Chennai Couple, who survived Tsunami, facing cyclone Nivar in the same relief center

Chennai, Nov 26: "We are hoping we have to stay here only tonight and can go back tomorrow but we are not sure if we will have a home to go back to," says Umarani.

Sixteen years later, ahead of the landfall of Cyclone Nivar, fate brought the couple, who survived Tsunami, to the same relief center, which is a government higher secondary school for girls, along with seven others.

In 2004, when Tsunami hit the coastal belt of Puducherry and Tamil Nadu, Shivalingam just managed to get to the shore after fishing in the sea.

By the time, his family, wife Umarani and their two sons, shifted to the nearby relief center in Kalapet.

"Earlier communication was not this quick. I remember seeing dead bodies all around. Now there is television, there is mobile phone. Information is passed on quickly. We came here as soon as the authorities asked us to move. Ensuring our lives are not lost is most important," says 70-year-old Shivalingam to News18.

Shivalingam and his 65-year-old wife, with high blood pressure and diabetes respectively, wait for government's food packets at the school.

By Wednesday night, twenty more people joined them as the rain and winds intensified along this coastal belt.