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| Thursday, 06 January 2005 |
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Isolated tribes on Indian-ruled island survived tsunami LONDON, Wednesday (AFP) Five isolated tribes living on the remote Andaman and Nicobar Islands appear to have survived the devastating Indian Ocean tsunami, although another more numerous group suffered great loss of life, a British-based charity said Tuesday. According to the first "authoritative reports", none of the five tribes - whose numbers range from the hundreds to just dozens - had been wiped out by the December 26 disaster, Survival International said. Of the tribes on the Indian-ruled Andaman Islands, the 270-strong Jarawa, who lived in complete isolation until recently, seemed to have escaped unharmed, the group said in a statement. "They almost certainly were living in the forest when the tsunami struck," said Survival International, which campaigns on behalf of tribal people. Most of the Onge, of whom only about 100 remain, fled to high ground ahead of the tsunami and thus survived, the charity said. Meanwhile flights over Sentinel Island, home of the most isolated of all the tribes, the Sentinelese, witnessed people standing on beaches, although it was not known how many might have died. No reports had come in on the fate of the 41 Great Andamanese, "but early indications are that they have survived more or less intact", the statement added. Of the Nicobar tribes, it was thought that the hunter-gatherer Shompen on Great Nicobar Island would have survived as they live primarily in forests. In contrast to these five isolated and tiny communities, the more assimilated Nicobarese, of whom there are about 30,000, had suffered much more, with all 12 villages on one island washed away, Survival said. According to Indian officials on Tuesday, a total of 6,010 people are missing on the Andaman and Nicobar islands. |
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