Tsunami News

DECEMBER 2004

Relief not reaching needy

Published by NDTV

Received from WILHELM KLEIN
wilhelmklein@web.de

31 Dec 2004

Much of the relief sent to the Andaman and Nicobar islands has not reached largely because many jetties and harbours have been damaged and ships have not been available to ferry the material.

The islands, once a picture of beauty, are now a reminder of the killer tsunami waves. With practically everything destroyed, the government's efforts to provide relief have also taken a blow.

Disturbing statistics: Figures available with NDTV show that while relief material has been gathered in plenty, it has not reached those who need it in the far-flung islands. Instead, most of it is accumulating in Port Blair.

109 million tonnes of food items have been gathered, but less than half, only just over 53.3 metric tonnes have been delivered.

93 metric tonnes of water has been collected but a bare minimum - only 8.5 MT - has been delivered.

67 metric tonnes of emergency medicines and disinfectants important to prevent epidemics has been gathered, but only 34 metric tonnes has been sent

Mammoth task: Overall, out of all the relief material gathered, only 22 per cent has actually been delivered.

"The problem is that bridges have been damaged, so you can't take these things by road. Airstrips are affected and the harbour is not operational," said KP Sigh, Additional Secretary, Home Ministry.

urrently, helicopters from Port Blair are doing daily sorties to the islands, but the government says it may take another few days before large scale relief can be distributed to those who need it the most.

Jungle-dwellers helped injured survive

by JUSTIN HUGGLER

Received from WILHELM KLEIN
wilhelmklein@web.de

31 December 2004 I

Michael Paul survived for two days in the jungle, despite being unable to walk. He lived on coconuts and sweet potatoes and drank coconut water. Aboriginal inhabitants of the island showed him and his fellow Indian police officers how to live off the fruits of the jungle.

As survivors are rescued from India's remote Andaman and Nicobar Islands, extraordinary stories are beginning to emerge of how they clung to life on islands where all traces of modern civilisation had been wiped out by the tsunami.

Constable Paul was one of six Indian police officers serving a three-month tour of duty on the island of Chowra, which was home to about 1,500 people. More than 900 are still missing.

"When the wave hit, the wall of the building I was in collapsed on me," Constable Paul. "The wave went 3km in to the jungle from the coast, but when it drew out to sea the force lifted the wall back off me. As I was dragged out to sea I grabbed hold of a tree and it saved me."

Constable Paul was badly injured, his hip smashed and his face and body grazed raw. Fellow officers got him into the jungle but they had no link to the outside world. "I didn't even have any clothes," Constable Paul said. "My clothes were dragged off me by the sea."

The officers had no idea how to survive in the jungle, but locals helped. "They have these sweet potatoes that grow naturally in the jungle. I had never eaten them before, but the tribal people showed us how to get them. You eat them raw."

Finally, two days later, Constable Paul was evacuated by helicopter to Port Blair, the capital of the Andamans, where he is being treated in hospital.

The Indian government's claims that the death toll in the Andamans and Nicobars could be as low as 3,000 are looking more and more hollow. More than 10,000 people are unaccounted for on the island of Car Nicobar alone. One aid worker said he believed the real death toll could be as high as 15,000.

Car Nicobar, where several villages were obliterated, has dominated news coverage, but it is not the only affected island. M.T. Naidu told yesterday how he too had to survive for three days in remote jungle on the island of Little Andaman.

Mr Naidu, who as also injured, said: "My wife had to walk 4km through the jungle to fill a little bottle of water and bring it back to us."

Mr Naidu described scenes of devastation on the Hut Bay coast of Little Andaman, where he lived. "For 14km from the coast everything has totally collapsed: buildings, trees, everything," he said. "There are 7,000 people still there in the hills, waiting to be rescued.

"I have lived in Little Andaman for 30 years but tomorrow I am going back to the mainland. I had a good life, I had a good house, a TV - now it's all gone, in two minutes."

On another ward a boy lies wrapped tightly in a blanket. Hilary, who is 14 years old, and his brother were with his mother on Car Nicobar. His father was working on another island, and an elder brother in Port Blair.

Hilary's mother and brother died when the tsunami hit Car Nicobar. Running away, he broke his leg on a rock but he clung to a coconut palm as the wave wrought destruction all around. He clung to it for hour after hour - he is not sure how long, but says he was still holding on to the tree in the evening, although the tsunami hit in the morning.

Status report on Little Andaman

by Anjan Biswas and R. K. Purgrampradhan
Published by SANE (Society for Andaman and Nicobar Ecology), Port Blair

31 Dec 2004

East side mostly affected

Western side-status unknown

0-14 km totally destroyed

99% of houses destroyed

Breakwater broken into 2 pieces

Passenger jetty collapsed

14 km butler bay totally washed off

co-orperative bank-washed off

State bank of India-intact

First rescue ship,coast guard Akkadevi , departed 29/12 at 1400 hrs

400 rescued

73 Ongee taken from B K Pur to shelter at R K Pur school ground

Till now administration officials have surveyed hutbay alone and Nethaji Nagar has not been visited yet

On 29th Dec only 8 packages were dropped in Little Andaman

25000 people have shortage of food-currently most are staying in dilapidated buildings

500 families /2000 people immediately need clothes, shelter only Nethaji Nagar and Harminder bay have a water crisis the rest of little Andaman seems to have no water problems

No cattle known alive

Suggestions from refugees:

Most accessible part of Little Andaman is now Butler Bay beach ,where LCU crafts can anchor and supply relief

Communications is now nil, facilites urgently needed

Emergency medical staff is also urgently needed

Evacuation still needed for sick and injured

Crocodiles are feeding on the corpses and are becoming aggressive, so much so that they are approaching places where people exist and have taken refuge.

30 Dec 2004

According to refuges from Hatidera

Hutbay, houses destroyed 500-600

Only 3-4 concrete buildings intact

Total number of deaths witnessed 50-60

Anna Nagar school 50% destroyed

Society godown destroyed, 50% of rice lost

Roads completyly destroyed

Shiping corporation office still intact

Power house equipment spoilt due to flood

Power house building intact

Govt Guest house destroyed

State bank building partially intact

Drinking water source, every house has own well /water now saline

Report From jetty

Total no of families 2000

Deaths upt o 1500, majority corporation employees

5000 people yet to be evacuated

Water from white surf water fall

Report from Machidera

Tatal no of families 200

No of deaths 3

Drinking water-municipal pipeline-broke and well water became saline

Roads completely destroyed

Need assessment and field report

Published by SEEDS (Sustainable Environment and Ecological Development Society)
http://www.seedsindia.org

Received from KALPAVRIKSH
Mr. Pankaj Sekhsaria
Apt. 5, Sri Dutta Krupa
908 Deccan Gymkhana,
Pune 411004
Tel: 020 - 25654239 / 25675450
Fax: 25654239
E-mail: pankaj@leadindia.org

31 Dec 2004

Field Report from Andamans

The SEEDS field assessment team reached Tamil Nadu on 27 December. We realised that there are some credible NGOs extending aid there. Meanwhile the toll in Andaman and Nicobar was rising and no assistance had reached there due to logistics problems. As such, we moved to the Andamans on 28 December and started relief operations here. Our update is below.

1. We are continuing our relief activities in the two relief camps in Port Blair where evacuees from three locations - Hutbay, Campbell bay, Nancowrie and Car Nicobar Island are being given shelter. These relief camps are being run in Nirmala school and School Line, both in Port Blair, where we have more than 1300 people in the camps right now and more keep coming in. People in the relief camps are being provided shelter, food, toilets and basic cleanliness and sanitation services.

2. Nicobar area is worst hit. The people were washed out, and these being islands in the middle of the ocean, many bodies did not wash back ashore. From back calculations (by counting heads and assuming missing persons as dead), the rough estimates of casualties are about 15,000 in this group of islands alone. Most of the evacuees from these islands are coconut farmers or run piggeries back on their islands.

3. The administration is still evacuating people from vulnerable areas and bringing them to Port Blair under fear of another tsunami. A false alert caused great panic yesterday.

4. There is still no other NGO doing relief work in Andaman and Nicobar. Some NGOs have come for reconnaissance work. There are two more camps being run in Port Blair, both by the administration. Only the administration and some small local groups are working. They are grossly inadequate.

5. There is damage in Port Blair in terms of infrastructure. The administration is busy with putting things back in place. These are primarily facilities that have been damaged, like communications, roads, airport and jetty.

6. We may take up a third relief camp if required.7. There is an acute shortage of water as the pipe from the dam to the treatment plant has got damaged and not being repaired yet. We are not yet able to sort the problem of water and trying to get some technical expertise on the same.

8. We have put up tents, and are operating the kitchen, distributing food, organising local transport of material, and providing sanitation facilities. We need continued supply of basic provisions to carry this on, and need additional provisions like disposable plates etc. People need other specific things of basic necessity such as soap, towels, foot slippers, bedsheets, torches, and bags to keep their belongings in. These are not available locally and will need to be transported to Port Blair by air urgently.

9. Taking relief from the mainland is a difficult process. Moving to remote islands is virtually impossible. For the time being SEEDS will run the two relief camps for evacuees in Port Blair.

10. Lakshmi, our logistics officer in the Delhi office accompanied by Sumati, a volunteer from ERM Delhi, is now in Chennai and procured our first load of commodities: soap, toothpaste and towels. This consignment is at the airport waiting to be airlifted. More relief material has been procured today and is currently being packed. It includes foot slippers and torches. The team will deliver this second consignment at the airport tonight and try to get it airlifted tomorrow. Tomorrow they will procure bedsheets and also bags for the evacuees to keep their belongings in.

11. The mission running the Nirmala School is very efficient and is playing a good role in management of the camp. We have provided tents, toilets etc. here and are extending full support for other things. The second camp also is running well now. Yuva Shakti, a local voluntary group is assisting us us, and 20 volunteers are working round the clock to improve and manage the camp.

12. Facilities like T.V , Radio and News Papers are being provided to the people in the camps.

13. Psychosocial Counselling to the victims has been started. Ms. Kanan, the owner of a local restaurant "Annaporna" is organising this with her team.

14. We are also tying up with local cultural groups for organising cultural evenings in the camps.

15. We have mobilised National Cadet Corps youth for monitoring the securityand food supplies.

16. The District Administration has requested SEEDS to do a damage assessment and submit a report. We are organising a technical team for this.We will extend all possible cooperation to the District Administration as they are under tremendous pressure right now.

17. SEEDS has initiated its step towards taking up housing reconstructionwork in the Islands. For this we have started some data action. Map Action from U.K. is supporting us on mapping the islands on which we intend to start work. At noon today our team also had a coordination meeting with the District Collector for discussions on the further steps.

18. Many concerned persons are contacting us from India and abroad through our Delhi office to find out about their friends or family missing in the Andamans. We are putting up the details of missing persons on a common board at a central location, and also get them aired on local radio. Any information required for any missing person in Andaman and Nicobar Islands can be mailed to us at info@seedsindia.org with details and photograph of the person and his/ her last whereabouts known.

19. We are also getting offers from many volunteers willing to work for relief. We do not need them in Port Blair as there is shortage of accommodation, high cost of transport, and we are currently depending on local volunteers. We have up a volunteer roster on our website wherefrom any NGO needing support can directly access these volunteers. These volunteers include doctors.

Current indications of needs in Andaman and Nicobar are as follows:

Short Term
a. Drinking Water
b. Soap and toiletteries
c. Towels
d. Bedsheets
e. Torches and batteries
f. Foot slippers
g. Expandable bags
h. Tents

Mid Term
i. Beddings
k. Utensils
l. Housing
m. Livelihood re-establishment

Long Term
n. Community facilities
o. Disaster Mitigation and Preparedness programmes

We will try to wind up the relief camps by around 10 January, and facilitate the movement of the people back to their islands. By then we have to start planning assistance for reconstruction of houses and community facilities.

The Indian Navy sends relief for tsunami-struck Andaman and Nicobar islands

via WILHELM KLEIN
wilhelmklein@web.de

31 Dec 2004

The Indian Navy continued dispatching relief material for the tsunami-struck Andaman and Nicobar isles today in areas literally cut off from rest of the world.

Officials said that they were trying to overcome the problem by carrying relief in small boats. "We carry tanks with us and other small crafts which is required for our operations. There is a huge problem at hand, the jetties most of them have been damaged at hands. Notwithstanding we are launching LCs which are small boats and transferring by and large so we can go there and drop provisions there," Lt. Commander Bose, logistics commander of Indian navy, said.

The government has reduced its toll of dead and feared dead from the tsunami to 10,736 from 13,268 after almost 3,000 people listed as feared dead in the Andamans were accounted for. The remote Andaman and Nicobar Islands, lie closer to the epicentre of Sunday's quake than the Indian mainland. But the relief operations have been hampered by the massive destruction of jetties.

Local reports said that aid was still to reach survivors in Port Blair tonnes of relief material lay at an airbase in Car Nicobar Island that bore the brunt of the waves, as authorities had few vehicles and the main road link was disrupted.

Aid workers in the Andamans said they feared an outbreak of disease because many rotting corpses still lay half-buried in the sand in dozens of devastated coastal villages. Some of the more than 550 islands, of which only about three dozen are inhabited, are so remote that authorities have been struggling to measure the exact death toll. In total, Sunday's tsunami has claimed some 124,000 lives in 13 countries across Asia and Africa. (ANI)

The situation in the Nicobars

by SURESH SESHADRI
Published by Reuters

Received from WILHELM KLEIN
wilhelmklein@web.de

30 Dec 2004

Rescuers yesterday reached some of the last of India's remote Andaman and Nicobar villages, areas largely untouched by the modern world, where survivors have lived off coconuts since Sunday's tsunamis.

On the island of Car Nicobar, where about 6,000 people are feared dead, dazed Nicobarese tribespeople emerge from the trees as the army pushed into the interior.

Staring blankly, drawn, exhausted, and barely speaking, they show little emotion or relief at the arrival of the first help after three days of living mainly on coconuts and camping on the tiny island's only high ground.

''Everything is gone. We have nothing left, not even a slipper," said Nathan, a 56-year-old father of eight. ''First the ground shook, and we thought the earth was going to swallow us up. But then the sea came, and it came so fast I barely had time to ask my wife to gather our children and run."

The Red Cross said yesterday the death toll from the tsunami waves could pass 100,000 once the full extent of the devastation in the Indian islands becomes known.

Dozens of aftershocks continue to hit the Andaman and Nicobar islands, bordering Burma and Indonesia, and islanders terrified that the tremors could trigger more giant waves are living on high ground or sleeping on mattresses in the streets of the capital, Port Blair.

As each new tremor shakes Car Nicobar, the anxious tribespeople rush to open ground.

Authorities fear 7,000 have died in the cluster of more than 550 islands, but have yet to reach all of the three dozen inhabited isles. They hope to do that by today.

On Car Nicobar, the acrid stench of rotting flesh -- human, fish, and livestock -- hangs over shattered villages where nothing remains but brick footings of huts, a carpet of torn palm thatch, and half-buried possessions.

Early signs are the toll on Car Nicobar may not be as bad as first feared. Reuters visited about 10 villages yesterday, and each headman reported only a few dozen dead or missing.

One in every five inhabitants in the entire Nicobar group of islands is either dead, injured, or missing," said territory Police Chief S. B. Deol. At least 50,000 people live in the Nicobars, at the southern end of the chain. ''The situation in some of the islands we managed to establish contact with is indeed very, very grim. People have been living on coconuts . . . and the coconuts are not going to last forever. We need to reach food urgently to these people."

Aircraft dropping emergency supplies report only a third or half the residents of some islands can be accounted for.

Stench leads rescuers to bodies

Received from WILHELM KLEIN
wilhelmklein@web.de

30 Dec 2004

Even as the people of the isolated Andaman and Nicobar islands told harrowing tales of fending off starvation and hungry crocodiles thrown ashore by the towering tsunami, they vowed on Thursday to go back to their tiny islands and start all over again.

"We are broken, but this is not the end of life," said George Aberdeen, whose village on the remote Car Nicobar island was washed away on Sunday. "We will rebuild our lives. It will be difficult - but the whole family will do it together."

But just how many villages and families remain is unclear.

According to the International Red Cross, 30 000 people may be missing on the remote island chains southeast of India's mainland. More than 50 aftershocks have struck since Sunday's 9.0 magnitude temblor and subsequent tsunamis along the coastlines of 11 Asian nations.

The administrator for the islands, Lieutenant Governer Ram Kapse, said 400 bodies had been cremated or buried and that 3 000 were still missing. On Wednesday, he said at least 10 000 people were believed missing.

Island authorities have so far barred representatives of international aid groups such as Oxfam, Doctors Without Borders and CARE from going to the islands.

Rescuers on Thursday followed the stench of death to find rotting bodies in jungles on the remote territory comprised of more than 500 islands. About 350 000 people live on about 30 of the islands.

"There's not a single hut which is standing," Mohammad Yusef, a 60-year-old fisherman.

Yusef said he and his extended family of 20 walked some 20km to a devastated, but functioning airfield where thousands were being evacuated by the air force.

He said there were about 15 small villages on Car Nicobar's coastline; all were destroyed.

"Everything is gone. Most of the people have gone up to the hills and are afraid to come down," Yusef said.

At another makeshift refugee centre, Nirmala Convent School, papier mache stars were still strung from the Christmas Mass. Hundreds sat under blue plastic tarps, as women in white saris served bowls of rice and lentils.

Tried to run ahead of the water

Langley Matenga, 50, a coconut farmer and Aberdeen's brother-in-law, spoke of how he and his family of 10 ran from the waves that spread out over their village, Mallaca, where some 500 Hindu, Muslim and Christian families lived together.

"We were trying to run ahead of the water. When we turned around, all the houses were gone," said Matenga, an indigenous Nicobarese. "Within five minutes, everything was gone."

"The rescue parties are approaching inch by inch," Rao said. "There is also a lot of stench. From the stench, they are trying to follow the direction to the bodies."

Helicopters took off from 10 ships patrolling the vicinity of the islands on Thursday, carrying out intensive reconnaissance sorties for any signs of life, or mounds of dead, but it was difficult to see through the thick foliage.

_____________

This is the heart-shattering tale of a man who was about to get the love and reunion that he dreamt of for more than a decade when killer waves shattered his hopes.

From the time he eloped with his girlfriend from Tamil Nadu, taxi owner E Ravi's in-laws refused to accept him or their daughter's marriage to him. So angry were they that his wife's parents constantly coaxed her to leave him.

Finally a few weeks ago, just after the fifth birthday of their only son, Ravi's in-laws finally relented and came to visit them in this Andaman and Nicobar Islands capital for the very first time.

Then, two days after they arrived in Port Blair, his mother-in-law and father-in-law went for a visit to the Nicobar Islands and the tsunamis came.

"I cannot believe they are dead," whispered Ravi, sitting in his empty taxi. "They just cannot be. They cannot be."

They have been missing for three days now, along with thousands of others in Car Nicobar, the worst hit among the Bay of Bengal archipelago's islands.

Too close to have any chance at all

by JUSTIN HUGGLER

Received from WILHELM KLEIN
wilhelmklein@web.de

31 Dec 2004

Rescuers in India's Andaman and Nicobar isles are struggling to assess the tsunami toll in areas untouched by the modern world.

Their biggest problem is reaching isolated villages on the remote islands, some home to fierce, stone age tribal people.

The area close to the epicentre of the great earthquake that spawned the tsunami is one of the most remote places in the world. Nobody knows how many died there, or whether there are survivors in desperate need of assistance.

On Car Nicobar, the worst affected island anybody knows about, half the population is missing. That is 10,000 people unaccounted for, on one island alone. But many of them may not be dead. Thousands fled deep into the jungle to escape the tsunami, and are still too afraid to come out.

Even on the islands that teams have been able to reach, the interiors are such dense jungle that it is impossible to get a complete picture. Helicopters are constantly flying over the islands, trying to spot groups of survivors so relief can be sent to them.

The Andamans and Nicobars are an archipelago of some 572 islands, most uninhabited. You can reach Port Blair, the administrative capital, easily enough, though the runway is damaged and the pilot has to slam the brakes on hard when you land. But most of the rest of the inhabited islands are usually only accessible by boat.

Officials thought there were no survivors at all on Kathcha island, but many of the missing from there have turned up alive on a neighbouring island. Nobody knows how they got there.

On Kharta, there are 571 missing, but only eight bodies have been found.

The one thing that is clear is the devastating effect of the tsunami. One island, Trinkat, has effectively been broken in two. Low-lying ground in the middle of the island is completely submerged, splitting Trinkat into two separate islands.

Survivors from Car Nicobar spoke of entire villages wiped out of existence by the tsunami, leaving not a trace when the waters receded.

The island was so close to the epicentre of the earthquake that there was no delay between the quake and the tsunami, such as survivors described in Sri Lanka or the south Indian mainland. The wave arrived almost immediately after the ground stopped shaking.

Caspar James is one of the survivors. Yesterday he told the extraordinary story of Car Nicobar from a secondary school in Port Blair where refugees have been given shelter.

"Around 6.30am suddenly there was an earthquake," he said. "And it was continuous, the earth was shaking for two or three minutes. We ran out of the house into the fields.

"The earthquake subsided, and three minutes after that a huge wave came from the sea. I didn't see the wave but I heard the sound. It was a tremendous sound, horrifying.

"Most of the people didn't know about the danger of the tsunami, but I was a geography student and I knew the danger. As soon as I heard that sound I told my family, 'Get up into the hills.' When we got up there, we saw the wave. It was 20 feet [6m] high. There was so much floating in it, entire trees. We thought the island was going to sink.

"There is nothing left of my house now. It wasn't a shack, it was a proper concrete house. There were 2500 people in Malacca, our village. The whole village is gone, there is not a single thing left.

"There is a bad smell from the village now, a terrible smell of dead bodies. People who arrived today told us the ground is still shaking in Car Nicobar."

Car Nicobar was a tropical paradise, all but untouched by the modern world. Now, like the islands around it, it lies in ruins. The very qualities that made it so beloved by its people, its remoteness, made it vulnerable.

The Sentineli on North Sentinel island and the Jarawa have survived

by SURESH SESHADRI
Published by Reuters

30 Dec 2004

"There have been several media reports talking about a threat to the aborigines, indigenous people and tribals of the islands," Vice Admiral Arun Kumar Singh, director-general of the Coast Guard, which is involved in rescue operations, told reporters.

"I have personally verified the extent of this claim and let me tell you that it is absolutely rubbish."

Singh said the Nicobarese, the largest tribal group that lives on Car Nicobar and adjoining islands, bore the brunt of the waves, but the exact death toll was not known.

Coast Guard surveys showed the rest of the tribes such as the Shompen, the Jarawa and the Sentinelese had escaped either because they lived in the jungles far from the coast or because their islands were barely touched by the waves.

"In the Middle Andaman the Jarawa tribes are there and there has not been a single report of casualty. The Sentinelese of North Sentinel Island, which some reports say have been completely wiped out, are all very much there," Singh said.

The number of the Onge, one of the most primitive tribes, has fallen in past decades to about 100. There are about 200 Sentinelese, probably one of the world's only surviving palaeolithic people, who are generally hostile to outsiders.

"Our helicopter pilot who flew over the island told me that he has seen several groups of Sentinelese on the beach and that when he dropped food packets they threw stones at the helicopter."

Editor's note: Is the intrepid vice-admiral who here labels fears about the survival of the Andamanese "absolute rubbish" by any chance related to an official of similar name and rank who is rumoured to have refused to waste helicopters on the tribals "because they are all dead anyway"? Even if the vice admiral hasn't said that, why should those fears be "rubbish" in an event that has killed 300,000 or more people? I am VERY happy to hear that the fears for the safety of the tribals were unfounded and that these "primitive" people knew exactly how to save themselves. How unlike the highly civilized but badly served Indian settlers whose administration never warned them of anything!

Sentineli warrior shoots with bow and arrows at the helicopter sent over North Sentinel island to find out if any of the isolated tribe there had survived.
They had - and they made it very clear that they did not want any help.

Barren island volcano erupts near the Andamans after quake

by JUSTIN HUGGLER

Received from WILHELM KLEIN
wilhelmklein@web.de

30 Dec 2004

India's last active volcano, in the Andaman and Nicobar islands, has erupted in the aftermath of the huge earthquake that set off tsunamis killing thousands of people, official sources said on Thursday.

People have been evacuated from Barren Island since the eruption began on Tuesday night and there were no reports of injury.

Lava was flowing out of the rim of the crater which towers above the Indian Ocean some 500 metres away, the sources said.

Tourists used to visit by boat and the island has a police station.

The volcano, known as Barren 1, is located some 135 kilometres northeast of the capital Port Blair, and last erupted in 1996.

It runs about 150 fathoms deep under the sea and usually gives off smoke.

Little real danger from volcano

M.M. Mukherjee of the Geological Survey of India told AFP the volcano presents little real danger.

"The risk is minimised because it is surrounded by the sea so if at all there is a lava flow it will roll off into the sea," he said.

The Andamans has reported a series of major aftershocks daily since Sunday's massive undersea quake off Sumatra.

The Andaman and Nicobar Islands are located near a zone of intense tectonic activity.

A second volcano, called Narcondam and considered dormant, lies close to Barren Island, which also erupted in 1991 after more than a century of inactivity.

Stench of Death Hangs over the Andamans

Received from WILHELM KLEIN
wilhelmklein@web.de

30 Dec 2004

Rescuers followed the stench of death to find rotting bodies in jungles on India's remote Andaman and Nicobar islands, where thousands are believed to have died, while people fled their homes today amid warnings of possible new tsunamis following fresh quakes.

India's official toll from Sunday's 9.0 magnitude temblor and tsunamis stands at 7,330.

But as many as 10,000 more people are believed to be buried in mud and thick vegetation on the remote islands, said Lt. Gov. Ram Kapse, administrator of the island territories. Only about 359 bodies have been found so far.

Survivors from the islands told harrowing tales. Many had not eaten for two days and people had to contend with crocodiles that were washed ashore.

"There's not a single hut which is standing," said Mohammad Yusef, a 60-year-old fisherman from Tea Top village on Car Nicobar, at a Roman Catholic Church in Port Blair, the capital of the Indian territory. About 800 survivors from around the islands were at the church.

Yusef said he and his extended family of 20 walked some 12 miles to a devastated, but functioning airfield where thousands were being evacuated by the airforce.

He said there were about 15 small villages on Car Nicobar's coastline and that all had been destroyed.

"Everything is gone. Most of the people have gone up to the hills and are afraid to come down," Yusef said.

The Andaman and Nicobar territories comprise more than 500 islands located south-east of India's mainland. About 350,000 people live on about 30 of the islands.

Meanwhile, fears of new tsunamis on the islands and India's mainland forced thousands of people living in coastal areas to flee their homes.

The government issued a tsunami alert following information that several aftershocks in the region had pushed up the water level, said an official at the emergency control room set up by India's Home Ministry in New Delhi.

An estimated 5.7 magnitude underwater earthquake was recorded by the Hong Kong observatory at 5.18am (2118 GMT Wednesday), north-west of Sumatra, Indonesia, close to the epicentre of last Sunday's quake. Andaman and Nicobar also felt quakes, as did Thailand and Myanmar.

"We got into a truck and fled. We took only a few clothes and left behind all of our belongings, everything we had. They do not know when we will be able to go back," said resident Gandhimathi, 40, who uses only one name.

The new warnings further slowed the recovery of bodies from hard-hit areas, where rescuers were already struggling to cope with the magnitude of the disaster.

"Finding and disposing bodies is a daunting task. A huge number of trees have fallen. There is a lot of slush," Deputy Inspector-General Basudev Rao said in Port Blair.

Nearly all the jetties in the islands had been smashed by the waves and rescue parties were using small wooden and rubber boats to land.

"The rescue parties are approaching inch by inch," Rao said. "There is also a lot of stench. From the stench, they are trying to follow the direction to the bodies."

Helicopters took off from 10 ships patrolling the vicinity of the islands today, carrying out intensive reconnaissance sorties for any signs of life, or mounds of dead, but they difficult to see through the thick foliage.

Police and army soldiers have begun burying unclaimed bodies. Security was tightened near three islands - Katchal, Hut Bay and Campbell Bay - where non-indigenous residents were getting restive and demanding evacuation, local police officers said.

Six Russian-made AN-32 Air Force planes conducted dozens of sorties from Port Blair to the air base on Car Nicobar to pick up the 80 to 90 villagers on each flight.

About 580 survivors from the island of Hud Bay arrived by boat just past midnight. The waves were so fierce that most of those who could board the ship were men, who had to swim from shore. The government ship took 12 hours to reach the island, where, according to survivors, more than 800 people are dead or missing.

"We just managed to save our lives," said Dana Amma, 60. "All our houses, our cattle, everything is gone. We don't know what to do."

Drinking water was being rushed on ships and planes, but the situation was largely calm and local people were making do with eating coconut and drinking coconut water, Rao said.

"People find their own ways of survival. They are doing it admirably," he said.

In many islands, the tribal residents maintain little contact with the outer world, disappearing into the forest when strangers approach their lands. Authorities hope that is the case this time, as well.

"They might be hiding in forests and taking shelter in places where we haven't reached yet," Rao said. "But God's grace is needed for that in ample measure," he added.

Fate of Andaman and Nicobar tribal populations

Published by THE TIMES OF INDIA

29 Dec 2004

page 1

page 3

Report from some Nicobarese at Port Blair on the situation in Car Nicobar

As narrated by:
1. Mr. Rodrick Alfred &endash; Kinyuka village
2. Mr. Hamilton &endash; Mus village
3. Ms. Jane Moses &endash; Chukchucha village
4. Dr. Anwar
5. Mr. Ameen Moosa &endash; Chukchucha village
6. Mr. Samuel &endash; Malacca village
7. Mr. Henry &endash; Kakana village

26 Dec 2004

As the earthquake rocked us, people found a lot of damage to their houses, all church walls collapsed, kachcha, pukka houses collapsed, interiors of houses shattered.

Moments after that people close to shore saw sea level rising. Within minutes a strong surge, as high as a three storied building gushed landward. There was a big noise and trees, buildings and everything else was carried nearly 3 kms inward by the tidal wave.

People ran into the jungles and on top of hills.

There were a number of helicopter sorties, the tribals put up flags on poles to attract attention, but none landed.

After 12 noon, they started picking up what was left. They built temporary structures out of coconut wood in the jungles and fed on banana, papaya and yam. Drank water out of coconut shells. Coastal areas upto 500-700 mtrs. inward entirely submerged, entire buildings submerged.

27 Dec 2004

Water started receding, and left behind a barren wasteland strewn with debris.

Corpses were seen floating on the stagnant water in many areas. People started fishing sea fishes out of the water that was stagnant on land.

Dr. Anwar tried to caution them against eating these fishes, but word spread only in the nearby areas.

There were regular IAF sorties, but no help, though the tribals frantically kept waving for help whenever they saw a flight.

And what was most depressing and disappointing was that even after such a big calamity had struck, the "RADIO KEPT ON PLAYING FILM SONGS THROUGHOUT THE DAY!"

Cremations were carried out in the jungles as all the graveyards were submerged.

28 Dec 2004

IAF AN32 started evacuation procedures.

The first flight flew back 15 tribals to Port Blair.

Mr. Samuel flew along with his Grandfather who suffered a fracture. He says just 15 tribals were taken in a flight with a capacity of 60-80.

There were 3 flights in the morning, yet just 4 tribal patients were flown to Port Blair and the rest were all either IAF personnel, or contractors or other non-tribal settlers.

MR. RANJIT, ASSISTANT DIRECTOR, PHYSICAL EDUCATION, JOHN RICHARDSON STADIUM, CAR NICOBAR PUSHED ALL THE TRIBALS AWAY AND DID NOT ALLOW THEM TO BOARD THE AIRCRAFTS. MS. JANE SPECIFICALLY SAYS, HE PUSHED HER AND THE BISHOP (A VERY RESPECTED PERSON) AWAY AND ALLOWED NON-TRIBALS TO FLY. MANY OTHERS SIMILARLY OPINE OF HIM AND WANT THE GOVT. TO TAKE ACTION AGAINST SUCH INHUMAN AND INDECENT BEHAVIOR.

Those in the Jungle struggled to come out to meet the DC, Car Nicobar in the hope that if they confirm their safety, DC, Car Nicoabar might try and transport them to Port Blair. But the only reply from DC was "DON'T TELL ME YOUR PROBLEMS, GIVE ME SOLUTIONS".

Till 28th there were no Govt officials who visited.

All non-tribals were evacuated by 28th evening, except Govt. staff.

At 2:00 in the afternoon, All India Radio announced all those who are in the jungle should approach the airstrip as they will be evacuated.

Nearly 700 Nicobarese, sat in the airstrip area the entire night. Even till 12 midnight they were not transported back. A few women and children were taken to Port Blair but frequency of flights had gone down. (perhaps because there were only TRIBALS left).

A few of the elderly people after waiting till morning conferred among themselves at 5 o' clock in the morning and decided that waiting for so long and begging was not worth it. As per Mr. Henry (Kakana Village) &endash; "we lost all hope and nearly 75% of us moved back into the jungle" at 5 in the morning.

Mr. Mohammad with his family and many other families on hearing repeated broadcasts on the radio started walking from the CMC ground to the airstrip which is 10 kms. They started at about 11 PM at night and reached at 6:00 in the morning on 29th.

Mr. Ranjit, Asst. Director, Physical Education., Mr. Kishori, Block Development Officer and a few other administration staff asked them to go back from where they had come as evacuation had stopped.

When so many tribals were being shooed away and no cleaning of shores, removal of dead bodies was being done, a lot of effort was put into finding the Chief Judicial Magistrate's dead body (a non tribal) and it was flown back to Port Blair.

29 Dec 2004

Morning Union Minister Raghupati along with the Joint Secretary reached Car Nicobar and was shocked to see that no relief work had started. And he promised evacuation would continue.

Even after three days, there were no removal of corpses, no debris cleaning, and very little relief material.

Relief material was provided only in the CWC ground where just 10% of the population from Malacca, Kakana, Kimius and Perka reached.

A group of Nicobarese approached the DC, Car Nicobar for help as a telephone was set up so that they could call the mainland and Port Blair.

THE DC, CAR NICOBAR CHARGED RS. 20/- PER CALL. (WHEN PEOPLE DIDN'T HAVE FOOD, CLOTHES OR ANY BASIC COMMODITY AND HAD LOST EVERYTHING)

When people asked the DC to be evacuated, the DC replied " if you want to go to Port Blair, go walking"

Mr. Umar Shamshuddin of Perka village was asked to go to Port Blair in a Canoe by Dr. Sharfuddin the Medical Superintendent.

IN PORT BLAIR on the 29 Dec 2004:

Mr. Rodrick Alfred from Kinyuka village met the Lieutenant Governer in Port Blair and requested him to evacuate tribals who wanted to come to Port Blair.

LG replied " Nicobar walon ko Nicobar mein rehne dein kyonki Port Blair mein jagah nahi hai, pani ki crisis hai, aur latrines nahi hai".

He also said " All India Radio mein kisne information diya hai ki evacuation hoga?" and he personally stopped the broadcast in AIR.

In Car Nicobar:

The Army started cleaning up corpses and other debris.

30 Dec2004

60 tribals, including women went to meet the Lieutenant Governor and wept in front of him to evacuate their relatives.

Mr. Rodrick says, Lieutenant Governor said

"1. Do you want your relatives to come here or do you want to go there?

2. Give a list of the names of your relatives and the no. of people to be evacuated.

3. At the most, I can evacuate just 200 people, not more.

4. I will personally go to Car Nicobar and see what can be done.

5. Everything is being done, you don't have to worry."

Infact Ms. Jane Moses - Chukchucha village, volunteered to go to Car Nicobar on invitation by Lieutenant Governor, but she was not sent.

The tribals proposed to the Lieutenant Governor that the water which is supposed to be supplied to Car Nicobar can be easily supplied in Port Blair so why not evacuate tribals from there and bring them here. The Lieutenant Governor had no answer to this.

31 Dec 2004

Captain Robert Henry of Mus Village says there are 5000 people of Mus, Small Lapathy, Big Lapathy and Kinmai villages stuck there and he says these places are stinking with rotting dead bodies and the air there is unbreathable.

He personally with much risk and courage brought in 65 and 45 people in two private ships Bay Island and Niccotrade to Port Blair.

Dr. Anwar:

"We think we are not asking for too much or expecting too much. Our country goes out of its way to help other nations, what is it doing for its own people, it is just "diya tale andhera"."

 

[ Go to HOME ] [ Go to HEAD OF THIS NEWS ]