Stench of death hangs over India's remote Andamans

Rescuers followed the stench of death to find rotting bodies in jungles on India’s remote Andaman and Nicobar islands, where thousands are believed to have died, while people fled their homes today amid warnings of possible new tsunamis following fresh quakes.

India’s official toll from Sunday’s 9.0 magnitude temblor and tsunamis stands at 7,330.

But as many as 10,000 more people are believed to be buried in mud and thick vegetation on the remote islands, said Lt. Gov. Ram Kapse, administrator of the island territories. Only about 359 bodies have been found so far.

Survivors from the islands told harrowing tales. Many had not eaten for two days and people had to contend with crocodiles that were washed ashore.

“There’s not a single hut which is standing,” said Mohammad Yusef, a 60-year-old fisherman from Tea Top village on Car Nicobar, at a Roman Catholic Church in Port Blair, the capital of the Indian territory. About 800 survivors from around the islands were at the church.

Yusef said he and his extended family of 20 walked some 12 miles to a devastated, but functioning airfield where thousands were being evacuated by the airforce.

He said there were about 15 small villages on Car Nicobar’s coastline and that all had been destroyed.

“Everything is gone. Most of the people have gone up to the hills and are afraid to come down,” Yusef said.

The Andaman and Nicobar territories comprise more than 500 islands located south-east of India’s mainland. About 350,000 people live on about 30 of the islands.

Meanwhile, fears of new tsunamis on the islands and India’s mainland forced thousands of people living in coastal areas to flee their homes.

The government issued a tsunami alert following information that several aftershocks in the region had pushed up the water level, said an official at the emergency control room set up by India’s Home Ministry in New Delhi.

An estimated 5.7 magnitude underwater earthquake was recorded by the Hong Kong observatory at 5.18am (9.18pm yesterday), north-west of Sumatra, Indonesia, close to the epicentre of last Sunday’s quake. Andaman and Nicobar also felt quakes, as did Thailand and Myanmar.

“We got into a truck and fled. We took only a few clothes and left behind all of our belongings, everything we had. They do not know when we will be able to go back,” said resident Gandhimathi, 40, who uses only one name.

The new warnings further slowed the recovery of bodies from hard-hit areas, where rescuers were already struggling to cope with the magnitude of the disaster.

“Finding and disposing bodies is a daunting task. A huge number of trees have fallen. There is a lot of slush,” Deputy Inspector-General Basudev Rao said in Port Blair.

Nearly all the jetties in the islands had been smashed by the waves and rescue parties were using small wooden and rubber boats to land.

“The rescue parties are approaching inch by inch,” Rao said. “There is also a lot of stench. From the stench, they are trying to follow the direction to the bodies.”

Helicopters took off from 10 ships patrolling the vicinity of the islands today, carrying out intensive reconnaissance sorties for any signs of life, or mounds of dead, but they difficult to see through the thick foliage.

Police and army soldiers have begun burying unclaimed bodies. Security was tightened near three islands – Katchall, Hut Bay and Campbell Bay – where non-indigenous residents were getting restive and demanding evacuation, local police officers said.

Six Russian-made AN-32 Air Force planes conducted dozens of sorties from Port Blair to the air base on Car Nicobar to pick up the 80 to 90 villagers on each flight.

About 580 survivors from the island of Hud Bay arrived by boat just past midnight. The waves were so fierce that most of those who could board the ship were men, who had to swim from shore. The government ship took 12 hours to reach the island, where, according to survivors, more than 800 people are dead or missing.

“We just managed to save our lives,” said Dana Amma, 60. “All our houses, our cattle, everything is gone. We don’t know what to do.”

Drinking water was being rushed on ships and planes, but the situation was largely calm and local people were making do with eating coconut and drinking coconut water, Rao said.

“People find their own ways of survival. They are doing it admirably,” he said.

In many islands, the tribal residents maintain little contact with the outer world, disappearing into the forest when strangers approach their lands. Authorities hope that is the case this time, as well.

“They might be hiding in forests and taking shelter in places where we haven’t reached yet,” Rao said. “But God’s grace is needed for that in ample measure,” he added.