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Tsunami Concerns Linger for India Hunter-Gatherers
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INDIA: March 14, 2005


PORT BLAIR - More than two months after the tsunami struck, concerns
linger about the fate of small groups of primitive hunter-gatherers on India's
remote Andaman and Nicobar islands.


The local government in the Indian Ocean archipelago has consistently
denied that any of the endangered aboriginal tribespeople were killed by the
Dec. 26 tsunami.
But experts say that while most of the hunter-gatherers survived, some
casualties among the world's most ancient peoples simply could not be ruled out.

More than 7,500 people were killed or presumed killed after the waves
slammed the island chain but officials are still struggling to get a fix on the
impact on the primitive tribes.

The state-run Anthropological Society of India says six of the 400-strong
Shompen -- who live in the forests of Great Nicobar island -- have been missing
since the tsunami.

There has still been limited contact with the tiny Sentinelese and Jarawa
tribes.

"We have reports that six Shompen tribals are either dead or missing,"
said ASI's local representative Anstice Justin, adding those reports came from
the Shompen themselves when an official team, including ASI staff, made contact
with them last month.

Justin said no firm contact had yet been made with the 175 to 200-strong
Sentinelese, who live in almost total isolation on a tiny island in the Andaman
group, but an official team was planning to visit them later this month.


FALLEN VICTIM TO WAVES?

Justin said some of the Sentinelese or Jarawa tribes could well have
fallen victim to the giant waves.

"The morning hour is suitable for fishing and wild boar hunting," he said.
"The chances are that they were along the coast when the tsunami struck. But now
it is too early to comment on anything regarding this."

The Sentinelese and Jarawa are among four Negrito tribes on the Andaman
islands whose roots stretch back to man's earliest ancestors, but whose contact
with the outside world over the past century and a half has brought them close
to extinction -- mainly through disease.

In the days immediately after the tsunami, a coast guard helicopter flew
over the reserved North Sentinel island where the Sentinelese live and spotted a
group of two dozen tribesmen -- who promptly fired arrows at the aircraft.

Justin's concerns contrast sharply with repeated assurances from
government officials that all the primitive tribal groups are safe.

Last week, Nicobar Deputy Commissioner A. Anbarasu told Reuters contact
had been made with all groups of Shompens -- who are of Mongoloid origin -- and
said "all are hale and hearty".

"As far as the Shompens are concerned, they are safe," Lieutenant-Governor
Ram Kapse told a news conference in Campbell Bay in Great Nicobar island last
week. "Every aboriginal is safe."

Experts said such certainty was not possible.

"It is not good for anyone to comment on tribals without having proper
information," one ASI officer said. "Nobody has visited the tribal areas of
Campbell Bay before us so how could anyone comment on the status of Shompen
tribals."

Experts said the government wanted to deflect media attention from its
handling of the primitive tribal groups on the Andaman and Nicobar islands, and
this could be one reason for the administration's comments.

"When they do not even know the exact number of tribals then how could
they claim all of them are safe?" said Samir Acharya of the Society for Andaman
& Nicobar Ecology, who backed up Justin's report of six Shompen dead or missing.

But the government's top tribal welfare officer K.C. Ghosal disputed
Justin's description of the the Shompen as "missing", arguing that they simply
had not yet been traced and could easily turn up at any time.



REUTERS NEWS SERVICE



One's profession and career should be their hobby, passion and cause

Conservation is not a science but a social process. Science provides inputs and
perhaps a framework into this process.

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Tamilnadu, India.
Phone:+91 44 5201 9470
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