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I was posted as Medical Officer in-charge at Havelock Island. As per tradition
here the Medical Officer posted at Havelock Island has to look after many
additional charges - including that of the Administrative officer of the Island.
So, for the next part of the story I will call it "My Island". Havelock is
considered to be the jewel of Andaman and Nicobar Islands because of world class
Radha Nagar beach and for the reason its the tourist hot spot.
On 24th evening (24-12-2004) I was informed from Port Blair (Headquarters) that
Dr. Balakrishnan K.R. (HOD, CVTS) of SRMC Chennai will be visiting 'my' Island
on 25th, the Christmas day.
It was a beautiful Saturday and Dr. Balakrishnan, his wife (Dr. Kalpana)
and his two teenage sons (Don't remember their names - but one was medical
student and other an engineering student) arrived by the morning Boat
ferry (9.30 am). Accommodation for the family was arranged at the Dolphin Beach
Resort. Since it was holiday and not enough patient in the hospital, I managed
to spend almost the whole day with the family. The
evening turned out even better when Dr. Balakrishnan and his sons revealed that
they were all music enthusiasts. Within no time my guitar (and accessories) was brought to the Dolphin Resort and to my surprise the Cardiac
Surgeon and his family turned into good singers and musicians!.
The next morning the family was supposed to leave by the 9.30 ferry again. A
coral viewing trip in a small diesel engine powered fishing boat was planned so that the guests could see some wonderful corals around Havelock
island before they leave. None had any idea what was about to come the next day
?.
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26th Dec 2004, a lovely morning, at 6.00 am we gathered near the Havelock Jetty.
The fishing boat was small and just enough for six of us - boatman - Chinna, Dr.
Balakrishnan's family and me (Total 6). There was enough fuel required for the
trip but 'my' ambulance Driver insisted that the fuel tank of the boat be full,
for which he 'arranged' few litres of diesel. This fueling exercise seemed like
a mundane idea without realising that this extra fuel will help save our lives!
The location of this story - Havelock : Google Maps
The journey : The trip stared at 6.25 am and barely having moved around 150 m
from the Jetty at 6.32 am we saw some
unusual big waves splashing near the shores of Havelock though the sea surface
was calm. Even having born and lived some 20 years in Islands, it was a new
experience for me - I never saw such isolated big waves whipping the shores
while the sea appeared silent. It was still nothing turbulent at sea, instead it
was calm with minimal waves (usually seen in sea before rains). Chinna
(the boatman) being a experienced fisherman narrated few experiences from his
past and he quickly attributed the waves with earthquake (Note : Small
earthquakes are quite normal at Andamans -just like Japan!). He also added
though that this type of strong waves beating the shores suggests a big magnitude of earthquake
and it will not be a wise idea to immediately return to the shores till the
activity of waves decrease. The
situation appeared still normal and Chinna felt suggested that
by the time the waves get over we can continue further to see the corals. We
therefore, continued and reached the elephant beach of Havelock. Only after
reaching there Chinna sensed something abnormal, because the beach was submerged
with water though the time suggested that it should have been low tide and not
full high tide. The beautiful corals were still visible and we were the last
privileged persons to see the full spectrum of corals near Havelock ! (The
corals are still there but after tsunami a good part is missing).
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The Havelock Corals : The magnificent Corals at elephant beach,
Havelock.
Photograph taken almost 3 months after the Tsunami day |
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Strong sea current : At 7.15 am, the boat was on heading back to Havelock jetty. The sea
was no more looking normal .. no waves ... and only strong currents. The passage
we took while coming was now blocked with big trees and debris and Chinna had to
take a coarse deviation. The coarse deviation was not a good idea and the boat
was gripped by strong invisible current flowing towards a narrow passage
between Havelock and nearby John Lawrence Island. The current was very strong
and I could see Chinna's frequently changing facial expressions because of his helplessness.
He asked me to sit by his side where he was controlling the rudder of the boat.
He was looking calm but was restless beneath. He told me about the impending
danger that, if he fails to turn the boat opposite to the flow, the boat will
smash on either the Rocks or the Havelock Jetty and also added that somewhere
something terribly is wrong with the sea. After a careful assessment Chinna
managed to turn the boat somehow. A wrong move would have pulled the boat
straight down to the seabed! I informed the guest family that its an usual event
after earthquakes and all these maneuvers are necessary, there's nothing to fear
about (what a lie) - I don't know whether they believed me or not!.
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Rare Photograph : Photograph taken on 26-12-2004 ; 9.00 am , from
the fishing bouy that saved us.
The small boat seen in the photo is Chinna's boat. | |
Flowing sea : Being pulled by the current, we were now few meters away from the Havelock Jetty and the boat
was held opposite to the direction of the water flow (ever heard of flowing sea
!). The boat initially was inching forward against the current but soon gave
away and started inching backwards. The engine speed was shifted to full astern and I prayed that the boat
should move forward and not backwards. Some 20 minutes passed like that and our
boat barely moved an inch forward! And the water current was eager to take us
and smash us with the rocks if given a chance! 7.50 am : Chinna unscrewed the
fuel tank lid, and dejectedly whispered something that still echoes in my
memories "Sir, we are alive for next 15 minutes because that's the amount of
fuel left in the tank which will support us to hold against this flow of water".
The net : Within next 5 minutes god heard our prayers and the current flow was
dramatically reversed. But now what ! are we again going back to sea. Chinna
steered the boat to the floating fish storage nets placed near a island
opposite to Havelock. This floating fish storage nets are strange
structures made out of 20-30 plastic drums and wooden planks (hence floating).
Drums are attached to 4-6 anchors to fix the structure within the sea. This nets
have a small hut and generally 1 or 2 persons are housed in there for the
maintenance and care of the fishes stored in the net. We could still see the
Havelock Island from a distance of few 100 meters.
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Fish Storage net : Photograph taken when I revisited the same
place (with friend Dr. David Prakash) 3 months after the incident.
And Of coarse again in with Chinna and his boat. | |
The angry sea : The boat was tied to the net and we all shifted to the hut of
the net. Chinna (and of coarse all of us) was still surprised at the sea, as he
considered sea to be his friend for life. Very soon the flow of the sea was seen
to be reversing to and fro within a gap of few minutes. At around 8.15 am the
sea started to swell and we saw the Havelock jetty and much of the coastline of
Havelock vanishing below the level of water. Chinna was horrified to see all
these because his house is just few meters away from the shore and was bound to
be affected by the swelling waves. Atleast thrice the waves attacked the coast
of the Island. Luckily our net was still stable as in fact the big tsunami waves
failed to enter the creeks where Havelock Jetty is located (our luck) ; it was
the conducted water current responsible for all our difficulties. The next part
of the drama involved the filling and evacuation of the sea water in the creek !
and even at one point of time the entire sea seemed to be emptied and flowing
over the nearby Havelock Island!.
Danger remains : Its around 9.00 am and the constant filling and evacuation lead
to development of concentric water movements near the net. Soon the nearby
fishing net rammed with our net. Chinna tied both the nets together. Due to the
circular water movements , The net gradually lost 3 anchor points out of six.
Losing all the anchor points meant death because few meters away of the sharp
water current in which our boat got trapped an hour back. Luckily our fishing
Net didn't loose any more anchor points. |
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The nearby fish Net : Photograph taken when I revisited the place
again.
The other net seen like a small boat roughly at the center of this photograph. |
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Around 9.30 we saw M.V Ramanujam (Ship from Port Blair) , and M.V. Baratang at
distance. To reach the Havelock Jetty the ships were required to take exactly
the same coarse of sharp water current. Any attempt to the enter the jetty would
have been catastrophic because the water current surely would have overpowered
the ship engines no matter how big they are !, Probably the Havelock Jetty Port control
informed the ships over radio about the possible danger and they turned back to
Port Blair. That was the boat 'the guests' were supposed to board to get back to
Port Blair - but now that was all gone.
At around 11.00 am the sea seemed to be calming down but still the water current
was persistent We boarded the boat again for our journey back to Havelock
Island. After reaching near Havelock shores it took Chinna a lot of time to
identify a spot to tie his boat safely because of the turbulent waves. Luckily
there were no casualties in the whole Island. All the resorts near to the sea
got a nice sea water bath following which the tourists (total 1123 including
foreign nationals) were shifted to the Senior secondary school. The police
radio station started buzzing with activity and I was asked to debrief about the situation of the
Island to Port Blair control (over the Wireless radio), No other. I heard all the surprising news over
the radio about the casualties in Southern group of Andamans. I left Dr.
Balakrishnan with other tourists as I was pushed into Administrative duties and
left for Island assessment.
The Tourists evacuation : The boats arrived on 27th Dec morning to evacuate the
tourists. It was a difficult situation to control the crowd of tourists as
everyone wanted to board the only 2 ships (each
with capacity of 90 persons) that arrived to evacuate the 1123 tourists !. We
had tough time telling people that other naval ships are on the way to
evacuate everybody but all explanation seemed worthless. At last with the
overboarded ships managed to carry 350 with them. The next batches were shifted
by naval ships arriving later that day.
Some 200
foreign nationals opted to stay back at Havelock. |
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