Friday, January 21 2005 16:51 Hrs (IST) - World Time -

Port Blair: Fresh panic gripped the Andaman and Nicobar Islands today (Jan 21, 2005) as rumours of its subsidence drove hundreds to board ships to mainland India with all their life's savings while the administration tried hard to explain that there was no scientific basis to the fear.

The rumours said the islands could slowly sink in the sea on January 21 or 26 and this made the tsunami-battered people rush to pack their bags.

Hundreds queued up to take any of the next available vessel, MV Akbar, MV Nicobar, MV Nancowry, MV Swarajdweep, MV Harshavardhan, that could take them to the safer terrains in Chennai, Kolkata or Vishakhapatnam.

"We have been waiting overnight to get the tickets. We want to leave the islands as soon as possible," said R Muthuswamy, who wanted to go back with his family of seven to his native Chennai.

He has wound up his garments business but could not sell off his property before leaving. "If everything is okay, we can always come back to sell the land. As of now our lives mean more," the man who has lost a few relatives in Car Nicobar due to tsunami said.

The ships are crammed with people willing to make the two-day to four-day journey in spaces just enough to stand.

"The bunker tickets have no numbers. It is a first come first serve situation. If you don't get a bunker, they are allowing you to go standing... we don't mind that," Atul Prakash, who would take a journey to Kolkata on the first ship sailing, says.

Those who have braved the rumours to stay back have moved to higher lands. Amrit Singh, an officer in the co-operative department of the administration says the panic has had an effect on even the rational men.

"After what we have seen, it is obvious that such rumours will have an effect on even the educated and thinking people...see, even we are going to stay with my brother's family in uphill Haddo," he says.

Omkar Nath, the manager of a hotel in Port Blair has been reading newspaper and scanning every news channel to verify the truth in the rumours. "Do you think it has something to do with the cracks in the Burmese and Indian plates?" He asks any journalist boarding in his hotel.

Nath has gone to Diglipur, 300 km from Port Blair, to fetch his wife who serves there as a teacher before they decide on whether to shift to their native home in northern India or wait and watch.

In the absence of a widespread campaign by the local administration, the rumours are rife. Even vulnerability maps made public by the Government to show which low-lying areas could be inundated during high tides are being wrongly interpreted.

"See, these are the places that are going to sink first," says Murugan, a shopkeeper in Aberdeen Market area in central Port Blair, pointing out to the coastal areas marked in red.

Contacted, Lt Governor of the islands Prof Ram Kapse said there was no scientific basis to such rumours. "We don't know who is spreading such rumours. People must not yield to them."

Lt Gen Aditya Singh, commander-in-chief of the Integrated Relief Command (IRC) overseeing the rehabilitation operation in the islands, said nothing of the sort had been predicted by any of the geo-scientific bodies across the world. "Not even the astrological predictions on high and low tide have anything to say on this. The panic is ill-founded."