Eight years ago this day a tragedy of a magnitude that Tamil Nadu had seldom encountered struck its coast, when killer waves gobbled up human lives at will while leaving a trail of destruction whose scars remain even today.

A relatively lesser-known Japanese word, Tsunami, had left a permanent scar when tidal waves sparked off by an undersea quake in Indonesia rose to previously unfathomed heights, causing wide-spread devastation in the state boasting of 1076 km long coast-line.

Many who had lost their loved ones remembered their kin on the eighth anniversary today of the killer Tsunami which caused widespread loss to life and property, especially in Cuddalore and Nagapattiam. Prayers were offered by relatives of the deceased in these districts.

In Chennai, candles were lit at the famous Marina in respect to the victims of the tsunami. Tamil Nadu accounted for nearly 7000 deaths in the 2004 tragedy.

Relatives of those who perished in Puducherry and Karaikal also paid homage at various coastal villages here today.

Welfare Minister P Rajavelu paid floral tributes at a remembrance day programme held in Pannithittu a coastal village that was among the fishing hamlets that bore the brunt of the tsunami.

Representatives of various fishermen associations held condolence meetings near the specially erected banners near the sea shore and paid homage to those who were killed in the tragedy.

A number of voluntary organisations based in various states and also the Government of Maharashtra had come forward to provide houses under the rehabilitation programmes in Veerampattinam and a few other coastal hamlets here and in Karaikal.

Puducherry government acquired vast stretch of sites in Kalapet and constructed houses for the rehabilitation of the fishermen families who were rendered homeless in the wake of the tragedy.

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