distributing aid to places inaccessible by road.

Caring for children. Organizations like Unicef and Save the Children have begun to shift from focusing solely on food, hygiene, and shelter to their particular child-focused missions. Unicef has begun to construct temporary school facilities and distribute "school-ina- box" kits, pledging to have many

schools operational as soon as January 20. The Red Cross and various partners are working to vaccinate the displaced children against measles, and Save the Children has taken steps to register child victims to help prevent their exploitation.

Post-trauma counseling. Children and adults alike may need psychological help to deal with the trauma of the disaster; in India, social workers, psychologists, and others have volunteered as counselors in the affected areas, but this is only a beginning. The Red Cross is sending more counseling professionals to the affected areas. Locating and identifying the dead. This may be one of the largest forensic challenges of all time, with more than 20 forensic teams in Thailand alone gathering DNA samples for analysis on site or in China. Their efforts have been complicated by the need to bury corpses quickly to prevent the spread of disease.

Restoring livelihoods. The tsunami destroyed the boats of many coastal fishermen, making it impossible for them to earn a living. Already, one U.S. group has begun raising money to pay local shipwrights to replace the lost vessels, thus stimulating the local economy while allowing the fishermen to become self sufficient once again. Cleanup and reconstruction. NGOs on the ground in the affected areas estimate that cleanup alone could take a year or more, and obviously rebuilding infrastructure and the local economy will take even longer. While assessments are already being made, this phase of the relief is not yet at the fore.