In the confusion following the December 26 tsunami that washed away thousands of lives along the coast of the Indian Ocean, non-governmental organizations, activist networks, and reporters have spent the past week struggling with mixed reports about the survival of the indigenous peoples of the Andaman and Nicobar islands.
The Andaman and Nicobar islands are less than 200 miles from the epicenter of the earthquake in Banda Aceh, Indonesia, which set off the tsunami. News wires and NGOs have rarely agreed on the exact numbers of deaths because the islands are difficult to reach and the Indian government has chosen to conduct its own relief efforts, keeping international workers out.
"Everybody is desperately trying to estimate and it is virtually impossible," said Sille Stidsen, the Asia Desk officer for the Denmark-based NGO International Working Group on Indigenous Affairs. "The governmentÂ’s interest is to get a figure so they can seem in control."
Survival International, which has been in contact with people in the islands, reported Thursday that the Nicobarese, who maintain their culture but have been largely assimilated by settlers on their island, seem to have suffered the greatest loss. All 12 Nicobarese villages on Car Nicobar were reportedly wiped out, and many were expected to be dead among the estimated population of 30,000.
Survival International also said that the Shompen, whose population the Indian government reports is around 390, seem to have survived without major damage to their communities. The Onge, whose population is about 100, are thought to have survived because they fled to high ground before the tsunami hit.
Miriam Ross of Survival International reported this week that members of the Sentinelese tribe shot arrows at a helicopter trying to deliver aid. Beyond evidence of some survivors, little is known about their fate. The Sentinelese have managed to remain independent and isolated on Sentinel Island, and population estimates range from 40 to 250. The other relatively isolated Andaman tribe, the Jarawa, are thought to have suffered few deaths. According to the Indian government and Survival International about 250 Jarawa remained before the tsunami. They have had more contact with outsiders than the Sentinelese due to a highway that passes through their territory.
The most threatened group, the Great Andamanese, whose population most sources place at less than 40 people, were relocated Thursday to Port Blair, the capital of the islands, after their village suffered extensive damage, reported Survival International. The Andamanese, who once numbered about 4,800, were nearly wiped out by British colonizers who established a penal colony on the island in 1858. They have since become dependent on government aid, and had been living in a government settlement before the tsunami.
India has refused offers of aid from international and domestic NGOs. Affairs Minister Shri K. Natwar Singh told world leaders at ThursdayÂ’s summit meeting in Jakarta, Indonesia, "Our experience of handling natural disasters has enabled us to develop well-defined institutional mechanisms for disaster management at all levels."
Communicating during the past week via e-mail listservs and other networks, advocates for the rights of the islandsÂ’ indigenous peoples have expressed concern regarding this policy, Stidsen said, because the Indian government has a poor history of defending indigenous peoplesÂ’ rights on the islands. Perhaps the most poignant example is its failure to close down the highway running through Jarawa territory, despite a 2002 Supreme Court order to do so. Contact with settlers who pass through their territories on the road has exposed the Jarawa to diseases and development that continue to threaten their survival.
Indigenous rights advocates are also concerned about the Indian Supreme CourtÂ’s decision on Wednesday to temporarily lift a tree-cutting ban imposed on the islands in 2002. The ban will be lifted for six months so that relief workers can cut trees to rebuild houses, set up relief camps, and repair jetties, bridges, and public buildings that were destroyed by the giant wave, Press Trust of India reported Wednesday.
"Skeptics are afraid the ban is going to be used by companies to generate profit rather than by people who need relief," Stidsen said. Forestry activity on the Andaman Islands over several decades has destroyed much of its ecosystem and is largely responsible for the displacement of most of the islandÂ’s indigenous peoples.
The ban relaxation will exclude national parks and sanctuaries, the justices who made the decision said, which likely means that indigenous reserves will be safe from felling. Tree cutting on tribal reserves was not allowed even before the 2002 ban, Ross said.
As the media grapples to report about the fate of the indigenous peoples of the Andaman and Nicobar islands, many mainstream publications have demonstrated their inexperience with coverage of indigenous issues. Coverage of the Sentinelese has been the most egregious, often referring to them as "Stone Age" and "primitive," and profiling them as unchanging "links to our prehistoric past." Like any other ethnic group, each of these peoples continues to adapt to a changing world, and those who do not communicate with outsiders have made conscious decisions to remain isolated. As the world struggles to grasp the tsunami tragedy, reporters and editors should put as much effort and respect into their coverage of indigenous victims as they have their reports on Asian citizens and European tourists.
