India grapples with disposal of bodies
AFP, Tamil Nadu
India was battling to bury or cremate an untold number of corpses and beat aid bottlenecks Monday, as the toll from last week's massive earthquake and tsunamis neared 15,300 dead and missing. Authorities stepped up relief efforts in the country's tsunami-hit areas in the south and in the far-flung Andaman islands, with the official toll rising to 9,479 dead and 5,796 missing, most presumed dead. Cranes and bulldozers cleared collapsed dwellings and debris along India's battered southern coast and the search for bodies continued. "The stench tells us there are many bodies under the rubble," said Lieutenant General B.S. Thakur, head of the Andaman islands' relief command. On India's mainland, the tsunamis took their greatest toll among fishing villages where many traumatised fishermen said they feared returning to sea. "We can't go back on the beach," said a young fishermen in Kandhan Puthukuppam, in Tamil Nadu, near the former French colony of Pondicherry. "The sea was god, today it's Yaman (the god of death)." But in battered Nagapattam in Tamil Nadu where aid has been patchy, some fishermen took their torn nets out to sea to fish again. "I'm surviving on coconuts. My son and wife died and I need to live. The only staple food I can have is fish," Mani Vannan said. Fearing epidemics, volunteers liberally sprinkled bleach to disinfect streets and relief camps as trucks ferried clothes, cooking utensils, blankets and other goods to survivors still reeling from losing relatives and homes.
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