THE SINKING OF THE NICOBARS

THE SINKING OF THE NICOBARS
http://infochangeindia.org/Agenda/Coastal-communities/The-sinking-of-the-Nicobars.html

The earthquake that caused the tsunami of December 2004 has altered the topography and ecology of the Andaman and Nicobar Islands forever, writes Pankaj Sekhsaria. So far the impact of such marked changes in topography do not seem to have been taken into account by policymakers and government

Sippighat, outside Port Blair, submerged after the tsunami

If there is one thing that immediately springs to mind when the Andaman and Nicobar Islands are mentioned today, it is the devastating tsunami of December 26, 2004. Official figures give a sense of the massive damage that was caused to life and property: over 3,500 people dead or missing; nearly 8,000 hectares of paddy and plantation rendered useless; 938 boats completely damaged; more than 150,000 head of cattle lost.

These aggregated figures for the entire island chain hide an important detail that has not received the attention and analysis it deserves.

Of the 3,513 people reported dead or missing only 64 were from the Andaman group of islands; the remaining 3,449 were from the islands in the Nicobar group. Seventy-six per cent of the agricultural and paddy land destroyed, and 80% of livestock loss were also reported from the Nicobars. Likewise, nearly 70% of the construction of new housing for the tsunami-affected is in the Nicobar Islands.

It is evident that the impact of the tsunami was much greater in the Nicobar Islands than in the Andamans. So, while the Nicobars account for only 22% and 12% of the area and population, respectively, of the entire chain of islands, 98% of the deaths and 76% of loss of agricultural land occurred here. The damage caused was inversely proportional to the area and population of the two groups of islands, and strikingly so (see Table 1 and Table 2).

Tectonic movements

Although the tsunami was seen as the main cause of the damage, it was actually the earthquake that caused the tsunami in the first place that was responsible for most of the damage here. While the tectonic movements triggered by the earthquake catalysed the tsunami, they also caused a huge and permanent shift in the lay of the Andaman and Nicobar Islands.

Assessments by a number of scientists from various institutes, including the University of Colorado in the USA and the Geological Survey of India, indicate that the Andaman group of islands were thrust upwards by four to six feet while parts of the Nicobar Islands went significantly under -- four feet of submergence in Car Nicobar; nearly 15 feet at the southernmost tip -- Indira Point -- on Great Nicobar Island. This important change in the lay of the islands was reported to have occurred almost immediately after the earthquake, a few minutes before the huge waves struck the coastline. Pre- and post-earthquake satellite maps released by the National Remote Sensing Agency (NRSA) show striking visual evidence of this. It also explains the huge submergence and damage experienced in the Nicobars, though this group covers a relatively small area and is more thinly populated.

Jogindernagar, Great Nicobar

Ecological changes

Tectonic activity and the submergence and emergence it caused also resulted in significant ecological changes in the islands. A survey by the Andaman and Nicobar Environment Team revealed, for instance, that huge areas (nearly 60 sq km) of coral reefs along the western and northern coasts of Middle and North Andaman Islands were lifted up, permanently exposed, and destroyed. Studies in the Nicobar group of islands by the Salim Ali Centre for Ornithology and Nature (SACON) showed that immense damage was caused to coastal ecosystems by the joint impact of the tsunami waves and the permanent subsidence and resultant permanent ingress of seawater. Coastal features like beaches, mangroves and littoral forests were the most badly impacted. Coastal wildlife like the endemic Nicobari megapode, the giant robber crab and the Malayan box turtle were among the species worst affected.

Coral reefs off the coasts of the Nicobars were also hit by a combination of submergence, a resultant increase in turbidity, and physical damage caused by tonnes of debris thrown back and forth by the furious water. A survey conducted by the Zoological Survey of India reported large-scale sedimentation on coral reefs around Great Nicobar Island, following the tsunami. A drop in the number of associated coral reef fauna, including nudibranchs, flat worms, alpheid and mantis shrimps, and hermit and brachyuran crabs was also reported.

Mangroves, Mayabundar, North Andaman

Increased vulnerabilities

Significantly, the region is reported to have become much more seismically active now. Data gathered by the United States Geological Service (USGS) show that over 20 earthquakes of a magnitude above M6, in addition to several hundred of lesser intensity, have struck the region in the last five years. The most powerful was the September 2007 quake that had a magnitude greater than M8. It was followed by a tsunami warning; there have been at least half-a-dozen such warnings since 2004.

It would appear that the Andaman and Nicobar Islands, which have always been seismically active and therefore unstable, are even more vulnerable now. It is crucial that this increased threat becomes an important aspect of policy and development planning on the islands. Likewise, changes in the islands’ topography on account of tectonic movements must be factored into future planning. An important dimension, for instance, is the alteration along the coasts of all the islands of the high tide line (HTL). Unless this is recalibrated, any management or implementation of laws and regulations related to the coastal zone cannot be carried out effectively. They would in fact be meaningless.

Table 1: Island-wise losses
Island	People (dead or missing)		Livestock loss		Agricultural land lost		Permanent housing		Area		Population (2001)
	Total number	Per cent	Total number	Per cent	Area in hectares	Per cent	Number	Per cent	Sq km	Per cent	Number	Per cent
Andamans	64	2	31,521	20	1,877	23.5	2,796	28.6	6,408	77.68	314,048	88.1
South Andaman	7		19,634		1,667		823
Little Andaman	54		11,165		117		1,973
Middle Andaman			722		93
Nicobar	3,449	98	126,056	80	6,115	76.5	7,001	71.4	1,841	22.32	42,068	11.9
Car Nicobar	854		50,350		969.35		3,941
Chowra	117		11,896		230.4		346
Teressa			17,307		743.96		506
Katchal	1,551		18,678		1,628.50		315
Nancowry	378		1,440		256.57		269
Kamorta			7,501		637.4		518
Trinket			2,590		328.5
Little Nicobar			2,267				111
Great Nicobar	549		12,298		1,291.28		995
Kondul			336
Pilomilow			823
Bambooka			570		29.55
Total	3,513		157,577	100	7,992	100	9,797	100	8,249	100	356,252	100

Table 2: Losses in percentage (island-wise)
	Andamans (%)	Nicobars (%)	Total
Area (sq km)	6,408 (77.68)	1,841(22.32)	8,249
Population (2001)	314,048 (88)	42,068 (12)	356,252
People (dead or missing)	64 (2)	3,449 (98)	3,513
Livestock loss	31,521 (20)	126,056 (80)	157,577
Agricultural land lost (hectares)	1,877 (23.5)	6,115 (76.5)	7,992
Permanent housing	2,796(28.6)	7,001 (71.4)	9,797

The changed scenario also has direct implications on issues like land that can and cannot be allotted for reconstruction or for agriculture and plantation, as also on the materials and design of new buildings being built on the islands.

Fishers in Great Nicobar

All these aspects need careful consideration because they are the foundations on which any scenario for the future of the islands must be built. Many worry that they are not being given the importance and consideration they deserve. This was starkly evident in September 2009, when former President Dr A P J Abdul Kalam was in Port Blair to unveil Andaman Vision 2020 “for the strategic development of the Andaman and Nicobar Islands by the year 2020”. Speaking at a national seminar on ‘Security and Development of the Andaman and Nicobar Islands’, Kalam advocated, amongst other things, the construction of a 250 MW dedicated nuclear power station on the islands, and use of the islands as bases for static aircraft carrier and a nuclear submarine-based fleet.

It’s as though the earthquake and tsunami of December 2004, and the hundreds of subsequent earthquakes, did not happen at all! Whatever visions of power we might have for ourselves, ‘security and development’ cannot be ensured by industrial and military might alone. If we ignore the foundational contours of the region’s topography, its seismic instability, and its environment, we only increase the risks and our subsequent vulnerability. And we do so at our own peril.

(Pankaj Sekhsaria is the author of Troubled Islands -- Writings on the Indigenous Peoples and Environment of the Andaman and Nicobar Islands)

Infochange News & Features, April 2010

An earth shaking event

post-tsunami impacts in the Andaman and Nicobar Islands
By Pankaj Sekhsaria

Sanctuary Asia, Vol XXIX, No. 3, June 2009
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Endless expanses of coral reefs that were once submerged even at low tide now lay exposed and dead, thrust by the forces of nature above the high tide line. Huge coral boulders studded with now-empty clam shells stood almost a metre in the air, with sand accumulating around them. We anchored that evening off the coast of the Interview Island Wildlife Sanctuary located towards the north of the Andaman group of Islands. I was with Harry Andrews and his colleagues at the Andaman and Nicobar Environment Team (ANET) as they conducted a rapid assessment survey two months after the deadly December 26, 2004 earthquake and tsunami that had ravaged South and Southeast Asia. This was the sight we had seen as we sailed up along the west coast of the Middle and North Andaman Islands and it was an eerie experience to explore the almost lifeless, ‘moonscapish’reefs that now surrounded Interview.

Coral reef uplift on the west coast of the Interview Island Wildlife Sanctuary
(Pic: Pankaj Sekhsaria)

Located relatively close to Aceh in Sumatra, where it all began, the Andaman and Nicobar Islands were particularly hard hit. Almost 3,500 people died, largely in the Nicobars. Huge coastal areas were submerged, basic infrastructure, schools, roads, power houses and thousands of homes were washed away. Post the event I visited the islands in February 2005 and was astounded to witness the brute force of the catastrophe.

THE ECOLOGICAL CHANGES
Justifiably the loss of human life and the destruction to private and public property dominated everyone’s concerns, but we could see that significant ecological changes had also occurred. The coastal systems were most impacted, as were many species of rare flora and fauna. From what I could see and the many scientific and anecdotal accounts I read, it was the 9.1 magnitude earthquake (which triggered the tsunami) that actually caused the greater damage. With a pivot roughly located near Port Blair, the islands witnessed a huge swing, like that of a see-saw, on account of the tectonic activity. Scientific assessments indicate that the Andaman group of islands were thrust upwards by 1.2 to 1.8 m. while Car Nicobar went under by 1.2 m. At the southernmost tip – Indira Point on Great Nicobar Island – the submergence was almost 4.5 m.

THE NICOBAR ISLANDS
Researchers who traveled to the devastated landscape around Great Nicobar Island reported that the small Megapode Island (a wildlife sanctuary) located west of Great Nicobar had been completely submerged. Coral reefs, beaches and low lying coastal forests across this island group were badly hit. The Nicobar reefs suffered a combination of submergence, increased turbidity and physical damage from tons of debris thrown back and forth by the lashing waves. Dr. R. Jeybaskaran of the Zoological Survey of India reported large-scale sedimentation on coral reefs around Great Nicobar Island. His post-tsunami surveys further revealed a reduction in the number of associated coral reef fauna, including nudibranchs, flat worms, alpheid and mantis shrimps and hermit and brachyuran crabs.

Submerged mangroves, littoral forests and paddy fields, Great Nicobar Island
(Pic: Pankaj Sekhsaria)

The submerged settlement of Campbel Bay, HQ of Great Nicobar Island
(Pic: Pankaj Sekhsaria)

Interestingly, immediately following the tsunami, fishermen from Great Nicobar reported a sudden and massive increase in their milk fish Chanos chanos catch, which was relatively rare earlier. So much so that fishermen began to refer to milk fish as ‘tsunami macchi’. No one can explain the phenomenon precisely but speculation centres around the findings of post-tsunami ocean salinity and temperature studies carried out in the islands by scientists of the National Centre for Antarctic and Ocean Research. This study found considerable thermohaline variability in the upper 300m column of ocean water and concluded that such changes could have a significant impact on primary production and fisheries.

Chanos chanos, Milkfish that has now become tsunami macchi in Great Nicobar
(Pic: Pankaj Sekhsaria)

Early surveys conducted by ANET in the Nicobars also indicated huge losses of Pandanus Pandanus leram and the Nypa palm Nypa fructicans. The latter, in particular, was virtually wiped out from the estuarine regions of Little Nicobar and Great Nicobar Islands. Both plants are important for the Nicobari community as a source of food and materials such as thatching. An effort is now being made with the help of the local communities to replant the islands with these species.

Permanent submergence also saw most of the beaches vanish, including many vital nesting sites of the four marine turtle species found here – the giant leatherback, the green sea turtle, the olive ridley and the Hawksbill. But this change was short-lived, as new beaches had begun to form along the altered alignment within months. Sure enough, the nesting turtles too returned soon after.

The damage to low-lying coastal areas, coastal forests and mangroves was more permanent. Large tracts were completely destroyed. Every island in the Nicobars without exception was encircled by an endless brown wall of dying and decaying mangroves, pandanus and other littoral species. A remote sensing and GIS-based study of the Central Nicobar group of islands (Nancowry, Camorta, Trinket and Katchal) by the Institute for Ocean Management at Chennai’s Anna University assessed that the damage ranged from 51 to 100 per cent for mangrove ecosystems, 41 to 100 per cent for coral reef ecosystems and 6.5 to 27 per cent for forest ecosystems.

NICOBAR'S FAUNA
The late Dr. Ravi Sankaran of the Sálim Ali Centre for Ornithology and Natural History (SACON) was the first to conduct a rapid impact assessment of the Nicobars after the disaster. His main interest was the Nicobari Megapode, a ground-nesting endemic bird that scrapes together a mound of earth as a nest in low-lying coastal forests. I had seen and photographed the megapode in 2002 near the turtle camp on South Bay at the mouth of the Galathea river and it was difficult to learn that nothing of that coastline remained. We feared the worst for the extremely vulnerable bird across its range in these islands. Sankaran’s report was therefore anxiously awaited and his findings turned out to be bitter-sweet. He reported that the permanent submergence had destroyed a huge part of the birds’ nesting habitat and that nearly 1,100 nesting mounds had been lost. He, however, reported sighting a few birds and also some active nesting mounds.

Subsequently, in early 2006, Dr. K. Sivakumar of the Wildlife Institute of India surveyed almost 110 km. of the coastline along 15 islands in the Nicobar group. He estimated that only about 500 active nesting mounds of the bird had survived and that the megapode population was down to under 30 per cent of the numbers estimated during surveys he had conducted around a decade ago. While the bird was badly hit, mercifully it was not wiped out. Little is known, however, of the other equally vulnerable, coastal forest-dwelling fauna, such as the giant robber crab, the reticulated python and the Malayan box turtle. There is almost no idea of how these have been impacted and there are indications that these may be worse off than the megapode.

Initially scientists worried that the giant robber crab had become locally extinct in the Nicobars as it inhabited one of the worst hit sections of the coast – a 100 m.-wide strip of forest adjacent to the sea. Reports that some were occasionally sighted were confirmed in late 2006 when Vardhan Patankar of Reefwatch sighted four individuals – two on Camorta Island and one each on Great Nicobar and Menchal.

THE ANDAMANS
Areas around Port Blair also experienced permanent submergence of about 0.6 to 0.9 m. It was a fate similar to the Nicobars and is best visible in the low-lying area of Sippighat just a few kilometres outside the capital town. Mangrove marshes that had been converted to paddy fields over the years were now permanently submerged. Comparative aerial images shot regularly from 2005 onwards, showed mangrove stands drying along the creeks at Sippighat. Today, the area is dominated by large expanses of water and one prominent waterbody. A study conducted by scientists from the Port Blair-based Central Agricultural Research Institute (CARI) found a similar impact on mangroves in the creeks of Shoal Bay, Chouldhari and the Mahatma Gandhi Marine National Park at Wandoor. This is probably on account of high salinity stress and permanent inundation. As in the case of the Great Nicobar, this also led to one dramatic, though short-lived change here. For the first few months immediately after the tsunami, the Sippighat Creek became a huge production ground for the best prawns that residents of Port Blair had ever eaten.

Ariel view of Sippighat, just outside Port Blair, that also experience subsidence and submergence like was seen in the Nicobar Islands (Pic: Pankaj Sekhsaria)

CARI studies revealed that mangroves stands at Deshbandhugram, Laxmipur, Milangram and Swarajgram in North Andaman remained exposed even during the high tides. Sea water did not reach the mangroves at all and within a few months of the event they had started to wilt.

As far as the coral reefs are concerned, it was initially estimated that an expanse of nearly 50 to 60 sq. km. had been exposed and killed – the largest area being nearly 25 sq. km. west and north of Interview Island, which we too had witnessed. Similar impacts were reported from parts of Indonesia. Interestingly a report by Living Oceans, Reef Check and IUCN suggests that the most dramatic damage to the Aceh reefs was also caused by the earthquakes: “Hectares of reef flat at Pulau Bangkaru Island and Simeulue were uplifted to a level above the high tide mark resulting in total mortality of previously healthy and intact reefs.”

The situation for sea turtle nesting beaches appears to have turned up a mixed bag in the islands. Flat Island, a small outcrop on the west coast of the main Andamans, was, for instance, an important sea turtle nesting site prior to the tsunami. The uplift caused by the earthquake exposed the reefs around the island creating a barrier for sea turtles. Some beaches such as the ones in Little Andaman Island have become wider and the gradients more gentle. The ANET team also reported extensive damage to sea grass beds. This will affect green sea turtles and many carcasses were observed in the course of the ANET surveys.

IN CONCLUSION
While there has been concern on the negative impact of all these dramatic changes, experts and those working on the ecology of the islands have suggested that the best intervention would be no intervention at all. The magnitude of the change is so huge that little can be done anyway. It has also been argued that if seen in the context of geologic time cataclysmic events such as the tsunami may even have been responsible for the creation of the archipelago in the first place. Such natural events have been occurring cyclically and species and habitats are bound to respond suitably in the course of time. The conversion of Sippighat into a big, open waterbody, the reformation of beaches where they had been destroyed, filling up of sand in uplifted coral reefs and movement of the line of mangroves are evidence of such changes.
Nevertheless, the entire coastline of the islands has been altered and there is an urgent need to re-calibrate our own developmental plans in response. The area must, for instance, be resurveyed from the point of view of the Coastal Regulation Zone Rules.

Such mega-geologic events provide us with unprecedented opportunities to observe and understand the long-term changes that have take place naturally down the ages. These are the very forces that have shaped the coral reefs, coastal forests, mangroves and coastlines we see before us today. The dramatic increases in catches of specific fish species and the re-formation of beaches are only two of the many phenomena we should carefully study. Some may take years, even decades to reveal themselves. Hopefully, scientists will find the support they need to document such changes.

Whales strandings and earthquakes: an uncanny connection

Very interesting....

From: Arunachalam Kumar

I would like to share this interesting bit of correspondence and news
with others here. I have extracted the pieces from orkut, a popular
interactive site. A query addressed to me and my response to it on
orkut, read along with the news item published today on the website,
should add more strength to my oft repeated theory that whale strandings
are invariably followed up by earthquakes / tsunamis within a few weeks.

(*Dr. Arunachalam Kumar's prediction of the tsunami in Asia)*
http://csiwhalesalive.org/csi05106.html
On 4th Dec 2004 he posted the following message to a Natural History
list pertaining to India: "It is my observation, confirmed over the
years, that mass suicides of whales and dolphins that occur sporadically
all over the world, are in someway related to change and disturbances in
the electromagnetic field coordinates and possible realignments of
geotectonic plates thereof. Tracking the dates and plotting the locales
of tremors and earthquakes, I am reasonably certain, that major
earthquakes usually follow within a week or two of mass beaching of
cetaceans. I have noted with alarm, the last week report of such mass
deaths of marine mammals in an Australian beachside. I will not be
surprised if within a few days a massive hit hits some part of the
globe. The interrelationship between the unusual `death-wish' of pods of
whales and its inevitable aftermath, the earthquake, may need a further
impassioned and unbiased looking into'
The Asian tsunami struckon 26 Dec 2004.

*30th NOV 2008 / orkut*

*http://www.orkut.co.in/Main#Profile.aspx?rl=pv&uid=6538249859382243801*
from: Soubhagya Ranjan:

Good afternoon sir, how are you sir?

Sir while going through the Australian news paper Sydney Morning Herald,
I read the news regarding the 150 whales perished in the mass stranding
off at Tasmania's west coast.

http://news.smh.com.au/national/tasmanian-whale-death-toll-reaches-150-20081130-6nj0.html

Sir should we anticipate a tsunami in the coming days?

*30th NOV 2008 / orkut*

*http://www.orkut.co.in/Main#Profile.aspx?rl=fpn&uid=10433972028384849926*
reply from: Dr. Kumar Arunachalam:

Not necessarily a tsunami, but some undersea tectonic plate shift or
terrestrial earthquake is an imminent and distinct possibility....the
locale could be South Asia or west coast of USA within 2 to 4 weeks

*3rd JAN 2009 / Mangalorean.com *

*http://mangalorean.com/news.php?newstype=local&newsid=107519*

Jakarta/Washington, Jan 4 (DPA) An underwater earthquake with a
magnitude of 7.6 on the Richter scale was recorded early Sunday off the
coast of eastern Indonesia, the US Geological Survey said. The quake
struck at 4.43 a.m. Sunday (1943 GMT Saturday) at a depth of 35 km below
the Earth surface. The epicentre was located 150 km west-north-west of
Manokwari in Indonesia's Irian Jaya, or 623 km northeast of Ambon in
Indonesian Molucca.


Dr. Arunachalam Kumar
ixedoc@SULEKHA.COM

Good news on the tsumani's third anniversary

http://www.pauldeegan.com/index.php?id=6391307091242273579

Dec 26, 2007 | personal | permalink

18 months before the 2004 Boxing Day Tsunami struck the islands in the Andaman Sea, I was fortunate to be invited on an expedition to the Andaman & Nicobar islands.

In addition to making a rare ascent of Barren Island, the team was granted a permit to sail to the island of Car Nicobar, which until we arrived had only been visited by one non-Indian national since Independence in 1947.

We were only allowed to stay for one day, but during that time we were royally entertained by the Nicobarese. Warm memories of our experiences (which included traditional circular dancing, local cuisine, and pig wrestling) linger long in my memory.

When the Tsunami struck, I was left feeling upset and impotent. Desperate to do something – anything – for the survivors, I linked up with one of the expedition's photographers, Martin Hartley. We contacted Geographical magazine with a proposal for a story about the islands, and subsequently directed our fees for the article towards the Foundation for Ecological Research, Advocacy and Learning (FERAL). One of FERAL's trustees is Dr Rauf Ali, a scientist living in the Andamans who accompanied the 2003 expedition.

Over the past two years, FERAL has been designing a low-cost coconut press to enable the Nicobarese to extract oil from their groves. The coconut oil can then sold directly to businesses, ensuring that all profits flow into the hands of the people who need it most. The money from our article was used to build a prototype. Earlier this year, using some funds from FERAL, Rauf took the unit (which the organisation named 'DeeganPress') to Car Nicobar. The large box required several people to help unload it.

Since the start of 2005, the Nicobarese people have been subjected to a barrage of visits from high profile charities, which has resulted in very little aid: the few items sent to the island have been largely useless (boxes of teddy bears, anyone?). Understandably, the local population was initially sceptical of Rauf's proposal. However, once the unit was unwrapped and they saw it in action, Rauf told me that everyone's mood visibly changed.

Every village on Car Nicobar requested their own DeeganPress, and the long process of raising the necessary funds began. The latest news is that the Government of India's Ministry of Science and Technology has agreed to fund the new prototypes.

While there is now sufficient cash to build the next generation of prototypes, the marketing of the cold pressed coconut oil in India – perhaps as much as 6000 litres a month from the outset – is one of the big issues that remains to be tackled. Which is where you come in. If you have any suggestions or ideas about how to create this link in the marketing chain, please shoot Rauf a message. He'd love to hear from you.

New Vulnerabilities - A&N Islands

New vulnerabilities
PANKAJ SEKHSARIA
http://www.hindu.com/mag/2007/12/23/stories/2007122350110400.htm

A changed topography in the Andaman and Nicobar Islands and increased seismic activity in the area have to be factored in for drafting appropriate disaster responses.

Photo: Pankaj Sekhsaria
Advancing sea: Forests and plantations destroyed due to subsidence in the Nicobar group of islands. December 26, 2004 is remembered primarily for the devastating tsunami that struck coasts across South and South-East Asia with unprecedented fury. The Andaman and Nicobar Islands, located close to the epicentre of the earthquake that caused the tsuna mi were also hit very badly and suffered huge damage to life and property. Official figures list 3,513 people as either dead or missing and 7,992 hectares as the paddy and plantation land that was affected. The number of boats fully damaged was 938, while the number of livestock reported to have been lost in the disaster was 1, 57,577.

The figures do tell us one important story; at the same time, however, they also hide another equally important one, albeit unintentionally. Disaggregating and looking at these numbers along the lines of the two island groups (Andamans and Nicobars) reveals a crucially important scenario that has not attracted the attention and analysis it actually deserves.

More damage in the Nicobars

Of the 3,513 people reported dead and missing, only 64 are from the Andaman group of islands; the remaining 3,449 are from the islands in the Nicobar Group. Seventy-six per cent of the agricultural and paddy land destroyed and 80 per cent of livestock loss was also reported from the Nicobars. The latest figures of houses being constructed for the tsunami affected also indicate a similar trend. 71 percent or 7,001 houses of the 9,797 being constructed are in the Nicobars

So, while the Nicobar Islands account for only 22 per cent and 12 per cent of the area and population respective of the entire chain of islands, 98 per cent of the deaths and 76 per cent of loss of agricultural land occurred here. The damage caused is inversely proportional to the area and population of the two groups and strikingly so.

Tectonic movements

While the tsunami was directly responsible for most of the damage, a more fundamental explanation of the situation in the islands lies in the earthquake that caused the tsunami. While the tectonic movements triggered by the earthquake catalysed the tsunami, they also caused a huge and permanent shift in the lay of the Andaman and Nicobar Islands. Preliminary assessments by Dr. Roger Bilham of the University of Colorado (http://cires.colorado.edu/%7ebilham/IndonesiAndaman2004_files/AndamanSRL4Mar.htm) showed that the Andaman Islands experienced an average permanent uplift of one to two metres while there was a subsidence of up to four meters in parts of the Nicobar group of islands. In a paper titled “Partial and Complete Rupture of the Indo-Andaman plate boundary” published in June 2005, Bilham and his co-authors point out that the tide gauge at Port Blair recorded an initial rise of sea level about 38 minutes after local shaking commenced on the day of the disaster. A 2005 report by the Geological Survey of India quoting eyewitness accounts indicated similarly, that the main shocks were felt in Port Blair around 0635 hrs local time on December 26, 2004. While the first influx of sea waves was noticed 15-20 minutes later, it was about two hours after the main shock (0830 hrs local time) that a third wave hit the shores with a velocity that caught citizens unaware. Other reports ( http://www.asce.org/files/pdf/tsunami/3-7.pdf ) indicate that the first wave of the tsunami in Port Blair came about 50 minutes after the initial earthquake. Three more waves with a gap of 30-35 minutes between each other are reported to have followed.

While this sequence of events has not been corroborated from developments on other islands here, it can be assumed that the pattern everywhere was the same and by implication, that the subsidence and uplift of the landmass occurred before the most powerful and damaging of the tsunami waves hit the shores of the Andaman and Nicobar Islands. The Nicobars, though spread over a smaller area and also more thinly populated, suffered much larger damages that the Andamans because of the subsidence that occurred.

Ecological changes

Surveys by ecologists and environmental researchers conducted after December 2004 provide supporting evidence. A report by Harry Andrews of the Andaman Nicobar Environment Team pointed out that huge coral reef areas totalling more than 60 sq. km along the western and northern coasts of the Middle and North Andaman Islands have been permanently exposed and destroyed. Studies in the Nicobar group of islands by the Salim Ali Centre for Ornithology and Nature (SACON), supported by the Wildlife Trust of India, revealed that the ecosystems that were badly damaged by the joint impact of the subsidence, the tsunami waves and the permanent ingress of sea water included forests along the coast line — particularly the mangroves and littoral forests. Faunal species that primarily reside in littoral forests like the Nicobari Megapode, the Giant Robber Crab and the Malayan Box Turtle were among those that were the worst hit. A survey in early 2006 by Dr. K. Sivakumar of the Wildlife Institute of India confirmed the findings of SACON. Sivakumar estimated that the post-tsunami population of the Nicobari Megapode was only 30 per cent of what it had been a decade ago.

The dominant human population in the Nicobar Islands is the Nicobari tribal community that is essentially coastal dwelling. They were therefore the most vulnerable and in the direct route of the powerful tsunami which followed the significant subsidence that had taken place on account of the earthquake. Of the 3,513 people reported dead or missing, 2,955 indeed were from this tribal community.

There is also evidence that the region where the islands are located has become even more seismically active since December 2004. Data gathered by the United States Geological Service (USGS) shows that nearly 20 earthquakes of a magnitude over M6 in addition to several hundred of lesser intensity have been recorded in the region in the last three years.

Some, like the September 12, 2007 earthquake off the Sumatra coast have been extremely powerful. This particular earthquake was of a magnitude greater than M8 on the Richter scale and led to the issuing of a tsunami warning along the Indonesian coast as well as in the Andaman and Nicobar Islands.

New factors

Increased seismic activity and increased threat because of this needs to now be made an important aspect of policy and development planning in the islands. Similarly, the change of the topography of the islands on account of the tectonic movements caused as a result of the massive earthquake of December 26, 2004 needs to be factored in, both for the ongoing relief and rehabilitation work here as also for future planning. An understanding and incorporation of these two basic aspects should be made fundamental to dealing with the present and the future of the A&N islands.

One important dimension, for instance, is the alteration along the coasts of all the islands, of the High Tide Line (HTL). Unless this is recalibrated, any management of or implementation of laws and regulations related to the coastal zone cannot be done effectively. They are in fact meaningless. The changed scenario also has direct implications on issues like land that can or cannot be allotted for reconstruction or for agriculture and plantations as also for materials and design of new buildings being constructed in the islands.

An understanding and through analysis of the changed ground situation and the new vulnerabilities would be the first step towards articulating and creating appropriate responses. Ignoring these and the implications is only an invitation to more trouble in the future with potentially disastrous consequences.

Tilt and turmoil in the Andamans

TEXT AND PICTURES BY PANKAJ SEKHSARIA

Frontline, Vol. 23, Issue 16, August 12-25, 2006

http://www.hinduonnet.com/fline/fl2316/stories/20060825000206600.htm

The earthquake and tsunami of December 2004 caused huge changes in the coastal systems of Andaman and Nicobar Island

AN 11-PICTURE COMPILATION showing the huge uplift and destruction of coral reef - covered with mud and debris - west of Interview Island.

December 26, 2004 will be etched forever on our memories for the tsunami that killed lakhs of people and caused unprecedented damage in the coastal regions of South Asia and South East Asia.

PADDY FIELDS AND mangrove forests lie submerged at Sippighat, on the outskirts of Port Blair. The old channels of the creek are still visible, clearly outlined by dead mangrove trees.

Among the worst hit areas in India were the fragile Andaman and Nicobar Islands, particularly the southern group of the Nicobars. Of the nearly 3,500 people reported dead and missing in the entire islands, nearly 3,000 were in the Nicobar group, which has only about 10 per cent of the Andaman and Nicobar Islands' estimated population of 400,000.

Another important indicator of the damage is the area of agricultural and horticultural land that suffered temporary or permanent submergence. In the Nicobars nearly 6,000 hectares (14,826 acres) has been damaged, and in the Andamans about 1,800 ha (4,447.8 acres). The magnitude of the damage to the Nicobars becomes clear when one considers the fact that the Andaman group, with a total area of about 6,400 sq. km, is more than three times the size of the Nicobar group. In the Andamans, too, much of the damage occurred in the southern parts, in the Little Andaman and South Andaman islands. The northern groups escaped virtually unscathed.

The explanation of this stark contrast lies in the earthquake that set off the tsunami. The tectonic activity initiated in December 2004 caused a significant shift in the lay of the islands. Assessments done by Dr. Roger Bilham of the University of Colorado indicate that the northern parts of the Andaman group of islands experienced a permanent average uplift of four to six feet (1.2 metres to 1.8 metres) while most parts of the Nicobars went significantly under - four feet in Car Nicobar and a staggering 15 feet (4.57 m) at the southernmost tip - Indira Point on Great Nicobar Island. The pivot of this swing experienced by the islands can be calculated to be roughly located south of Port Blair.

AT JOGINDERNAGAR, GREAT Nicobar Island, buildings and coconut plantations that were far inland before the tsunami are now right on the coastline, on the new beaches.

In the Nicobars, therefore, the water that the tsunami brought in stayed back, permanently inundating huge areas of coastal and low-lying forest and, where they existed, fields, horticultural plantations and settlements of the Nicobaris and the settler families. Among the most significant but little studied or understood implications of this sudden, phenomenal change in the architecture of the islands is the impact on coastal and marine ecosystems such as mangroves, coastal (littoral) forests and coral reefs.

The submergence of the coast has brought this well, filled with sand as a result of wave action, right to the edge of the coast.

Proof of the damage caused to mangroves and littoral forests lies everywhere in the Nicobars. A continuous wall of submerged, dead, brown, decaying timber of various kinds engulfs every single island. The extensive damage to these forests has also had catastrophic implications for a diverse range of rare and endemic flora and fauna that inhabited these systems.

For instance, the submergence in the Nicobars has permanently destroyed a huge part of the nesting habitat of the Nicobari Megapode, an endemic bird that scrapes together a mound of earth for its unique nest. A survey carried out by Ravi Sankaran of the Coimbatore-based Salim Ali Centre for Ornithology and Natural History (SACON) in the first few months of the disaster reported that nearly 1,100 nesting mounds were lost in the immediate aftermath of the earthquake and the tsunami.

A survey in early 2006 by K. Sivakumar, who was a student of Ravi Sankaran and is now with the Wildlife Institute of India in Dehradun, covered nearly 110 km of the coastline in 15 islands in the Nicobar group. The Nicobari Megapode was the subject of his doctoral thesis and he had conducted extensive surveys of the bird in 1993-94. Sivakumar's present estimates indicate that there are now only about 500 active nesting mounds of the bird and that its population is less than 30 per cent of what was reported a decade ago. While the bird has been hit badly, fears of its extinction have been put to rest.

Little, unfortunately, is known of the other littoral forest-dwelling fauna, mainly the Giant Robber Crab, the Reticulated Python and the Malayan Box Turtle. South Sentinel, a 1.6 sq. km flat, uninhabited island that is also a wildlife sanctuary, had one of the most significant populations of the Giant Robber Crab. Beaching a boat here was always a tricky affair and after the changes in December 2004 it is reported to have become even more so. No credible scientific information exists of the present situation on this island, and therefore of the Robber Crab.

UPLIFTED BED OF mangrove creek.

CORAL REEFS UNDER DEBRIS

Another ecological system that has been affected on either side of the pivot is the pristine and extensive coral reefs that the islands are famous for. In the Nicobars the damage was caused by submergence, increased turbidity of the water and the sheer physical impact of debris.

Surveys by the Zoological Survey of India (ZSI) have reported significant impact on the coral reefs around the Central Nicobar group of islands, including Camorta, Nancowry, Trinket and Katchal. R Jeybaskaran of the ZSI's regional station in Port Blair had conducted extensive surveys in the waters of Great Nicobar in 1999. He took a re-look at the reefs after the tsunami only to find that large coral areas were under debris, sand and mud. Also reported was a noticeable reduction in associated coral fauna such as nudibranchs, flat worms, alpheid shrimps and hermit crabs.

Another interesting associated change has been the sudden increase in the otherwise uncommon `Milk Fish' Chanos chanos in the Great Nicobar waters. Fisherfolk catch them in such large numbers that they are now called tsunami macchi.

THE GIANT ROBBER Crab in South Sentinel Island is said to be one of the most badly affected species of fauna by the destruction of coastal forests.

While the Nicobar coral reefs suffered on account of submergence, those in the Andaman waters were permanently thrust above the high-tide line, destroying them in weeks. Among the first to survey these areas for the changes was Harry Andrews of the Andaman and Nicobar Environment Team. His report and that of Ravi Sankaran of the Nicobars were published as part of a series by the Wildlife Trust of India - `Ground Beneath the Waves - Post Tsunami Impact Assessment of Wildlife and their Habitats in India'.

Andrews has estimated that more than 50 sq km of pristine coral reefs were thoroughly exposed and destroyed, and the largest single area, on the west and north of Interview Island measured 25 sq km. Like the coral reefs, these parts of the Andamans have also seen loss of mangroves because of the fact that unlike the Nicobars they are now permanently above the high water mark.

The survival of the Nicobari Megapode with its nesting mound (partly seen) in low-lying coastal forests is now under threat.

Significantly, most of the experts and others working on ecological issues in the islands have unanimously advocated no intervention as the best form of intervention. "Allowing nature to take its course is the best way," says Ravi Sankaran, "to allow habitats to restore themselves, and species to colonise areas. Leaving areas alone should be the preferred management option."

Natural systems are bound to respond in complex ways in an attempt to move towards some kind of equilibrium and this should be allowed to happen. The example of sea turtles is a good one. The beaches of the islands (particularly in the Nicobars) that have been important nesting sites for four species - the Giant Leatherback, the Green Sea Turtle, the Olive Ridley and the Hawksbill - were all lost when the coastline in the southern group submerged.

In a few months, however, new beaches started to appear, like soothing, soft caresses all along the altered alignments of the ravaged islands. The turtles, too, were back and there are now regular reports of their using these new beaches for nesting.

SUBMERGED AND DEAD coconut plantation in Great Nicobar Island.

In the Andamans, too, many of these exposed reef areas rapidly filled up with sand, creating additional new landmasses and new beaches. The process goes on and change continues to happen. What will be the nature of the equilibrium ultimately attained? For the answer we have to wait and watch.

Pankaj Sekhsaria is National Foundation for India Media Fellow 2005-06 for writing on the Andaman & Nicobar Islands.

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Music from Asia's tsunami-ravaged coastline will come alive in India

Georgina Maddox

http://cities.expressindia.com/fullstory.php?newsid=239830

Two unknown singers from Myanmar croon a plaintive tune as percussion players from India lift the piece to a catchy beat; a Buddhist prayer cymbal chimes on the offbeat and the whole piece comes together as a song in the album, Laya Project. The musicians - a woman from a Maldivian isle, villagers of Polhena in Sri Lanka and Gayo in Indonesia, Buddhist monks from Myanmar, Tamil folk musicians from India and Thai islanders - are hardly known outside their sunny strips of coastal land. But they share a moment: the angst-ridden instance when the fury of the sea shattered their lives into smithereens, killed their children and washed away their homes. Laya Project is the sound of that pain, of wails waving across desolate shores, of the lapping of the waves against bodies half-buried in sand. It is also the music of survival.The sounds come to India at the first live performance of Laya Project at Mumbai's National Centre for Performing Arts on June 9.Laya Project began in the aftermath of the tsunami on December 26, 2004, when Sonya Mazumdar of Clementine Studios, Chennai, and Yotam Agam, a recording engineer from Israel, decided to collaborate on a folk-musical project; it ended as a unique amalgamation of folk sounds from the regions, under the label EarthSync. On the way, music connoisseurs from Malyasia, Canada and the Netherlands joined in."In the album, Buddhist monks chant with Tamil temple drummers," says Paul Jacob of Chennai-based Bodhi Muzzik. Jacob, who has been working with folk musicians for the past 12 years, had got Mazumdar and Agam in touch with folk musicians scattered along the tsunami-hit shores. Then Mumbai-based Frenchwoman Aurelie Chauleur, a concert coordinator, stepped in. Now the concert is travelling to Europe and the US."We started the project after doing a lot of research on the tsunami-affected areas of Sri Lanka, Thailand, Indonesia, Maldives, Myanmar and India, but a lot of the magic happened spontaneously while working," says Mazumdar. "Like the instance we met Farihi, a Muslim woman in purdah, who lives in a small coastal strip called Maroosh in the Maldives. We had been recording all day with percussionists and were ready to pack up when she came out from behind a wall and requested us to let her sing a song. It was pure magic and she became the mascot for our album," adds Agam.The album (Rs 500) and a documentary on the making of the Laya Project (Rs 1,200) will hit the shelves after the concert. Goan DJ Mafiza will open the show along with a few guest artists - Chen Zimbalista, a percussionist from Israel, and Tibetan monks from the Tashi Lhunpo Monastery.

Moving on from a cataclysm

Photo Feature
HIMAL SOUTHASIAN
Vol 20. No. 3, March 2007

Moving on from a cataclysm
Text and Photographs by Pankaj Sekhsaria

If there is a single day for which the Andaman and Nicobar Islands will be forever remembered, it is undoubtedly 26 December 2004. For the small chain of islands located far from mainland India, this was a tryst with a cataclysm, as huge waves engulfed the coasts with unforgiving power and ferocity.
Official estimates suggest that nearly 3500 people were washed away on that day, while about 8000 hectares of horticultural and agricultural land were permanently submerged. Two years later, there are no clear answers as to how the recovery process is proceeding. Part of the reason for this is because the islands are an extremely complex place – geographically, logistically, demographically and culturally. Not only are the Nicobars distinctly unique from the Andamans, but there are substantial differences even between the islands that make up each group. The earthquake and tsunami of 2004 also meted out different treatments to the various islands – to their respective ecologies and to the human communities, if any, that inhabit them.
Less than 10 percent of the over 500 islands constituting the Andaman and Nicobar group have human communities. The rest are uninhabited. In more ways than one, then, the impact of December 2004 can only be considered a natural phenomenon. Indeed, it has been argued that this is precisely the type of event that could, over a geological timescale, have been responsible for creating the islands in the first place.
Due to a host of complex phenomena, it was the Nicobars that were the worst hit by the tsunami. Each and every member of the indigenous Nicobari community of nearly 40,000 was affected. And yes, the process of rehabilitation is far from over. It has, in fact, barely begun.
One of the least-known aspects of the disaster of December 2004 is the fact that the earthquake that catalysed the tsunami also caused a permanent and vast transformation to the coastline of the islands, particularly in the Nicobars. With a pivot located roughly around Port Blair, the Andaman Islands were thrust upwards by five feet in the extreme north, whereas the Nicobars subsided by anywhere from five to 15 feet. This is a permanent change, the likes of which are rarely, if ever, seen.

http://himalmag.com/2007/march/photofeature.htm