Every morning, fisherman Mariappan carries a pot of water to a patch of land enclosed by fishing nets near the sea in south India and pours it around a sapling which carries the name of his dead wife. It is one of several dozen coconut and casuarina saplings planted on the beach last week and each one has the name of a resident of the fishing village killed by the Dec. 26 tsunami.

The nursery has been named the “Garden of the Tsunami Dead” and residents of Seruthur hope it will shield them if the sea erupts violently ever again like it did last month and killed more than 160 people here and almost 16,000 across India. “The plant reminds me of her,” says the frail, 60-year-old who lost his wife, daughter and five grandchildren, pointing at the coconut sapling which carries a small green board bearing his wife’s name, Thangaponnu. “I will take care of it,” he adds, looking at it longingly. “She was buried in a mass grave and there is nothing to mark her resting place. At least this sapling has a spot of its own.” The sapling is one of thousands authorities in Tamil Nadu are planting, aware too late the devastation could have been reduced by natural barriers such as palm groves.

The saplings, which will grow into trees over the next four to five years, along with a planned wall along the coast, will provide a buffer against possible tsunamis and storm surges. To help ensure the young plants are nurtured, authorities asked villagers to adopt one for each dead relative and name it after them to protect future generations. “We plan to spend more than two billion rupees ($45 million) over the next year or two and plant saplings at vulnerable places along the coast,” Tamil Nadu Forest Minister M. Vaidyalingam told Reuters. “Initially, they will be nurtured by relatives of the dead and later the forest department and women’s self-help groups in villages will jointly manage them.”

<B>Y.P. Rajesh</B>