Car Nicobar... post tsunami

Car Nicobar's resilience from frontline

"Community participation, strengthened by the tradition of tribal solidarity, is a key element in the UNICEF's tsunami rehabilitation interventions in Car Nicobar, which have proved successful despite logistical problems. "
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"Unlike the settlers, the Nicobarese seem completely `demonetised'. "They have an organic link with their habitat and live off it. They keep pigs for meat, but there is no cattle-rearing. They do backyard poultry farming so that they can have eggs to eat. But you can be sure that the extra eggs will not be sold. The mainland concept of bank balance, property and private ownership is non-existent. The community comes first, and everything belongs to the community," explained Vivek Kumar Porwal, the new Deputy Commissioner of the Nicobars district. "
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"We do not have such a word as `orphans' in our vocabulary" says Thomas Philip, captain of Mus and secretary of the Tribal Council. "We treat them like our own and look after them. We do not have orphanages here!"
This may be yet another reason why the travails of Car Nicobar have not been as palpably felt by the world as the pain of the other regions of Asia that are grappling with the aftermath of the tsunami. The strong bonding between the people of Car Nicobar is helping them survive their pain and loneliness. "

a ray of light in the tsunami disaster...