Tsunami in the Nicobar Islands 2004

Rajesh Patnaik1

The Andaman and Nicobar islands are the continuous range of Arakan Mountains of
Myanmar (Burma) in the North to the Sumatra island of Indonesia in the South. The
entire archipelago comprises of 572 islands, islets and rocks of which 24 in Andaman
group and 12 in Nicobar group are inhabited. The Nicobar group is separated from
Andaman group by the 10-degree channel, which is 145 kms wide with more than 400
fathoms deep. The Andaman and Nicobar archipelago is well known as a seismically
active zone and the occurrence of earthquakes have been common. A great earthquake of
magnitude 9.0 on the Richter scale occurred off the West Coast of Northern Sumatra on
26 December 2004 at 0628 hours IST. Another earthquake of magnitude 7.3 occurred; 81
kilometres West of Pulo Kunji (off the West Coast of Great Nicobar Island) at 0951
hours IST. These earthquakes triggered Tsunami waves. A series of aftershocks were
reported in this region. Many countries have been affected: India, Indonesia, Malaysia,
Maldives, Sri Lanka, Thailand and Somalia in South, Southeast Asia and West Coast of
Africa. The nearest Indian Territory to the epicenter of the earthquake and subsequent
tsunami waves was the Great Nicobar Island of the Andaman and Nicobar archipelago.
The Nicobar group of islands have suffered a large-scale damage both to human life and
property. It would be useful to understand the geophysical mechanics underlying a
tsunami wave generation. The Andaman and Nicobar Islands are technically an ‘island
arc’ where the possibility of earthquakes and tsunami waves are inherent. It is a type of
archipelago formed by plate tectonics as one oceanic tectonic plate subducts under
another and produces magma. On the subducting side of the island arc is a deep and
narrow oceanic trench. Multiple earthquakes occur along this subduction boundary with
the seismic epicenters located at increasing depth. Whenever severe underwater
earthquakes occur at such locations there is always possibility of dangerous tsunami
waves being generated.

Local knowledge of the Environment

The very tragic Asian Tsunami wave’s occurrence and its affect on the Andaman and
Nicobar Islands has not only had a very disastrous implications on the lives of people but
it also raises a number of questions regarding the certain type of activities which is been
happening environmentally in these islands. Several anthropological studies reveal that
the indigenous populations living in different environmental zones have intimate
knowledge of various environmental factors of their own habitat—from availability of
food to weather conditions and dangers inherent in their environment. This is a fact of
adaptation of a population to the local environment unless the environment has been
interfered in such a way by outsiders (or outside culture / technology) that they have
failed to understand the implications of the changes occurring around them in the
environmental and technological spheres. This could be because the occurrence of natural
calamities could be so widely spaced in time scale that many generations would have not
seen these in reality, in such situations knowledge becomes a part of folklore or religion.
With large scale modernization there is an inherent danger of losing of folklore and
folktales which include local environmental knowledge. This fact seems to have been
attested by the reports that Jarawas (240), the Sentinelese (150) and the Shompen (398) in
Andaman and Nicobar Islands are fairly safe as per the Government sources: This is
attributed to their mode of living on higher ground or far away from the coast. Therefore
we could suggest that five of the six indigenous tribal groups in Andaman Islands seem to
have survived the tsunami with no causalities. Only the Nicobarese who are the largest
tribal group of the Nicobar Islands, (28,653), have lost about 1151 lives and another 5580
still missing. (Government of India, press note: January11- 2005).

The Nicobar Islands

The Nicobar Islands are clustered into three groups. The northern group includes Car
Nicobar (127 sq km) and uninhabited Batti Malay (2.07 sq km). The central group
includes Chowra (7.25 sq km), Teressa (88.06 sq km), Bompoka (9.84 sq km), Katchal
(159.80 sq km), Kamorta (149.98 sq km), Nancowry (50.03 sq km), and Trinket (16.57
sq km); the Isle of Man and Tillangchong (16.83 sq km) are uninhabited. The southern
group includes Great Nicobar (1045 sq km), Little Nicobar (148.92 sq km), Kondul (1.29
sq km) and Pulomilo (1.03 sq km); the islets of Meroe, Trak, Treis, Menchal, Cubra,
Pigeon, and Megapod are uninhabited. Megapod and Tillangchong are wildlife
sanctuaries. The topography of different Nicobar Islands is varied. This in turn gives raise
to different village settlement patterns, which have evolved on the basis of micro
environmental variables found on these different islands.
Great Nicobar Island is 1045-sq-kms in area and is the largest of the Nicobar group. Its
southern most tip of the island is called the Indira Point. The lighthouse at Indira Point is
now under a couple of feet of water. Great Nicobar is closest island to the epicenter of the
earthquake, the earthquake struck less than 50 kilometres off the coast of Sumatra; the
tsunami waves seem to have reached the Great Nicobar coastline within minutes. There
are reports that the intensity of the waves might have changed the coastline of the island.
In some places on the island the seawater rushed as far as 3 km inland. The tsunami had
also had an impact on the ecology of the region. The northern half of the Great Nicobar
Island has hills and mountain ranges. The rest of the land is also rugged and elevated. The
coastal areas in the southeast, south and west side of the island is flat. The Great Nicobar
is the only Island in Andaman and Nicobar Islands, which has perennial rivers - the
Galathea, Alexandria, and Dagmar. The beach near the mouth of River Galathia is wide
and flat. The indigenous tribal groups of the island are the Nicobarese and Shompen.

The main settlement of the island is Campbell Bay. The main road of the island known as
the North-South road, which has settlements of ex-servicemen families, is damaged. The
settlers’ betel nut and coconut plantations have been devastated, and it over a decade for
freshly planted plantations to grow to their full height. High water levels have washed out
other settlements. In Campbell Bay, the jetty has been damaged and water from the bay
has flooded establishments.

Car Nicobar more or less oval shaped, it is a flat fertile Island covered with a cluster of
coconut palms and some enchanting beaches with a roaring sea all around. It is also the
headquarters of Nicobar district. The houses in the Island are especially unique and
fascinating. The Nicobarese built their houses on stilts about 2 metres off the ground,
which have entrances through the floor. Some of these huts look like beehives. Car
Nicobar Island attains a maximum height 60 meters and the surface slopes on all sides
gently right down to the coastline, all 14 villages are situated on coastline of the island.
The Nicobarese living on this island are referred as Car Nicobarese. The Car Nicobarese
are large in number and have a modern way of life when compared to other Nicobarese in
Central and Southern Nicobar islands, Car Nicobarese language is written in Roman
script, therefore the Car Nicobarese enjoy better status among Nicobarese and are
referred as more progressive. Being numerically dominant as well as modern in their
outlook and approach, the local government spends lot of money as welfare measure of
people in this island. Especially, medical and educational facilities have been improved
greatly in the past two decades. But due to the tsunami wave the infrastructure on this
island has been severely damaged and many dwellings have been washed off. The
damage in the central group of Nicobar Islands has been extensive. Nine islands are
clustered closely to form the central group: The indigenous population consists of
Nicobarese only; there are also non-tribal people. Culturally there seems to some
differences between the Car Nicobarese (Northern group) Nicobarese of the Nancowry
group (Central group) and the Nicobarese of Great Nicobar (Southern group). The
Tsunami’s affect on the seven of the nine islands inhabited islands has been great.
Teressa Island with its rugged terrain has had comparitively less destruction. The islands
of Katchal, Kamorta andTrinket are badly damaged with heavy loses to the homes,
infrastructure and life. Most of the people of Chowra Island have been evaluated. The
heavy damage to the jetty and other permanent constructions in Katchal is ample
evidence to the force of the tsunami.

Conclusion

The affects of tsunami waves on different islands seem to vary depending on the
topography, microenvironment and settlement pattern. A major effect is felt on the coast
in form of changed coastline, salinity of horticulture gardens, water sources and
disturbance to the coral reefs. Therefore it is imperative to comprehend that tsunami
effect will have different dimensions on environmental and cultural adaptation especially
on island system. Another aspect of the tsunami disaster has been the psychological fear
of the sea, which it generated. The Nicobarese have been living on these islands since a
very long time and they do have deep knowledge of the sea and weather condition but
intensity of the tsunami has been so great that the local knowledge in terms of folk
knowledge has no parallel.

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(1)Author is a PhD in Social Anthropology with keen interest in the study of Andaman
and Nicobar Islands. c.a.2005.
Email <rajesh009@gmail.com>