Tsunami paralyses east coast

3,200 killed, Chennai port, kalpakkam N-plant shut, oil drilling halted.

Triggered by a major earthquake in Sumatra, a fast-moving series of killer waves swept south India yesterday morning, killing around 3,200 people along the eastern coast and affecting operations at some critical installations.

In its wake, the tsunami left operations at the Chennai port crippled, caused the shutdown of the Kalpakkam nuclear plant and temporarily halted offshore oil and natural gas exploration work.

"It will take over 48 hours for us to resume cargo handling as there is a fear of another tsunami hitting the artificial harbour of Chennai," K Suresh, chairman, Chennai Port Trust, told Business Standard. The waves, which hit the Chennai port at around 9 am, caused damage estimated to be around Rs 10 crore.

The killer waves also led to a collision among three cargo ships at the Chennai harbour "" ABG Keshav, Canadian Express and Gem of Tuticorin. The 1,500 tonnes of imported sugar from Brazil that the Gem of Tuticorin was carrying were lost.

The Chennai port, Suresh pointed out, would also need to go through a dredging exercise as the waves had brought in a "lot of muck" from the sea. The waves, when they receded, swept six empty containers into the sea.

A shipment of Hyundai cars meant for export at the Chennai port was damaged because of the tidal waves. A Hyundai official admitted that water had entered about 400 cars and the entire lot was being returned to Hyundai's plant at Chennai. All Hyundai shipments, however, are insured.

The Kalpakkam nuclear power plant had to be shut down as sea water entered the plant, senior plant officials said.

Oil exploration work in the eastern coast has been temporarily halted. ONGC, which is drilling both in deep and shallow waters off the coast of Andhra Pradesh and Orissa, is assessing the damages the huge waves may have caused to its installations.

"We haven't heard of any major damage, but, as a precaution, operations have been halted to assess any loss of property or damage to equipment," ONGC Director (Exploration) YB Sinha said.

Cairns Energy officials said there was no major damage to the company's Rava oil and gas fields off the Andhra Pradesh coast.

It was not immediately known if Reliance Industries' deepwater exploration in the Bay of Bengal was impacted. All that a Reliance spokesman said was that company officials and facilities were safe.

*** The tsunamis have not affected the functioning of the refineries though. The operations at Hindustan Petroleum Corporation's Chennai refinery and Vizag refinery were normal, HPCL Director (Refineries) D S Mathur said in Mumbai While operations at the Chennai Port ground to a halt, no damage to industrial infrastructure along the coastal line was reported.

Officials from Chennai Petroleum Corporation Ltd confirmed that both its plants at Manali and Nagapattinam were unaffected by tremors and the tsunami.

Tamil Nadu was the worst affected state in south India. Andhra Pradesh and the Andraman and Nicobar islands were also affected with all flights to Port Blair being cancelled.

The Sumatran earthquake was the biggest in the past 40 years, measuring 8.9 on the Richter scale.

According to eye witness accounts from Chennai, the waves reaching a height of about forty feet at certain places along the coast, washed inland around 9:00 am and swept and drowned hundreds of unsuspecting people.