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Tiny tribe escapes tsunami
08/01/2005 13:19 - (SA)
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| A man from Nicobar and his son attend prayers in Port Blair. (Manish Swarup, AP) |
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Port Blair, India - The last few dozen remaining members of an ancient indigenous tribe in the Andaman and Nicobar Islands said they raced up a mountain to escape a devastating tsunami - and avoid extinction.
"No one was hurt. Everyone is all right," Jiroki, the king of the Great Andamanese tribe, said on Friday from a hospital in Port Blair, the capital of India's federally administered territories.
"The water was rushing up very fast. It seemed to be following us," said his wife, Surmayee. "We stayed in the forest for five days. There was some rice. We ate that. Then there was nothing, so we went hungry."
The Great Andamanese were once the largest tribe in the region with an estimated population of 10 000 in 1789. The government says only 43 Great Andamanese remain, while Jiroki says there are 50, of whom 10 are his children.
Anthropologists believe the five ancient tribes of the southern Indian archipelago - also including the Jarawas, Shompens, Onges and Sentinelese - date back 70 000 years.
Rescuers last week brought the remaining Great Andamanese tribespeople to Port Blair in the wake of the massive December 26 earthquake and resulting tsunami. Jiroki, whose tribe lives in a forest on Strait Island in the south of the archipelago, seized the opportunity to seek treatment for epilepsy at a state-run hospital.
Speaking in broken Hindi, India's national language, Jiroki and Surmayee said that when the earthquake jolted their homes on Strait Island, they ordered the tribe to flee.
"I am the king. They follow what I say," said Jiroki, wearing a red T-shirt and shorts. "We asked the wireless operator to send a message to Port Blair. But the machine and battery had been flooded by the water. They were spoiled."
The island's jetty was smashed so no boats could land. The tribe members' clothes, utensils and other household articles were all washed away, Surmayee said.
Some experts say the Great Andamanese are a sad example of how indigenous people quickly lose centuries of tradition and culture when they come into contact with the outside world.
"I have written them off. They hardly have a culture or tradition of their own," said Samir Acharya, head of the independent Andaman and Nicobar Society. "They have all forgotten their own dialect. They are mostly acting as copycats of the rest of us."
The tribe maintains links with government officials, and a police officer, a wireless operator and a doctor's assistant live with them on Strait Island. Some members of the tribe work in police and government jobs in Port Blair.
The tribal leaders admitted their lifestyles are different from those of their ancestors.
"We don't use bows and arrows now, we have given them up. We hunt fish and pigs with spears," Surmayee said.
The Great Andamanese traditionally eat roots, seafood, turtles and turtle eggs, but in recent years have begun eating rice, pulses and bread - staple foods in the rest of India.
But the tribe's increasing exposure to the rest of India has placed it at risk.
"They are exposed to highly communicable diseases besides unhealthy drinking habits which, of course, are acquired after contact with the moribund dominant and advanced communities," according to the Andaman and Nicobar government website.
Surmayee was ready on Friday to leave the city and return home.
"I want to go back. I don't like it here. I am used to being in the forest," she said.
But her husband disagreed.
"We feel nice interacting with the outside world. Earlier our heart was only in hunting," Jiroki said. "There were no movies, nothing."
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