a violent, swirling current suddenly while underwater. Local camcorder footage showed the tsunami surging inland and flooding camping equipment at the Similan Islands while the tsunami caught tourists unaware at the Surin Islands, and dragging them out towards the sea. India The tsunami reached the states of Andhra Pradesh and Tamil Nadu along the southeastern coastline of the Indian mainland about 2 hours after the earthquake. At the same time, it arrived in the state of Kerala, on the southwestern coast. There were two to five tsunamis that coincided with the local high tide in some areas. The tsunami runup height measured in mainland India by Ministry of Home Affairs includes: at Kerala, inundation distance of with of coastline affected at the southern coastline of Tamil Nadu, inundation distance of with of coastline affected at the eastern coastline of Tamil Nadu facing tsunami source, inundation distance of with of coastline affected at Pondicherry, inundation distance of with of coastline affected at Andhra Pradesh, inundation distance of with of coastline affected Along the coast of Tamil Nadu, the Marina Beach in Chennai was battered by the tsunami which swept across the beach taking morning walkers unaware. Amateur video recorded taken at a resort beach showed the tsunami arriving as a large wall of water as it approached the coast and flooding it as it advanced inland. Besides that, a black muddy tsunami ravaged the city of Karaikal, where 492 people died. The city of Pondicherry, protected by seawalls was relatively unscathed. Local video recorded that before the arrival of the tsunami, people can be seen swarming the beach to check on stranded fish from the exposed beach. Furthermore, at the coastal town of Kanyakumari, the seabed was exposed briefly before a large wall of water can be seen on the horizon and subsequently flooding the town. Other footage showed the tsunami dramatically crashed into the Vivekananda Rock Memorial. The worst affected area in Tamil Nadu was Nagapattinam district, with 6,051 fatalities caused by a tsunami, followed by Cuddalore district, with many villages destroyed. Most of the people killed were members of the fishing community. Velankanni a sea shore town with a Catholic Basilica and a popular pilgrimage destination was also one of the worst hit by this tsunami that struck at around 9.30 am on that Sunday, when pilgrims who were mostly from Kerala among others were inside the church attending