Tranquebar - Last news 2004

(2005-01.01 - 18.00)
Just received from Sankar in Tranquebar:


A fishing boat on a roof.	Rickshaw destroyed.

Cleaning?	From a friend's house.

Fishing boat.	--and more.

Cleaning.	Cleaning.

(2005-01.01)
"The Hindu" writes just now.:

Death toll touches 5,000, relief work apace in Nagapattinam

By Our Staff Reporter

NAGAPATTINAM, DEC. 31. With theextrication of more corpses, most of them highly decomposed, in several coastal pockets, including Thirumullaivasal, Tarangambadi and the Nagore belt in Nagapattinam district, the death toll in the tsunami tragedy touched the 5,000-mark this afternoon.

In the Poompuhar and Tarangampadi coastal areas, the government machinery was pressed into service for removing the debris and the highly decomposed bodies.

Shantha Sheela Nair, Secretary, Rural Development and Local Administration, who is supervising the relief operations, said here this evening that according to official records 4,974 bodies had been recovered in the district and were cremated and buried.

7,397 dead in State

By Our Special Correspondent

CHENNAI, DEC. 31. The death toll in Tamil Nadu in the tsunami along the coast has touched 7,397, according to official figures on Friday. In Nagapattinam alone, the toll has been placed at 5,525 deaths.

The toll in other districts are: Chennai-206; Kancheepuram-124; Tiruvallur-28; Cuddalore-599; Villupuram-47; Tiruvarur-10; Thanjavur-22; Kanyakumari-808; Tuticorin-3; Tirunelveli-4; Ramanathapuram-6 and Pudukottai-15.

(2004-12.30)

"The Hindu" writes:

NAGAPATTINAM, DEC. 29. The toll in the tsunami disaster in the coastal district of Nagapattinam has touched 4,500 with the extrication of nearly 2,000 more corpses in the past 24 hours till this afternoon.

The District Collector, M. Veera Shanmugha Moni, told The Hindu that till this morning the total number of deaths reported was 4,332 (1,287 men, 1,445 women, and 1,600 children) but the toll had crossed 4,500 this afternoon.

The majority of the 2,300 bodies were recovered in Nagapattinam taluk comprising Velankanni and Nagapattinam coastal areas followed by 1,350 in Kilvelur, 90 in Vedaranyam, 370 in Tharangampadi and 450 in Sirkazhi taluks.

The Collector said 60 earth moving machines were used to dig pits for burying the corpses and also to remove the debris in affected areas. Mass burial of bodies was being carried out in Nambiyar Nagar, Ariyanattu Theru, Pattanacheri, Nagore and Velankanni.

More bodies were being extricated from the debris in Velankanni, Nagore and Nagapattinam coastal belt. Most of the bodies were decomposed and could not be identified. Mr. Moni said voluntary organisations and social workers were working with the co-operation of the police and fire service personnel to extricate corpses from the debris.

Two Navy helicopters were being used for relief operations in the coastal areas in the district and army personnel were removing the mechanised fishing trawlers that had landed on the Nagore-Nagapattinam rail track and also on the beach road in Nagapattinam. Mr. Moni said medical teams were administering tetanus toxoid injections to those sheltered in 96 relief centres. He made it clear that there was no threat of cholera or any other epidemic in the coastal areas.

The Collector said food packets and clothing materials were being provided by the Government as well as by donors to people sheltered in the relief centres.

G. Rajamahendran, secretary of Red Cross Society, Thanjavur, despatched 25 ambulances, 50 doctors and 150 volunteers to Nagapattinam on Sunday itself as per the advice of the Thanjavur Collector, J. Radhakrishnan.

(2004-12.29 )
New photos from Tranquebar:


Fort Dansborg	The Bastion.
	Gold Smith Street
The new entrance to the old Danish cemetery.

Northern wall in the Bay of Bengal.	Masilamany Temple

The "Death".	North Ariyanattu Street

(2004-12.29 - 1400)
A mail from G.S.Thomas in Thanjavur. Thomas writes:
   Sea water at Tranquebar entered upto Porayar boarder taken plenty of lives not correctly estimated. The huts as well as the slum areas of fishermen on the shores of Tranquebar were completly washed away.
   I phoned to Marinal on the 27th and was informed that You all have already contacted her.
   By this time if the Tranquebar Association at Denmark help the Tranquebar fishermen through the Collector/ CSI Diocese of Thrichirapally - Thanjavur, that too if possible financialy, You all will be much honoured.(CSI have Social work department with more dedicated Staffs & Students in Trichy).
   I thought of going to Tranquebar on the 26th Dec. but returned as there was no conveyence.

G.S.Thomas.

(2004-12.27)
The tidal wave caused many dead people - especially children - in the Tranquebar area.
All pictures are from Tranquebar and by R.Sankar.

From Tranquebar we have received following pictures of the tidal wave destruction:


Fishermen's village	Tranquebar

Tranquebar	Tranquebar

Tranquebar

Tranquebar	Tranquebar - end of Queen Street

Fishermen's village	Fishermen's village

Queen Street - in background: Admiral Street	Queen Street

Fishermen's village	Fishermen's village

"The Hindu" on date.:
Tamil Nadu reported a toll of 3,200 with the worst-hit Nagapattinam accounting for 1,700 deaths, followed by Kanniyakumari at 525, Cuddalore 400 and Chennai city 200. The neighbouring Union Territory of Pondicherry reported a loss of 377 lives, including 265 in Karaikal, an enclave surrounded by Tamil Nadu. Rains hindered relief work in Nagapattinam.

"The Hindu" on date.:
The death toll in India today mounted to nearly 4,000, with 2,500 people dying in Tamil Nadu alone as rescuers searched for dead bodies in the trail of destruction left by the huge tidal waves that hit India for the first time yesterday.

(2004-11.13)
The stormy period in Tranquebar has damaged some old building constructions.
The ruins of the bastion at the sea has collapsed.

This is the wall of the bastion in October 2003. Picture seen from east.	- and this is to-day.

(2004-11.10)
The Tranquebar area - maybe all Tamil Nadu - is for the moment very stormy with lots of rain. Many small houses have collapsed.
Also rice fields are spoiled.
A troupe of actors have played on the Tranquebar beach.


Rain water in Tamil Nadu.	Street with rain water.

The performance in the television.	The performance in the television - at the beach.

(2004-10.16)
The Tranquebar Association has made an application to C.S.I. i Thanjavur about restoring a small ruined part of the wall around the churchyard near the Landgate. A letter about the inauguration of the renewed wall around the old Danish cemetery is also sent to India.

(2004-10.02)
The group from the Danish National Museum is back in Denmark again. Members of the group have visited many of the fine old buildings to determine how to protect them.
An article from the internet about the research in the Bay of Bengal in February this year can be read here.

(2004-09.11)


In Porayar the earlier yellow painted house now is red. In Danish on the gable: "OPFØRT I 1844".	Six members of the group from the Danish National Museum are now going back to Denmark. Two other persons have meetings in Chennai and New Delhi.

(2004-09.07)

	The group of 8 persons from the Danish National Museum has arrived to Tranquebar. The group around the diner table in the house "Flora Cottage". Photo: Sankar.
	British Collectors House as it looks like after the restoring. Now it is an exclusive hotel. Photo: Sankar.

(2004-08.17)

NEW: To-day received photos from Fort Dansborg - look under Pictures/The National Monument.

Many new articles are put on this website the past 2-3 weeks.
3 Danish girls have visited Tranquebar. - they had sailed with a fishing boat on Sunday 15th. Below you can see some of the photos from this trip in the Bay of Bengal.


Tranquebar North. The Masilamani Nathar temple in left side of the picture.	Fort Dansborg and the English Governor's House. Masilamani Nathar temple in the middle of the picture.

(2004-07.21 )
The Tranquebar Association held an unofficial meeting after a members return to Denmark.
Below some of the things the board is informed about.

Flora Cottage (members house)
New Street churchyard (restoring wall)
Bell for the Church of Zion
Street signs and repairing King's Street (Town Panchayat)
Fort Dansborg and the museum
Danish Governors Residence
The Commanders House
Project of books, other buildings, social projects etc.


One of the 3 old bells in the church of Zion. Photo:PP	Det defekte klokkeophæng i Zionskirken. Photo:PP

One of the old bridges to Tranquebar town. This is from north and built later than 1845.

Photo:PP

There are new photos in Pictures / The National Monument / restoration and.

(2004-07.18 )
The board member has went back to Denmark with many news. He has talked to many officials in Chennai and in Tranquebar. All the meetings were very positive.
Some legal information about the old monuments in Tranquebar were very useful.
Restoring the wall around the churchyard in New Street has started.

(2004-07.16 )
The first street signs in 3 languages are now in Tranquebar and they are of course put in King's Street and Queen's Street. The photo shown below is a test of what the signs will look like.

(2004-07.11)

A member of the board travelled one week ago to Tranquebar. Some information is received:

There has been a meeting with the new Commissioner of Archaeology T.S. Sridhar, IAS, in Chennai and with the director of Government Museum. The meetings went fine.
In Tranquebar the work with restoring the wall around The New Street churchyard has started and the chairman of the Town Panchayat is asking for the beginning of putting new street signs in the town.. These street signs have to be made in Tamil, English and Danish.

(2004-06.28)
The newest photos from Tranquebar are from inside Fort Dansborg - look in Pictures.
Others are seen below.


The newly restored little temple besides The Danish Governor's Bungalow which is seen to the left.	British Collectors House is soon finished. The restored building will from October 2004 be an exclusive hotel. Fort Dansborg is seen to the left.

(2004-05.31)
The general meeting on May 25th in the Tranquebar Associasion has ended. All board members were re-elected.
Last year in October the association decided to give H. M. The Danish Queen a gift because of the first given amount for the restoration work in Tranquebar. Her Majesty is very interested in archaeology and is following the project in Tranquebar.
The gift is a brooch of silver made by a silver smith in Karaikal and in the brooch there is an old coin from Tranquebar dated 1646. The coin has engraved the name of King Chr. IV. This gift together with the newest photos from the Tranquebar restoration work were handed over on May 25th 2004 in the royal castle "Amalienborg" in Copenhagen.
Shown below you will see some photos of the brooch, the silver smith and a drawing.
Row 1: Photos of K. Knudsen and R. Sankar.
Row 2: Photos of TV2Fyn.

Cover and reverse of a correspondingly coin from 1646.

(2004-04.23)

Recently a couple of Frederiksvaerk canons from 17xx are "found" in Phuket and they have surely come from Denmark via Tranquebar - quite interesting.

This is what one of the members of the Tranquebar Association - living in Bangkok, Thailand - wrote in a mail dated April 19th 2004.
It will be of interest to hear the story about this canons. If some of our readers should know something then please write a mail to webmaster.
There are some other places in Thailand with Frederiksvaerk canons.
Frederiksvaerk is a city name in Denmark. In this city there is a steel factory.
And in Government Museum in Chennai there are two very fine Frederiksvaerk canons.

FridricsWærck

The picture of the factory in 1773.

(2004-04.22)
Earlier this year some IAF-helicopters have circled overhead at Fort Dansborg. Now the following has been told:

The cable ship "R.V. Pacific Sword".

This is the information to the citizens in Tranquebar.
(Photos are sent by Sankar)

(2004-04.06)
The outside of Fort Dansborgs is now finished - even the yellow surface.
Inside the work is going on with the last rooms.
We soon hope to have some photos.

(2004-03.30)
Much work has been done for the past 2 weeks about the Governors Residence. Newspapers in Denmark and in India have written about this and about the visit of Princess Benedikte to Tranquebar. The articles in English is to be read in this site.

The members magazine will soon be published.

The members house "Flora Cottage" is nice after the restoration work. There has been an officially inauguration and some members of The Tranquebar Association already have stayed there.

(2004-03.16)
After a very hard week-end there now is the necessary amount from a sponsor to the restoration work of "The Danish Governors Bungalow". The final permission is given to "The Tranquebar Association" and the last documents will be ready in a very few days. Afterwards the work is going on with finding the exact drawings which tell about the building built in the period 1784-93.
The work will be done in co-operation with The Danish National Museum, Copenhagen.

On Sunday March 14th, 2004, Her Royal Highness Princess Benedikte visited Tranquebar on a private visit. We are honoured about her visit. The Princess is sister to the Danish Queen.

(2004-03.08)
Articles in Danish news papers are telling about the works in Tranquebar done and continued by the Tranquebar Association - now with a great interest from the National Museum.

(2004-03.07)


British Collectors House is soon finished then it will be a luxury hotel.	Danish Governors Residence which soon will be restored.

(2004-03-04)
The journey in January and February to Tranquebar, South India, went fine.
The restoration work Fort Dansborg has soon finished. It should be finished around April 1st 2004.

Also the work with the house Flora Cottage has soon finished.

A phone call to Tranquebar gives more information: The Fort Dansborg is soon finished - now the work with the yellow surface is going on.

The C.S.I.-Bishop has given a permission to The Tranquebar Association. This permission is for rebuilding the wall around the New Street Cemetery and for taking care of cleaning the churchyard etc.

The permission was given on March 1st via a fax-letter.

Friday March 5th 2004 at a meeting in Chennai at the Commissioner of Tourism The Tranquebar Association asked for a permission to renovate the very fine and most ruined building The Danish Governors Bungalow.
The permission is now given and when the amount has come to the association from sponsors, then the work will be started.

Lots of new things are brought back to Denmark from the Tranquebar area this time - literature and copies of books etc.
Prof. P. Maria Lazar, T.B.M.L.-College, mr. G. S. Thomas, Tanjavour and local people have for this work been an invaluable help - thanks to them.

(2004-01-19)
To-day a positive meeting between the promoters and the Danish national Museum took place in Copenhagen.
Both parts are very interesting in Tranquebar and things from the colonial time 1620 - 1845.

(2004-01-06)
More "cleaning photos" from Tranquebar are received to-day
At the Zion Church - no.6,
In Queen Street - no.7,
At Flora Cottage - no.8 og
Queen Street, Flora Cottage - no.9.
(Photos: R. Sankar)

(2004-01-05)
In Tranquebar the streets are going to be cleaned.
The Tranquebar Association has asked for street cleaning in Tranquebar town at the Tamil authorities. Now they have started the work. Exactly to-day they started and we are quick with the photos.
The woman on the photos is the chairman of Town Panchayat, Tranquebar, Mrs. Saraswathi.
See photos: Saraswathi and foreman - no.-1,
Same from Admiral Street - no.-2,
Nr.-3,
In Admiral Street - no.-4 and no-5.
(Photos: R. Sankar)

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