Hillock saved Punjabis from tsunami

[tegroop]

Hillock saved Punjabis from tsunami

Kanchan Vasdev

Tribune News Service

Ludhiana, January 7

It was a small hillock on Campbell Bay that saved about 300 persons

belonging to 40 families of Punjabis settled there when the tsunami waves

struck on black Sunday killing lakhs of people in South-East Asia.

This amazing tale of survival in which they spent two days and two nights on

a hilltop before coming down when the water level receded was narrated to a

team of mediapersons by Mrs Paramjit Kaur, wife of Mr Pawittar Singh, at

Sangowal village here.

She reached at her husband's native village yesterday with her four children

even as her husband had stayed back to rebuild the house. Even though 11

days have passed since the disaster, the woman and her children are still

panic-stricken.

'' The house which we had built after hard work of over 35 years was swept

away in a blink of an eye. Our tractors, vehicles furniture all floated away

as we clung to each other praying for mercy,'' she said adding that the

house just disappeared under the mighty waves which seemed to touch the sky.

Her children, two daughters Gagandeep Kaur (17), Sandeep Kaur(12), Parminder

Singh (15) and Tanvir Singh (4), visibly shaken by the horrid experience

have been telling their parents that they do not want to return.

Paramjit's father-in-law, Mr Jodh Singh, was an ex-serviceman and was

allotted 15 acres at Cambell Bay in the Andaman and Nicobar Islands by the

Indian government. They were settled there since 1969.

[Bachan Vidya]

Anyone know why India has refused aid from abroad?

I also heard only Indian citizens can go to these Islands. So no aid agencies have been allowed there!

[Pheena]

Anyone know why India has refused aid from abroad?

I also heard only Indian citizens can go to these Islands. So no aid agencies have been allowed there!

probably they can take care of the needs of their affected areas by themselves. Or it could be that one should seek help only if they need it. Otherwise the aid should go to thsoe coutnries that really need them.

[Simran9]

so true...same happened to one of our family there. They lived close to the ocean, tsunami came about 6:30 AM over there. They didn't get time to pick up nothing except their two little kids and they ran for the mountain. They said the water was coming so fast it was touching their feet as they tried to run as fast as they could. They couldn't believe how they ran and save themselves. They also said if it wasn't for a mountain nearby there would be no where else to go and they'd be dead for sure.

Right now the telephones are working in Andaman Nicobar...at least I know for sure it is in the Campbell bay area since we called there number over there it got through...The engineers who were sent from India have sent up some temporary system over there for telecommunications, most phones are working but not everyone's yet. The new post office was washed out...the "Bijlee Ghar" is ok since it was built on a mountain, our family said they got electricity back in the house by the second day.

About the relief aid to the islands...families said that they didn't have food for two days. Then helicopters started dropping food packages...and now its also coming in by ship and then delivered to the areas. In the Campbell Bay area the bazaar--all the shops--have been flooded and completely washed out...so theres no where to buy food supplies or clothes. All of our families and several neighbors are all staying at one house belonging to our family...they got lucky...the house is on higher land along with maybe 5 or 6 other houses...everyone elses house was washed out. The crop fields have been flooded with the ocean's salty water, so agriculture is gonna had for a whi

le.

My uncle said that there was a family that had juz arrived from Punjab recently. After the tsunami hit that family was camping out at my uncle's place. But it got hard for them plus they were so scared by what happened so they were sent back to Punjab in a ship to Madras. Ships have started up again if residents wanna leave the islands.

Overall, they are quite satisfied with the relief aid that is pouring in to help them..the food/supplies/telecommunications system back up....India is getting so much help from donations that they are able to help ppl even in these not so easy to access islands. And then there is the fear that the ministers or whoever gets the money to give to his area's ppl will eat most of the money himself and line his own pockets...Even we were surprised when the phone went thru and we were actually talking to our ppl there!

Also they said that the death toll is at 15,000 for Andaman Nicobar...but they think its gonna be much higher than that since they have seen with their own eyes how many ppl are dead in their area.

thats all the news I can remember right now...

Bachan Vidya ji,

I can not say for sure that only Indian citizens can go to Andaman Nicobar...but I know you need a special permit to go there. The reason is that there are several native tribes in these islands who are not friendly to outsiders...theres been reports of them shooting their arrows at helicopters that came to drop food for them :wub: But even then India wants to occupy these islands and keep it as territory...so they gave military men land over there and money to buy a tractor.

[mann_kaum_layee_qurbaan]

"probably they can take care of the needs of their affected areas by themselves."

:yehyehyeh:

puleeze, im sorry but India is still a third world country and they can use all the help they can get. They are just being arrogant as usual....