Dawn breaks and the harbor comes alive as dozens of fishing boats pull in from a night at sea and crews start unloading their catch in this southern Indian port.
A swath of open ground turns into a fish market. Wholesale buyers jostle for fresh fish, prawns and crabs -- a clear sign that a year after the tsunami, the economy on this stretch of Indian coastline devastated by the gargantuan waves has come back to life.
"I am back into business after seven months, earning nearly 20,000 rupees [US$445] a month," said Ramesh, a fisherman who like many in the region uses only one name.
PHOTO: AFP
Nagapattinam was India's worst-affected district by the Dec. 26 tsunami, accounting for 6,065 of India's more than 10,000 deaths. Another 5,640 people -- most of them in the remote Andaman and Nicobar archipelago -- remain listed as missing and are presumed dead.
Thousands of boats, fishing nets, harbors and landing centers were smashed by the tsunami. Many of those killed by the waves were fishermen who had pulled into harbor just hours before the tsunami struck and fish buyers who had come down to the port to see the catch of the day. Many survivors found their livelihoods had been wiped out.
N. Kasipillai's boat was badly damaged. The fisherman was only recently able to repair it with it 300,000 rupees (US$6,660) provided by the government of India's Tamil Nadu state, where Nagapattinam is located.
Now, "life is returning to normal," he said Saturday after pulling into the harbor following two days at sea.
Aside from government assistance, Tamil Nadu's government has said that international and Indian aid groups have provided more than 12,000 catamarans, fiber-reinforced plastic boats and mechanized vessels to fisherman who lost their boats. They also helped replace damaged fishing equipment.
With the fishing industry back on its feet, state authorities and aid groups are now focused on getting fisherman out of temporary shelters set up after the tsunami and into permanent homes.
"Nearly 13,560 people are still living in temporary shelters," said local official J. Radhakrishnan.
The goal is to have them all in permanent houses by July. Most are being constructed with sturdy cinderblock, rather than the mud used to make homes before the tsunami, and cost up to 200,000 rupees (US$4,445) each. Aid groups are providing the funds, and the state government, the land.
One of the new features of the permanent homes is a staircase to the roof, which can serve not only as a place for drying fish -- but also a haven in case of flood.
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