My wife and the team she is with are finally back within internet range and have sent the first batch of pictures from Tamilnadu. Fr. Leo Michael writes:

In the village of Seruthur, the destruction was especially devastating. Villagers, with fear and hopelesness in their eyes sat in the middle of what was left of their homes...maybe one half of a wall, or a few remnant bricks from the foundations remained. Massive chunks of homes seemed to have been chewed off by the giant wave and spat out in another area. The villagers cried when they shared their stories of loss--life, home, livelihood. Most of the villager’s homes were wiped out. Kids fished debris out of the sea--pieces of metal they planned to haul into town in hope of getting some small change. Tiny sandals, schoolbooks, clothes, bricks and so much debris littered the seashore. Coconut trees were uprooted. A water pump stood 30 feet in the air; it was exposed where otherwise earth would have covered it to its handle. Boats were smashed in pieces miles from the shoreline.

In Nambiar Nagar, the starting point of tsunamis fury, we came upon a group of about a dozen men sitting in the remnant of a tsunami destroyed boat. When they saw us with our cameras, they made comments that many have come to take pictures, but no one has helped them. One man said, "We have no tears left to cry." Nearly each man had lost his mother or father, wife or a child. All lost their livelihood, as the wreckage of boats, strewn all over the village gave witness to their plight.

The picture below is about one-fifth of the harbor in Naggapatinam. This was taken some three weeks after the tsunami. All of the pictures can be viewed here.