Thursday, January 6 2005 10:25 Hrs (IST) - World Time -

Campbell Bay: Ten days after the Tsunami hit the Islands of Andaman and Nicobar, Campbell Bay still look deserted with signs of devastations all around.

The small airstrip of the Defence seems to be the only place witnessing some activities with Indian Air Force (IAF) and Coast Guard aircrafts and helicopters making sorties with relief materials, doctors and local administration personnel.

The market, which was engulfed by Tsunami waves, was closed, the headquarters of the Coast Guard for Car Nicobar Group of Islands was virtually washed away and the jetty, the life-line of this Island, was damaged and the compound of Andaman Works, a ship repairing unit, still submerged.

Outside the airstrip, locals queued up and patiently waited for an IAF aircraft to take them to the mainland.

''If we stay back here, we will not survive. For us, nothing is left. We could only save our lives by fleeing to the hillocks and Laldigris (a nearby place),'' Vinod, a resident, said.

In the market, a few shop owners are found trying to salvage whatever is left after the Tsunami.

Milind Patil, Commander Coast Guard, Nicobar Group of Islands, said Vijay Nagar, Joginder Nagar, Gandhi Nagar and Shastri Nagar - all villages were completely washed away and most of the roads were damaged.

Indira Point, extreme tip in the southern part of the Island, which is 51 kms from Campbell Bay, is still submerged and only the lighthouse there could be seen, he said.

Unlike Car Nicobar, where normal life was slowly coming back, this remote Island, where a large number of people including some Sikhs who had settled way back in the 1970s, were yet to recover from the shock.

Patil said that there were some tribes like Nicobaris and Hulchus in this Island, who also could not escape nature's fury.

''It was so furious that the Galatia river has changed its course after the tsunami. The buildings in the Coast Guard headquarter, the five-bed hospital and vehicles - all wiped out,'' he said.

However, despite extensive damages to property, loss of life was not very high since the Island was not densely populated and there were hills where the people took refuge when the killer waves struck.