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A week after a massive undersea quake shook the Indian Ocean, sending giant tsunamis smashing into Southern coastal States, the Centre appears to have gained some control over the relief and rehabilitation measures being undertaken in the affected States.
Sheer scale of devastation and loss of human lives, caused by tsunami has dwarfed recent disasters like Orissa cyclone, Gujarat and Latur earthquake or SARS epidemic in South-East Asia.
Gradually, several dimensions of tsunami-tidal wave tragedy are being unfolded. The mounting death toll that is officially touching 9,479, the number of missing or feared killed persons that has crossed 5,700 and extensive damage to infrastructure in Tamil Nadu, Andhra Pradesh, Kerala and Union Territories of Pondicherry and Andaman and Nicobar Islands. About 2,200 km of coastline was battered by tsunami which attained a menacing height of 10 metres at some places, nearly 35 lakh people in about a thousand villages were affected. The number of dwelling units which suffered damage were estimated to be nearly 1.4 lakh and the cropped area of about 4200 hectares was either submerged or damaged. It, however, may take a few weeks more for the authorities to assess the damage caused to the environment, ecology and implications to the economy and tourism. For thousands of farmer and fishermen in these areas, their means of livelihood was brutally bulldozed by the fury of giant waves. Even then many fishermen in some areas are showing courage to return to sea to bring their catch and make both ends meet. It was precisely this aspect which the Group of Ministers (GoM) had also considered and pondered over ways and means to dole out sustenance to the fishermen in rebuilding their lives.
Among the worst-affected were Andaman and Nicobar Islands, Cuddalore and Nagapattinam districts fo Tamil Nadu and Karaikal in Pondicherry. After initial confusion, the Centre mounted the largest ever relief effort in the history of independent India as armed forces joined hands in taking relief material to the far-flung Andaman and Nicobar Islands, spanning a length of 700 kms. As other State governments could mobilise their resources and put their administration in top gear, the Centrally-administered Andaman and Nicobar Isalnds were in the centre-stage of the Government’s relief efforts. The islands have an average distance of about 750 nautical miles from the mainland and among the worst-hit ones like Hut Bay, Carnic and Campbell are still away from Port Blair in the range of 60 to 330 nautical miles. It was the Sourthern group of islands that bore the brunt of ferocity of tsunami, a phenomenon rarely heard of in the Indian ocean.
The Government stepped up relief and rehabilitation measures by coordinating between various ministries, departments and voluntary agencies in an effective manner. The entire effort was mounted at an unprecedented scale. Naval ships, loaded with relief material, have ringed the affected islands and small boats and helicopters began carrying food packets and aid to the affected people. Similarly, lasrge transport and cargo planes like IL-76, AN-32 of Indian Air Force were pressed into service and with the help of other aircraft like Avros and Dorniers undertook the mission of dropping food packets and survival kits to the affected persons. As many as 17,500 personnel from the three services of the armed forces are involved in the relief operations in Andaman and Nicobar Islands. These include 8,000 armymen, 5,500 personnel from the Navy and another 2,000 from Indian Air Force. As many as 32 ships, 21 helicopters and a line up of cargo planes ringed the islands, taking relief supplies and providing immediate help to the people, also making it the biggest-ever peacetime relief operation by the armed forces.
As part of its international obligation, Indian Navy launched three relief operations to other tsunami-hit nations. Operation Rainbow to Sri Lanka, Operation Castor to Maldives and Operation Gambhir to the worst-hit Indonesia where widespread devastation has left nearly 90,000 people dead. Apart from the armed forces, public sector Indian Airlines has been operating nearly half a dozen flights to Port Blair, carrying personnel and relief material. The private carrier, Jet Airways, has also chipped in with flights to Port Blair from Chennai and Port Blair. Airstrips and jetties have been damaged, transport vehicles washed away and telephone lines rendered non-functional, making relief operations a daunting task. Some areas have remained inaccessible for a number of days but all 38 inhabited islands have been visited and much to the relief of authorities primitive aboriginal tribes of the island found to be safe. On an average, nearly 350 tons of relief material is being sent to Andaman and Nicobar Isalnds daily. Till Monday, nearly 1300 tons of relief material had been despatched to the islands by air and ship.
The stress now is pressing more ships into service as they can carry larger loads and supplies. Initially, the much-needed items were family tents, drinking water, and diesel generators to restore power supply. Nearly 9,300 tents, enough for the affected population, have been despatched ot Andaman and Nicobar Islands, providing shelter to people rendered homeless by the tsunami-tidal wave tragedy. About 300 tons of drinking water, and another 300 tons of food packets have been delivered so far. Torches, clothes, emergency medicines, disinfectants, household items and equipment and machinery have also been taken to Andaman and Nicobar Islands where a great effort would have to be put in rebuilding and reconstructing the infrastructure and road network, most of which has been washed away by tsunami. A number of medical teams and disaster response teams and volunteers have also been deployed in the islands. Nearly 148 specialised medical intervention teams and 1700 disaster response teams have been pressed into service in the islands.
The Government has also set up a high-powered Integrated Relief Command (IRC) exclusively for the islands which would be headed by the Lieutenant –Governor of Andaman and Nicobar which already has a unified triservices command. It would mean better coordination in rebuilding and relief efforts in which defence forces are playing a greater role as the IRC would have a direct communication channel with the Home Ministry.
According to official sources, it would take about Rs. 2,000 crore to provide immediate relief to tsunami victims and another Rs. 1,000 crore to provide houses to the affected families in the affected States and union territories. Though the Centre has already approved an immediate aid of Rs. 500 crore for tsunami-hit States, the Prime minister, Dr. Manmohan Singh, has stressed that cost would not be a consideration in relief and rehabilitation measures. The high-powered Group of Ministers, headed by the Defence minister, Pranab Mukherjee, reviews the relief measures on a daily basis and the coordination with various ministries has been entrusted to the Home Ministry which is the nodal ministry dealing with disaster management.
While the initial phase focussed on the dealing with the threat of outbreak of epidemic, disposal of dead bodies and launching of rescue operations, the focus has now shifted to the measures for rehabilitating affected people so that they can pick up the threads of life afresh. For the Centre, buzzword has been caution as nearly a hundred aftershocks ranging from 5 to 7 on Richter scale have been recorded in the Nicobar region since December 26, 2004. A 10-member Central team is also visiting affected States to assess the extent of damage caused by tsunami. It would need a well-coordinated effort by the civilian administration before life is put back on rails for the affected people. (PIB Features)
**Special Correpondent, The Hindu.
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