Date:29/12/2004 URL: http://www.thehindu.com/2004/12/29/stories/2004122906590400.htm

Andhra Pradesh

Tsunami turns his world upside down

By M. Venkateswara Rao

Gopal and his family members brooding over the havoc wrought by the tidal wave.

ONGOLE, DEC. 28. Gollapothu Gopal (45), a poor fisherman, had yearned all his life to become a salt producer and augment his income by Rs. 50,000 a year. But Sunday's tidal wave dashed all his hopes in a jiffy.

It killed two of his daughters and destroyed his mechanised boat and nets. He is now in a dazed condition and does not know how to pick up threads of his life.

Gopal belongs to Devarampalem hamlet of Vullapalem near Singarayakonda. While his son runs an auto-rickshaw and is married, his wife and three daughters depend on him. With fishing becoming unremunerative due to dwindling catch, he wanted to take up salt production to augment his income.

He encroached upon two acres of banjar land in the village recently to develop a salt farm on it. He developed the pond and installed an oil engine by borrowing Rs. 30,000 from private moneylenders and spending Rs. 10,000 from his own pocket.

On the fateful day, he went to the farm at 4.30 a.m. itself to strengthen the bunds and pump water. At 8.30 a.m., his wife and three daughters brought breakfast for him. He asked them to bring some sand to strengthen the bunds. When went to switch on the pumpset he saw waves rising to unusual height and approaching them menacingly. In no time, the waves engulfed his wife and daughters. His wife saved herself by latching on to a thorny plant on a mound. But she had a harrowing time, remaining in neck-deep water for over an hour. With great difficulty Gopal could rescue one daughter while the other two were washed away. He found to his dismay that the tidal wave had destroyed his boat, nets and the engine. His salt farm was heavily cast with sand.

"Can't bank on State"

Asked whether he could reclaim his farm, he raised his hands in despair and said, "We can't.'' He is now more worried about clearing the debts. Interestingly, Gopal sounded sceptical about Government help. "As any help has to come through the Fisheries department, we may not get even 10 per cent of what the Government releases,'' he sighed.He said fibre boats should be given to all fishermen who had lost their boats. After enumerating the losses, the Government should ask fibre boat manufacturers to make them in the village itself under the supervision of beneficiaries to ensure quality and check misuse of funds, he felt.