Dhanushkodi cyclone victims remembered

Revenue officials, members of the fishing community and leaders of various political parties assembled near the dilapidated Sivan temple and the historic Portuguese Church in Dhanushkodi, and offered prayers. They later sprinkled flower petals into the sea as a mark of remembrance to those who lost their lives in one of the biggest tragedies that struck coastal town of Dhanushkodi in Rameswaram Island in 1964.

Till the cyclone struck, Dhanushkodi town was an important transit point for India and Sri Lanka, and remained as a commercial centre with necessary infrastructure facilities. An estimated wind velocity of 280 km per hour and tidal waves as high as 23 feet swept Dhanushkodi on the night of December 22 and 23, 1964, killing hundreds of people.

Besides, the Pamban-Dhanushkodi passenger train that entered the Dhanushkodi railway station with 110 passengers and five railway staff was washed away in the tidal waves, killing all the 115 people. After nature fury, residents abandoned the town and it was declared as a ghost town unfit for living. After the cyclone, the leftover buildings, including the dilapidated Sivan Temple, Roman Catholic Church, Customs office, post office and a Stupi erected in 1933 still stand as a testimony to fury of the nature.

Dhanushkodi attracts a large number of tourists after the National Highways Authority of India completed the 9.5 km-long road from Mukuntharayar Chathiram to Dhanushkodi and from Dhanushkodi to Arichalmunai.