CHENNAI, India, Dec. 26 (Xinhuanet) -- Five hundred grandpas and grandmas were holding candles marching along the long beach of Chennai, capital of South India's Tamil Nadu, dressed in white, the color Indian wear at funeral, as evening fell on the day of first anniversary of Tsunami.

    "We are coming here to remember the departed souls," said Shaw Fins, 63-year-old man taking part in the candle march, "We are lucky to be alive while so many died so young in Tsunami."

    India lost 12,405 lives in Tsunami last year while 5,640 were missing, 75 percent of whom were women and children.

    Along the 1,076-km coastline affected by last year's deadly wave, mourning, praying and peace marches were held in memory of Tsunami victims.

    Residents planted 6,065 trees along the seaside for each of thelives claimed by Tsunami in Nagapattinam district, 330 km away from Chennai, which reported the largest casualty last year.

    In Vailankanni, a small town known for Christian pilgrimage shrine, people built a monument at the graveyard where about 600 Tsunami victims were buried.

    A year after the nightmare day, the wound is healing up in 648 tsunami-affected villages but shadow is still lingering in local people's daily life and their heart.     

    PERMANENT SHELTERS MOST NEEDED

    Villagers at Samnthanpettai of Nagapattinam district, a small fishermen village, have moved into new houses a week before the anniversary, ending their year-long stay in temporary shelters which were walled by iron sheet and covered by palm leaves.

    "Having a new house, my family and I finally can settle down and do some plan for the future," said Ramesh, 28-year-old fisherman with a family of six others.

    Ramesh's new village is made up of 340 small pink houses, each with two rooms, one toilet, one kitchen and roof terrace. This is one of the rehabilitation projects jointly done by the government and non-governmental organizations. The district government offered the land and a humanitarian organization named Mata Amritanandamayi Math provided the fund and carried out the construction.

    But not everyone is as lucky as Ramesh. The whole Tamil Nadu victims need about 45,000 new houses but only 5,135 have been completed now.

    It will take time for the government to claim the lands for newhouses and poor transportation facilities and heavy rains, which hit the region in the past two months, also slowed down the projects, said Radhakrishnan, administrative chief of Nagapattinamdistrict.

    The government said it will take one more year to finish all the construction projects.

    FISHING HARBOR REVIVES BUT INCOME LOWERS

    Akkarapettai, a major fishing harbor in Nagapattinam, suffered severe damage in Tsunami as many fishing boats docked in the harbor when huge wave reached here.

    "The boat where I am working on was washed by the wave on shore 200 meters away," said Chinnasamy, steersman of a 15-meter-long boat.

    According to the Tamil Nadu government, about 7,000 engine boats and 30,000 barges were damaged in Tsunami, accounting for 80percent of the total fishing boats.

    A year after, the fishing harbor has returned to its normal way.About 300 boats were docking in the harbor now, lots of which werefairly new, while a new dam has just been completed.

    The government has granted compensation of 500,000 rupees (11,363 US dollars) for each fully-damaged engine boat and 300,000 rupees (6,818 US dollars) for partly damaged one, which geared therecovery of local fishing industry.

    Tsunami also forced local fishermen to adopt new shipbuilding technologies. Most of boats here had been made of wood and now many fishermen turned to steel boat in a bid to improve the capability against disasters.

    But most fishermen had gained less this year since they had missed the fishing season because of Tsunami and in months after Tsunami they did not catch as many as last year.

    "I went fishing five months after the Tsunami because my boat was damaged and need repairing. So I missed the best fishing season from January to May," said Arjunan, a local fisherman. He has earned about 10,000 rupees (227 US dollars) this year, down from 25,000 rupees (568 US dollars) last year.    

    PSYCHOLOGICAL UNREST STILL THERE

    The beach of Kalpakkam, a small town along Tamil Nadu coast, was quiet -- oddly quiet as rows of houses stood along the seasidebut neither a human or dog was in sight.

    Actually the whole seaside community has been empty for almost a year since their owners were evacuated because of Tsunami.

    The small town, home to employees and their families of Kalpakkam nuclear plant, has restored all damaged facilities soon after the disaster, unlike its neighboring fishermen's villages. All the houses flooded by the killer wave have been fixed and repainted and ready to accommodate residents.

    But few returned.

    "People are not ready to live here again," said Nishath, a local resident. "It will take more time for them to face the nightmare and get rid of lingering worry about Tsunami coming again."

    After Tsunami, the non-government organizations have brought psychologists to help local people overcome the fear and pressure caused by the horrible disaster. Some had started special swimmingclasses for kids to help them overcome the fear of water.

    But it seems a year is still too short to get everything back to its place. Enditem