Tidal waves killed almost 1,200 Andhra Pradesh

Hyderabad, Dec 26: In the worst ever natural disaster that struck several coastal districts of Tamil Nadu and neighbouring Pondicherry on Sunday, at least 1,200 persons were killed and several hundreds missing when Tsunami tidal waves swept through these areas, bringing in its wake largescale devastation and destruction triggered by a powerful earthquake in Indonesia wreaked havoc along the 1,000-km coastline of Andhra Pradesh this morning, official sources said here.

Meanwhile, state Finance Minister K Rossiah told newspersons at the secretariat here: “We are in touch with the district collectors of the coastal districts and all of them have been asked to take up rescue operations on war-footing.” He added “The impact of the damage is yet to be ascertained.�?

Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister Y S Reddy and Revenue Minister Prasad Rao would visit the affected areas this afternoon to take stock of the situation, the sources added.

People from other areas in and around the city experienced vibrations for few seconds, prompting them to rush out of their houses, official sources said here.

In Port Blair, panick stricken citizens ran out of their houses as the entire Andaman and Nicobar Islands were jolted this morning by an earthquake of moderate intensity.

The vibrations were felt between 6.30 to 7 AM which led to flooding of some areas in the city like Aberden Jetty area as well as some places in Nicobar Islands also, official sources said.

All districts were put on high alert because more tremors were likely in the next 24 hours, he said. The district administrations were directed to evacuate villages near the sea and take precautionary measures.

Reddy said Prime Minister Manmohan Singh had authorised him to take the help of the armed forces for rescue and relief operations.

“The prime minister assured me of all help from the central government,” Reddy said before leaving for with Finance Minister K Rosaiah for an aerial survey of affected areas in Prakasam, Guntur and Krishna districts.