62 Scientific American, April 2020poka. The local administration, based in the region’s capital, Port
Blair on South Andaman Island, had accommodated them in 118
relief camps in the higher hinterlands of the remaining islands.
Crammed into tents rigged out of blue tarpaulin, they had received
clean water and food but little else. Many were still in shock.
It was imperative that the people of Bompoka return right
away to construct shelters, tend to the orchards and plant vege-
table gardens to ensure future food security, said Kefus, the
island’s chief. He and other elders feared—presciently—that pro-
longed separation from their islands could mean the extinction
of their roots and their identity. “We may die, but we have to go
back,” declared Jonathan, the chief of Chowra. Several chiefs
asked government officials for boats and tools. The administra-
tors advised, however, that a major aid effort was being planned
by the Indian government in New Delhi (which directly controls
the archipelago), which the refugees would forgo if they left. That
promise left many of the camp dwellers confused, unsure of
whether to rely on their own resources and traditions or trust
the officials. Most decided to wait and see.
In the following weeks and months relief materials started to
arrive, often poorly matched with the needs and the culture of
their recipients. By the middle of 2005 the Nicobarese were liv-
ing in shelters that the administration had constructed out of tin
sheets. The government was providing them with rations and
medicines; NGOs supplied other relief materials, including pro-
cessed foods and consumer goods hitherto unknown to the indi-
genes. Many were unusable. Camp residents received wool blan-
kets (unfit for a hot and humid climate), saris (worn by Indian
women but alien to the Nicobarese) and a range of electronics
(where the electric supply was either fitful or nonexistent).
The Indian government’s approach to dispersing the aid com-
pounded the problems. Officials consulted with the aid recipients
on several issues but preferred to work with inexperienced and
impressionable youths who could speak Hindi or English. These
so-called tsunami captains could not effectively represent the com-
munity and ended up becoming the yes-men of the administrators.
The authority of elders, who were previously the decision makers,
weakened, engendering conflicts between generations and consol-
idating power in the hands of the administration.
With the assistance of the tsunami captains, the government
deposited large compensations for tsunami damage into newly
opened bank accounts. Without exception, nuclear families
headed by men got the money, undermining the joint family sys-
tem and the status of women, who had previously played an im -COCONUTS harvested from orchards, feasting, music and
competitive sports feature in Nicobarese ceremonies. Apart from
the villagers, participants include ancestral and natural spirits,
represented by carved figures of humans and other creatures.© 2020 Scientific American