Prepared by Manish Chandi
on assignment with Reefwatch Marine Conservation

The indigenous Islanders of these regions and of Great Nicobar Island are at present located at three relief camps at Campbell bay, Great Nicobar Island. These indigenous islanders were rescued and evacuated from their locations approximately 4 days after the tidal wave that struck the Andaman and Nicobar Islands on December 26th 2004, and ever since have been located at these relief camps. Basic requirements of food rations, clothes, mosquito nets and mats, blankets, tents, tarpaulins and some materials for temporary housing have been provided over the past one month to accommodate themselves. Though these basic requirements have been provided there are a lot of discomforts and health hazards that those at the relief camps are exposed to with the temporary and the proximal nature of their living conditions under the heat of the sun, and lack of adequate measures of sanitation.

Over the past month there have been no indications to the village Captains as to how and when the rehabilitation of these islanders will take place. The notion of resettlement of such indigenous islanders will have to be seen in the light of existing indigenous patterns of settlement (a matrilocal pattern predominantly) and land tenuring system (plantation ownership and access to resource sites that each village/hamlet collectively own). Most of the settlements have lost their coconut and betel nut plantations to the destruction wrought by the tidal wave, whereas in a few areas local inhabitants at the camps claim some of these assets do remain in small numbers. The destruction of these plantations is a serious issue in terms of the future of the economy that they have subsisted on for centuries which was their main source of commercial trade and income to access livelihood resources and modern articles not available in the immediate environment of their islands.

The primary need expressed by all inhabitants at these camps was to get back to their hamlets on Little Nicobar as soon as possible; the Islanders of Kondul and Pulomilow have decided to use regions on the larger Islands of Great & Little Nicobar where some of their horticultural plantations exist; their contention being that the small islets they inhabited earlier are now not habitable in spite of small water sources that continue to exist on the remnants of these two islets. This makes a lot of sense as there is a need to restart their lives afresh as fast as possible to ensure the shortest time within which they can resume income generating activities and increase their command over resources and reap the fruits of the future plantations. At present in the absence of their traditional economy there is a need to be able to satisfy the food and accommodation necessities for the interim period within which they will be able to get back to their lives as far as possible on their own terms. Alternate economic ventures can be studied and explored but need not be introduced at this time when the islanders yearnings are to get back as much of what they have lost.

The following is a strategy prepared in consultation and participation by residents, village Captains and the Chairman, Tribal council representing Little Nicobar, Pulomilow and Kondul Islands (a letter from the latter is also enclosed).

The proposed strategy

1. An assessment to be conducted by individual hamlet representatives to survey the existing sites for remaining property, plantations and materials. This survey will be able to establish (a) the suitability of locations for reconstruction of former hamlets / water sources, (b) extant of plantations and suitable locations for replanting with horticultural crops, (c) construction materials that can be sourced from their forests by themselves such as timber, cane and other household implements that are required for sustenance in their habitats.
2. Based on this survey, a planning process will begin amongst inhabitants as to future immediate requirements to re-colonize their former hamlets. These requirements can then be communicated to the Assistant Commissioner Campbell bay for further action through Governmental machinery or with assistance from NGO’s.
3. In the absence of money flow due to destroyed economic resources, basic living materials such as food and fuel rations will have to be supplied to hamlets for their subsistence for a period ranging from 3 – 6 years until the fruit of their plantations and labor can be realized in monetary terms. One of the possible schemes discussed was to engage tribal youth and men in wage labor for the present while in Campbell bay, and to realize a daily wage income based on the labor invested while at Campbell bay and in recreating their plantations over the next couple of years to be able to purchase goods.
4. Price control measures through the services of the Consumers Cooperative Stores (CCS) and fair price shops available in Campbell bay- the absence of which over the last month saw the escalation of prices by other residents of the region who had reopened shops to cater to the demands of those in the region.

This process will be monitored over the coming months to make required changes to refine and hasten the process of re-colonizing their traditional habitats possibly before the coming monsoon months beginning from the month of May.

Requirements to implement this strategy

The process of survey and re-colonization of little Nicobar Island and the northern and western portions of Great Nicobar Island that constitute the tribal protected regions of the Nicobarese of the southern Nicobars will require the support of and basic infrastructure from Governmental facilities and resources and inputs from NGO’s where ever required.

These include:
1. Transportation: Boats such as wooden dinghies will be required to transport men and material from Campbell bay to little Nicobar over the next few months. Only 2 such boats owned by the Nicobarese in this region have survived. The islanders will make ready indigenous dugout canoes once they have resettled and have time to work on the carving of these craft. At the moment a passenger vessel, MV Jolly Buoy is stationed at Campbell bay to help with the search and relief efforts and is captained by Capt Choudhry who expressed his willingness to ferry the Islanders to and fro for such operations using the inflatable boat on board to land people over the surf at their respective hamlet sites. This requirement is the most important need at this moment to carry out rehabilitation work before the monsoon sets in. While this process continues improvements to the infrastructure being built and for transportation can be made with the realizations of gaps. Also new wooden/ fiber-glass boats or dinghies can be ordered to create independent travel without disrupting the functioning of MV Jolly Buoy and also to facilitate immediate travel possibilities for the islanders without depending on the larger vessels for immediate needs of transportation. Throughout this process communication equipment such as VHF sets can be distributed for any communication necessary for safety and quick dissemination of information whilst the islanders are on their island reconstructing their habitations.

2. Adequate shelters and sanitation facilities at the relief camps they are currently located at. The present accommodation is of a temporary nature; more over it does not provide relief from the vagaries of nature. The accommodation can be categorized as tents, living in verandahs of school buildings, and tarpaulins pulled over cane battens to form a shelter. These are located extremely close to each other restricting the movement of people around the tents and decreasing the levels of sanitation. The rooms in the schools are used to store relief material that is shipped in from Port Blair. Some material are damp and wet and are still in that condition mixed along with blankets clothes and food supplies, causing bad odour and food material are not in the freshest possible conditions causing articles like jaggery, potatoes to rot and also cause the proliferation of flies. Toilets are trench latrines located close to these accommodations raising the possibility of the spread of disease and infections to high levels. Flytraps of the UV fluorescent tube type that attract and destroy vectors such as flies need to be installed on a war footing to prevent the outbreak of disease via flies. Similarly mosquito borne disease can be controlled with regular medical check ups and cleaner surroundings such as existed in their villages before the tsunami forced the present type of accommodation. Permanent / semi permanent structures need to be constructed to accommodate people based on their village affiliations; the people have expressed their willingness to construct these themselves as long as material and tools are provided to them to construct raised platform accommodations that they are used to and that are safer than the present type of camps spread on the ground. Larger closed toilets need to be constructed with adequate water availability and spaced away from the accommodations to create cleanliness / privacy and conditions conducive to tide over this interim period of refuge at Campbell bay.

3. Water supply: Water is currently supplied by the Fire tender at Campbell bay into large drums and barrels that are then chlorinated/purified using water purification tablets that are thrown in at random making the water unpalatable at times with excessive use of these tablets. Pipe connections exist in the school buildings that can be readied to provide safe piped water supply at regular intervals that can be easily monitored for cleanliness unlike the present form of random purification and supply. Local youth can be trained to monitor and purify water according to specified standards.

4. Saplings of their horticultural crops to be sourced and supplied at the earliest as soon as is possible to resume work of creating new plantations. Thousands of saplings will be required to create new plantations- these include many indigenous and exotic but naturalized varieties of Bananas, wild and domesticated Areca nut, and Coconut. Kitchen gardens used to have chilly plants, lemons, Jackfruit, and other citrus fruits, the pacific Breadfruit tree- Artocarpus incisa, and silk cotton trees Bombax insigne. Thatching leaves were formerly sourced from creeks on Great & Little Nicobar Islands, namely the Dhani tree leaves, Nypa fruiticans, which also have been destroyed in the tidal wave. Seeds can be sourced from locations in the Andaman Islands to cater to the regeneration of these resource sites for future use. The supply of such saplings will speed up the process of recreating their plantations and reintroduce their role in the trade and barter economy of the Nicobar Islands. Tools that are useful for this work and that serve other uses are machetes (dah’s) of various sizes, spades, crowbars, etc. Plain metal / steel pieces with files, large hammers can be used to fashion traditional hunting and household implements over time. Carpentry tools, rope and fishing implements such as hooks and lines with sinkers will be of tremendous use in foraging for food resources with protein that are at present absent with the supply of rice, dal, cereal, potatoes, garlic and onion. Some of these supplies are not in a condition to be consumed after having survived the journey from the mainland to Port Blair & thence to Great Nicobar Island.

These requirements are based on the conversations and discussions I have had with the village headmen and others at the camps in an effort to use participatory methods in rehabilitating these Islanders whom I have worked with in the past from 2001- 2003. Such basic improvements of better sanitation and accommodation facilities, logistical infrastructure and tools to rebuild their villages and assets if provided at the earliest will facilitate their rehabilitation and alleviate the people from the miserable conditions they have to contend with at the moment.