Gave birth to son 'Tsunami' in snake-infested jungle, recalls woman 20 yrs after calamity

Port Blair: Namita Roy was just 26 years old when she gave birth to her son, Tsunami, in a snake-infested jungle where she and her family took shelter after deadly waves triggered by a massive earthquake devoured her home in Hut Bay Island in Andaman and Nicobar on this day in 2004.

Twenty years later, she remembers the day with a shudder.

"I don't want to recall that dark day. I was pregnant and busy with daily chores. Suddenly, I noticed an eerie silence and was shocked to witness the sea receding miles from our shore. We also noticed zugunruhe in birds," she told PTI.

"Seconds later, there was a scary susurration sound and we saw a huge wall of sea waves gushing towards Hut Bay Island followed by strong tremors. I saw people screaming and running towards a hillock. I had a panic attack and fainted.

"Hours later, I regained consciousness and saw myself among thousands of locals deep inside a hilly jungle. I was relieved to see my husband and my elder son. Most parts of our island were devoured by the monstrous waves. Almost all the properties were damaged," a teary-eyed Roy said.

She now lives in West Bengal's Hooghly district with her two sons Saurabh and Tsunami after her husband Laxminarayan died during the Covid-19 pandemic.

"At 11:49 pm, I had labour pain but there was no doctor around. I lay on a boulder and cried for help. My husband tried his best but could not get any medical help. Then he pleaded with some women who had also taken shelter inside the jungle. With their help, I gave birth to Tsunami amid an extremely challenging situation... the jungle was infested with snakes," Roy said.

"There was no food and I didn't have the courage to come out of the jungle, fearing the sea. In the meantime, my condition started deteriorating due to excessive blood loss. Somehow, I fed my newborn baby to keep him alive because he was premature. The other victims survived on coconut water. We spent four nights at Lal Tikri Hills in Hut Bay and were later rescued by the defence personnel. I was taken to GB Pant Hospital in Port Blair (on a ship) for further treatment," she recalled.

Hut Bay is about 117 km from Port Blair and the journey takes around eight hours by ship.

Roy's elder son Saurabh works in a private shipping company, while Tsunami wants to become an oceanographer to serve the Andaman and Nicobar administration.

"My mother is everything to me. She is the strongest person I have ever seen. After my father passed away, she struggled hard to feed us and ran her food delivery service, which she proudly named 'Tsunami Kitchen'. I want to become an oceanographer," Tsunami Roy said.

In 2004, large-scale devastation and loss of lives could have been averted as there was no effective warning system, officials said.

"At present, there are more than 1,400 warning stations around the world and we are fully prepared to handle such a situation," a senior official of the Andaman and Nicobar Islands administration said.