Scenes of destruction greet visitors to Marina Beach in Chennai, the city's most famous landmark. In nearby Foreshore Estate, waves rose up to six metres and hit even the second floor of the tenements. The devastation wrought by the tsunamis was widespread across the coast. PTI quotes police and official sources as saying that in Nagapattinam alone, further down the coast, more than 1700 have perished, including 250 at Velankanni, which houses the famous shrine of Mother Mary.
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