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Tsunami hit areas avoid seafood for fear of disease

     Coimbatore: The killer tsunami that has severely hit the lives of thousands of people across southern India has added to the woes of the fish traders as people are showing disinterest towards seafood. Fearing that the fish they might be feeding upon, might have fed on dead tsunami-hit bodies, people are keeping away from seafood. This has caused the traders, figuring in hundreds of thousands, to suffer a major loss as there are few buyers. Traders said the prices of fish in the markets have slumped. "Before the tsunami tragedy here, the fish sale was up to 200 tons per day, after the tsunami tragedy we cannot even sell 100 kgs of fish per day, most of people are not buying fish. Many people depend on the fish industry, such as retail fish sellers, commission agents, hawkers etc. Almost 25,000 employees are dependent on this fish industry in Coimbatore alone and are affected from the 26th of last month. Earlier, daily this market used to be crowded with customers, now the fish market is in a bad situation. Very few people are buying fishes," said Arun Rasheed, a wholesale fish trader. Once crowded with people, the local fish markets now remains deserted with shops closed and no buyers, as they fear the fish that might be laid on their dinner tables might be infected. "Now the cost of fish is very low, earlier the cost was above 200 rupees per kg but now we can get fish even below 50 rupees per kgs," said Jareena, a customer.

Kolkata organizes prayer for people killed in tsunami (Go To Top)

     Kolkata: Citizens in Kolkata performed a fire ritual to pray for the salvation of the several thousands of people killed in the Boxing day tsunami attacks. Dozens of local people participated in the prayers with posters expressing concern for the family members of the victims. The prayers were held in Nakuleshwar temple in the city's famous Kalighat temple, revered by Hindus across the country. "We are praying for the peace and salvation of those who died in the tsunami attack. We are praying for their souls before the lord," said Ajay Banerjee, a priest.

Bollywood aid for tsunami victims (Go To Top)

     Mumbai: Yesteryear Bollywood actress and former Miss India, Poonam Dhillon, today donated relief material worth several thousand rupees for tsunami affected people as the whole film industry rallied to provide help to the victims of the Boxing Day tsunami attack. /Earlier, Bollywood star Shah Rukh Khan along with other film personalities had also chipped in for tsunami victims as they gave millions of rupees for the relief and rehabilitation of the orphaned children and those left homeless by Asia's worst tsunami on record. Dhillon believes that with passing time the needs of the victims have grown from the basic requirements like foodgrains to sustenance like toiletries and medicines as well.

Harvard alumni pitch in for tsunami relief (Go To Top)

     New Delhi: Indian students who studied in the Harward School of Business Management are camping in India these days raising funds for the tsunami-hit victims in the country. Today they were in the Capital where Prime Minister Dr Manmohan Singh addressed them. These students are on a weeklong trip to the country and have travelled Bangalore and Mumbai contacting the corporate world's finest names, including Reliance, Wipro, ICICI Bank and Godrej. Besides Harvard, relief came in from all quarters even as Union IT Minister Dayanidhi Maran and Union Water Resources Minister Priyaranjandas Munshi gave money from their coffers. The Border Security Force (BSF) also pitched in by donating 30.85 million rupees. The tsunami triggered by a powerful undersea earthquake off Sumatra on December 26 has killed close to 150,000 lives across south and southeast Asia even as at least 15,782 people are dead or feared dead in India alone.