Former American President Bill Clinton visited Nagaipattinam district of Tamil Nadu on Friday.
Nagaipattinam was the worst affected district in the tsunami that struck coastal India on December 26, 2004. More than six thousand people lost their lives here.
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Hundreds lost their homes and means of livelihood. This district alone requires 26,000 new homes to accommodate people who are now housed in temporary shelters along the coast.
Clinton is in Tamil Nadu as an ambassador of the United Nations tsunami relief programme which covers India, Sri Lanka, Indonesia and Thailand.
In Nagapattinam, Clinton visited the collectorate where a photo exhibition was put up for his visit. The exhibition showed the magnitude of the destruction caused by the tsunami.
The exhibition also highlighted measures taken by the Tamil Nadu government and NGOs.
Clinton was also informed about special measures that were taken for women and children.
He visited the NGO coordination centre in the collectorate and saw products made by the women's self help groups.
The UN ambassador also toured the temporary shelters and saw its facilities, including the psychological support centre.
He visited an anganwadi and interacted the children there and spoke to a few families.
Later, addressing a press conference Clinton said he was very happy with the level of cooperation between government agencies and NGOs.
He was curious to know how old Nagapattinam district collector J Radhakrishnan was and praised him and the department for their work.
The 37-year-old collector, in turn, said that the former American president was more than satisfied with what he saw before he left for Sri Lanka.
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