Though seismologists say there is very little probability of this country being hit with tsunamis like the ones which devastated parts of Asia last Sunday-or of being hit by a tsunami at all-all Ramdass can think about is an image of water higher than the mango tree in his front yard, killing him and everyone else in the area.

And, he is not alone in his fear.

All along the east coast of Trinidad last week, the Sunday Express met with villagers between Guayaguayare and Sangre Grande, all of whom knew of the deadly tsunamis

And, with one eye on the calm blue sea, the residents admitted a genuine fear that they would stand no chance of surviving if the waves came.

Prime Minister Patrick Manning's comments during the week only served to reinforce that fear.

During a meeting last Tuesday (28 Dec 2004) with the various disaster relief agencies, Manning said, he asked them to consider the possibility of an earthquake off Trinidad's east coast bringing a tidal wave three miles inland and releasing oil and gas from the sea floor, and also the scenario of a sub-sea volcano off Grenada erupting and sending a tsunami rolling onto Trinidad's east and north coast shores.

Jennifer Lindsay, 49, and her 11 children live on State-owned land in a small squatting community at Pt Galeota, the headquarters of the multi-billion-dollar petroleum company, bpTT.

Just over the hill, she can hear the crashing of the sea.

She has no electricity at her home to power such things as a television or radio, but she knows all about the killer waves.

"I am past frightened, because if it happens we can't do nothing about it, right. Only God can do the stopping," Lindsay told the Sunday Express.

She is, however, advocating that a tsunami warning system be established.

"If this can cause that kind of destruction, if we could at least try to run then it worth something," she remarked.

But fisherman Occiv White, 66, was not as optimistic.

"We dead, dead, dead," he said, as he lay in his boat at Sea Wall, Guayaguayare, discussing the topic with villagers.

"We are the fishermen out at sea, hundreds of we, and we would be the first to die," he explained.

When the Sunday Express arrived on the scene, the fishermen and other villagers were already in discussion about tsunamis.

White has fished all his life and said he has seen waves higher than his pirogue, and the sea water reaching the level of the Guayaguayare Road-ten feet above its normal level.

"But they saying this thing 30 feet high man? And going miles into land? Where we going to run? It have no hills here," he added.

Fisherman Francis St Louis said he had read about the tsunami warning devices set up in the Pacific Ocean.

"They need this here to give us a chance, but scientists can't stop time or tide," he said.

Lennard Ramey, also a fisherman, said that just about all of the 3,000 people living on Trinidad's heel could see the sea, "but what about the thousands of people working at bpTT and all them (service) companies? What would happen if the wave destroy that place? It will be water, and oil and fire for us".

Between Pierreville and La Brea Village, Mayaro, there has been an unprecedented level of development along the coast, with guest houses, beach resorts, seaside restaurants, and villas being erected.

At the high tide during a full moon, the waters already lap at the doorstep of some of these buildings, which are almost all occupied by local 'tourists' during weekends and school holidays.

Ashmead Mohammed sat under a coconut tree at Church Street, watching his wife and two sons frolic on the beach.

He said: "Every chance we get, we come to Mayaro. But is the first time I see so little people around. People like they scared of what they see on TV. But this can't happen here. We blessed. Remember (Hurricane) Ivan?"

But don't tell that to parlour owner Wendy Gould, whose home is located on sand close to the beach at St Ann's Village.

"I have thought about it, and I have realised you can't do nothing about it (except) if the Government could give us some warning. It will give us at least a chance," Gould said.

If a killer wave comes, the only village with a real chance of survival may be Ortoire Village, a community of about 2,000 people living at the mouth of a river near Pt Radix, a spit of land pushing into the sea and rising higher than all the land on the east coast.

Most of that land is owned by Graham Scott, and he has volunteered to be like the biblical Noah.

Most of the coast, he said, "is low and flat, and at times water already crosses the road from the sea. Pt Radix is 300 feet above the level of the sea. I suppose it could survive a tidal wave. If there was a warning and there was a chance, the whole village could come up here".

Estate care-taker Eddie Rodriguez said since the Asian disaster, "I've been asking myself the question 'how many people could we handle on the estate'-because the whole of Radix would be headed here".

Among the first to be swept away would be the community of Kernaham, a village of gardeners and fishermen located along the Manzanilla Road, on the fringes of the Nariva Swamp.

The village was located less than a foot above sea level, said homeowner Rosey Jagdeo.

"Since we hear about this wave, nobody comfortable. We going to die. We would float away to the next side of the country. All these people around here would die, all their children," she lamented.

There are 142 families living at Kernaham Village, and Vernon Bridgelal can remember the fear of the community back in 1984.

"The water came over from the sea, crossed the road, filled our lagoon, killed everything, damaging the swamp. Can they build a wall or something? We have no high land here to run to. We will have to die," he said.

Also in the path of destruction will be the Nariva Swamp, designated in 1993 as a wetland of international importance and already threatened with salt water intrusion.

The 32-square mile swamp, bordered inland by Biche and Plum Mitan villages, is home to more than 150 species of birds, 59 species of mammals, including the endangered West Indian Manatee.

Ramdass, who has never liked the sea much, has already seen it destroying the swamp-but now the Fishing Pond resident's worry is greater.