The global cost of disasters is growing: The economic burden of disasters is intensifying. While the direct costs of disasters averaged $70–80 billion a year between 1970 and 2000, between 2001 and 2020 these annual costs grew significantly to $180–200 billion. But the real cost is far higher. Disaster costs …
Sanjib Kumar Roy Port Blair, REITERATING its commitment to preserve the ecosystem of Andaman and Nicobar Islands, Lieutenant Governor Bhopinder Singh has said that protection of endangered species was the top priority. Speaking to reporters after releasing a special wildlife poster at a function in the Raj Niwas on the …
With a parliamentary panel finding misutilisation and diversion of tsunami relief funds, an empowered group of ministers (e-GOM) headed by union home minister Shivraj Patil has undertaken a review of the Rs 10,000 crore rehabilitation scheme. Since 2008-09 is the deadline for implementation of the rehabilitation scheme, the e-GoM issued …
Over three years after the tsunami nearly flattened parts of the Andaman and Nicobar Islands, rehabilitation work is still on. Its progress seems slower than in other parts of the country. A scene from the picturesque Bamboo Flat permanent tenements is representative of the work in the entire archipelago. Completed …
R K Bhattacharya Former director, Anthropological Survey of India, and member of the Expert Committee appointed by the Calcutta High Court. In the report submitted to the court in 2003, he says: "
A remarkable fact about the recent debate about Singur is that it is so much about land, and so little about cars. Yet a thousand acres of land is really not very much, given that the state has over 1.3 crore acres of cultivated land, and even Mamata Banerjee cannot …
It is the saga of callous and pathetic implementation of relief I work and rehabilitation of the tsunami-affected. The tsunami I that hit the Indian coastline on the morning of December 26, 12004, swept away 1,089 villages, claimed over 10,273 lives I and rendered 2,39,024 families homeless. By all accounts, …
THE total seasonal rainfall during the year's southwest monsoon (June 1 to September 30) for the country as a whole was 99 per cent of its long-period average (LPA), which, being within plus or minus 10 per cent of the LPA, can be termed as a `normal' monsoon. However, both …
Providing relief after a disaster like the December 2004 tsunami is a great challenge, especially in archipelagos far away from the mainland. But the administration of the Union territory of the Andaman and Nicobar Islands has just shown how to make effective relief even more difficult. Two items
Around 50 children and many adults of an isolated tribe in the Andaman and Nicobar islands have contracted measles in the past month, says a bbc report. That works out to around 20 per cent of the total population of the tribe. Doctors warn the illness could seriously affect the …
Located in the Indian Ocean, the Great Nicobar Island is home to the little-known tribe of Shompens. Displaying a stark resemblance to African populations with some Mongoloid traits, they still cling to the life of hunter-gatherers. Except occasional visits by researchers and government officials, the enigmatic Shompens, who number just …
tribals in the Kamota island, part of the Nicobar Islands, have protested against the defence establishment's attempt to re-install the field firing range (ffr) near the Pillomillow side of the island. The range's lease ended in February 2004. Talks to renew it have sparked protests from the tribals who had …
A year has passed since the killer tsunami devastated the islands, but the Rs 600-crore corpus set aside by the Central government for rehabilitation of those who lost their homes, is yet to be utilised. The reason: the Centre can't make up its mind on the design for tribal housing, …
indian scientists have uncovered a missing link in the prehistoric human migration jigsaw puzzle by revealing that two reclusive tribes in the Andaman and Nicobar Islands are among the world's oldest surviving indigenous groups. The researchers from the Centre for Cellular and Molecular Biology (ccmb), in Hyderabad, have gathered enough …
When on the islands do not think Land. Think Water. The Tsunami has wreaked havoc. The government is drowned up to its neck in relief work. No, they call it rehabilitation. On one island sit 150 metric tonnes of mostly perishable goods, milk packets and food, waiting for someone, anyone. …
the recent Supreme Court (sc) judgement on tree felling in Andaman and Nicobar islands has triggered a controversy. The court, revising its May 7, 2002, order, allowed tree felling in the islands for six months to help repair and build houses for Tsunami disaster victims (see
At 6.29 am, on the morning of December 26, 2004 an undersea earthquake erupts in Sumatra, triggering off tidal waves called tsunami. A minute later, the India Meteorological Department (imd) gets the news. In 15 minutes, imd tracks the tsunami to the Indonesian coastline. But they make no attempt to …
