Devanampattinam (AsiaNews/CBCI) – The Indian Caritas has completed the construction of 648 new homes for survivors of the tsunami which struck on 26 December 2004. The houses have been handed over to more than 700 families in Devanampattinam, a coastal village in Tamil Nadu.

Fr John L. Noronha, executive director of Caritas India, said the homes "are an expression of the church's love for the survivors" and he thanked the Pondicherry Multipurpose Social Service Society, which contributed to their construction.

Surjit Singh Barnala, governor of this southern Indian state, participated in the handing over ceremony together with the district magistrate, Shri Bedi. Both "praised and expressed gratitude for the efforts and commitment of the church for those who lost everything in the seaquake".

The Catholic organisation is at work with the communities of more than 300 villages in Tamil Nadu, Andra Pradesh,  Kerala and the Andaman and Nicobar islands, to rebuild around 20,000 homes destroyed by the freak wave, which killed more than 100 people in Devanampattinam alone.