The Works

| 2005 |

'We slept in the open and
survived on coconut water'

When Fr Anuj Kumar (33) of the Society of Pilar was getting ready to celebrate mass in Nicobar island on the morning of December 26, little did he realise that he along with hundreds of people would be running for their lives only a few minutes later.

Fr Anuj along with the 13 other Pilar Fathers in the Andaman and Nicobar islands survived the killer tsunami waves, which destroyed villages and affected thousands of lives in the beleaguered archipelago.

He was eventually evacuated to Chennai, from where he arrived at the Society of Pilar house in Porvorim on Monday morning.

“I have been associated with the St Anthony’s Catholic church at Hutbay, little Andaman, for the past three years. As is my usual practice, I had gone to Mallaca in Nicobar island -- which is about 9-10 hours by boat from little Andaman -- on December 18 to assist in the Christmas and new year celebrations at the Christ the King catholic chapel there,” said Fr Anuj, while recollecting his ordeal at Nicobar islands to Herald.

During the few days preceeding to Christmas, Fr Anuj and the parishioners went around the village carol singing. He was also invited to the air force base in the locality for a christmas prayer service.

“On Christmas eve, we were to celebrate the outdoor midnight mass at about 11.45 pm, as the chapel was unable to accomodate all the people. At about that time, there was an unexpected shower and as a result, we were forced to celebrate the mass inside the chapel,” Fr Anuj said.

On Christmas day, Fr Anuj and his priest colleague, Fr Pritam Toppo, celebrated masses as usual, least expecting what was in store for them the next day.

“On the early morning of December 26, I was getting ready for the mass at 7.30 am and I was proceeding for my shower at about 6.30 am. At that moment, I noticed the ground shake and I initially thought I was feeling giddy. But as the tremors increased, I realised that it was an earthquake and that too, a powerful earthquake,” recalled Fr Anuj.

“I rushed out of the house wrapped in my towel, when I saw the front portion of the chapel collapse,” he added.

After a few moments the earthquake stopped and there was an eerie calm in the area. Says Fr Anuj: “I returned to my room when I heard the cries of people in the nearby houses. I quickly went to my room and changed into my clothes, before rushing to attend to the people. A number of roofs had collapsed.”

As Fr Anuj was attending to the people, he heard the shouts of people towards the coastline, barely about 200 metres from the chapel.

“I then saw an unusual sight. The sea water had receded and then a few moments later, the sea water began to silently come towards us, as if unable to stop at the shores,” explains Fr Anuj. “And then, I saw this unusually huge wall of a wave come straight towards us and it was a frightening experience. About 100 or so people then began running with us, as we desperately tried to move away from the waves.”

Fr Anuj and the others ran about a kilometre away towards the higher ground. “The road had developed a huge crack and water kept gushing out of the road like a fountain. Tired, we then walked briskly for the next 3-4 kilometres before we stopped at a hill to take shelter,” he added.

Later in the evening, some people went down to their village and were shocked to find that the entire village -- houses, chapel, shops, offices, etc -- had been wiped out.

“Most of us survived on coconut water that night and we all slept on the road and in the open for the next three nights, fearful of encountering another round of killer waves down in our villages,” said Fr Anuj.

During the next two days, Fr Anuj made trips to the village, but the chapel had been destroyed by the killer waves. “All my belongings were gone. Most of those people who ran with us to the higher ground survived, but those who stopped to collect their belongings were not so lucky,” explained Fr Anuj.

The airforce planes came and initially airlifted only the government officers, leaving the people behind in the affected areas.

“We were then evacuated to Chennai only on Friday. I reached Goa on Monday morning. I then found out that the Nicobar island as well as nearly all of the six parishes had been destroyed. I was told that a bus-load of people coming for the mass was hit by the killer waves and the passengers perished,” informs Fr Anuj.

“The people have lost all their belongings and are now fearful of returning to the land. Many of them have preferred to go to mainland India, where they hope to start afresh,” he added. “We want to rebuild our parishes in the islands, so that we can continue our work for the thousands affected by the killer waves.”

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