For every life lost in the tsunami, a tree of life

Almost a year after the Asian tsunami wreaked havoc in 14 countries, 300 people in Tamil Nadu’s Nagapattinam district planted 1,74,542 ...

Almost a year after the Asian tsunami wreaked havoc in 14 countries, 300 people in Tamil Nadu’s Nagapattinam district planted 1,74,542 saplings—one for every life lost.

The marathon effort in Naaluvedapatti and Pushpavanam hamlets took 24 hours —and bettered the 2002 Guinness record when the then Nagapattinam District Collector, Sudeep Jain, planted 80,244 saplings in Naaluvedapatti over 23 hours.

The latest initiative was flagged off at 3.41 pm on Saturday, and the group—including volunteers of Azim Premji’s Wipro—worked through the night. Nagapattinam District collector J Radhakrishnan spearheaded the effort.

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Tamil Nadu, the worst affected state in India, lost 8,010 lives, of which, 6,025 deaths were recorded in Nagapattinam district alone.

The plants chosen— casuarina, palm and coconut— are expected to create an ecological wall.

‘‘The casuarina and eucalyptus trees planted in Naaluvedapatti in 2002 bore the brunt of the killer waves. Only seven people died in the village,’’ Radhakrishnan told The Indian Express over phone from Pushpavanam.

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