| DEC 28: Rescuers were anxious to discover the
fate of 30,000 people unaccounted for in Andaman and Nicobar
islands on Tuesday as the nationwide death toll from weekend
tidal waves reached nearly 7,000.
The islands are close to the epicentre of a huge earthquake
off Indonesia Sunday that sent massive waves crashing across the
Indian Ocean killing tens of thousands throughout the region
Officials said the confirmed countrywide death toll stood at
6,823. Of them, at least 3,000 were killed in the Andaman
archipelago 1,200 kilometres from mainland India as naval ships
headed for Greater Car Nicobar, its smaller neighbour and home
to over 45,000 people.
"Villages are spread all over. There are 30,000 people that
need to be accounted for. Some may have fled into the interior
jungles or been swept to sea," said district official G C Gupta.
"Efforts are underway to find them."
Witnesses spoke of waves "taller than buildings" that crashed
into the islands spread over 800 kilometres. "People thought the
buildings would withstand the stresses but then the buildings
started caving in, whole families lost their lives," one
survivor on Greater Car Nicobar told a television channel.
"This rubble, there were 25 houses, there were families. The
waves were taller than buildings," another survivor said,
gesturing to a flattened air force base on Greater Car Nicobar
where more than 100 people died.
India has carried out little development in the islands,
known for their pristine beaches, to leave indigenous adivasis
in peace. The lack of infrastructure left communities
incommunicado after the waves struck.
On the mainland, the death toll was expected to mount with
tens of thousands still missing. Funerals were carried out in a
rush with minimum ritual as authorities feared the outbreak of
disease from the piles of decomposing corpses.
Home Minister Shivraj Patil Patil said the death toll was
difficult to estimate. "The figures are still pouring in," said
director general of police I K Govind in Tamil Nadu.
Tens of thousands spent the night huddling in emergency
relief camps as the government stepped up relief efforts and the
Indian Red Cross appealed for food, clothes and tarpaulins.
Coastal residents were warned to stay away from beaches after
meteorologists warned of aftershocks that could trigger further
"big waves".
Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, meanwhile, was to hold a
meeting Tuesday to review possible damage to a nuclear power
plant in Tamil Nadu shut down Sunday after water seeped into the
facility.
At least 1,500 families in the Kalpakkam township near the
Indira Gandhi Atomic Energy Centre in Kalpakkam, 80 kilometres
south of Chennai had been evacuated as a precaution.
"Information reaching here suggests facilities at Kalpakkam
nuclear station may have been affected by the tidal waves," said
a spokesman from the prime minister's office. He did not
elaborate. (AFP) |
