Sunday, September 25, 2005
‘Angel of the sea’ : the less known story of tsunami hit Andaman
Port Blair: The world knows much about last year’s killer earthquake and tsunami, thanks to the media-persons, who had covered the catastrophe. But only a few persons know about ‘Angel of the sea’, who was perhaps first to report the mega quake.
A 46-year-old mother of two from New Delhi, Bharathi Prasad, a well known figure in the world of Amateur Radio was the one who informed the world about the Indonesian quake which triggered the giant killer waves.
Ham are those persons who operate amateur radio sets or Morse key to establish contact all over the world as a hobby or for relief and rescue work during emergencies.
''During December 2004, Bharathi Prasad and her team of six young ham radio operators landed in this remote island capital with a dream to achieve a new world record for global ham radio contacts.
In the world of ham slang, it was called a ‘Dxpedition’,'' said S Suri, Chairman, National Institute of Amateur Radio (NAIR).
In the early hours of December 26, while the other hotel guests were fast asleep, Prasad's room was crackling with the usual squawks and beeps. At 0629 hours, she felt the first tremors of an earthquake.
''The tables in her room started shaking violently. She jumped up and shouted, ‘Tremors!’ into her microphone. Then the radio went dead. She ran out and alerted the hotel staff and other guests,'' Suri narrated.
But with that one word, she had alerted the world of radio hams, too.
Within a few hours, the extent of the damage was clear to everyone in Port Blair. But the tsunami had knocked out the power supply and telephone service of the entire archipelago of about 572 islands, leaving the capital virtually cut off from the rest of India.
Undaunted, Prasad set up a temporary station on the hotel lawn with the help of a generator -- and put the city back on the ham radio map.
''Within 20 minutes the temporary antenna was raised and hundreds of ham throughout the world were contacting each other to pass the message of the devastation. Ham operators from Madras, Hydrabad, Kolkata, Thailand and other places were busy in exchanging news,'' Suri recalled.
Soon she and her six colleagues were conveying thousands of messages to and from the islands.
''They collected all the messages from the mainland, and made a big list with the telephone numbers of the local people and then they conveyed their messages to the local people,'' he said.
Bharathi knew this was going to be a big disaster and she immediately abandoned her ambitious expedition and concentrated on emergency communication for saving life of thousands.
While news of the death and devastation caused by the tsunami in other parts of India were quickly transmitted around the world, the fate of the Andamans and Nicobars was slow to unfold.
Prasad kept broadcasting information about the situation to anyone who could hear her radio. Over and over, she repeated that there was no power, no water, no phone lines.
Within a few days Bharathi with the help of Andaman and Nicobar Administration set up two ham stations, one in Port Blair and the other in the one of the worst hit Car Nicobar islands.
''Prasad also helped 15 foreign tourists, including several from the United States, send news to their families. Offers of relief aid poured in from around the world through her radio, and she directed them to government officials. She also arranged for volunteer doctors to be sent from other Indian states,'' Suri told
Sanjib.
The work of the housewife was also recognized by some foreign media, who named her ‘Angel of the Sea’. Later Bharathi returned when things settled down after 20 days.
Surprising the story was missed by almost the whole of Indian media fraternity and in India the amazing story of bravery is less talked about, Suri added.
The geographically separated islands of Andaman and Nicobar, which must have a ham station surprising never had one. Due to various restrictions of defence forces ham station and ham activities were never thought for Andaman and Nicobar Islands.
In fact, the last ham activity in these scattered islands in the Bay of Bengal, about 1200 kilometers away from Indian mainland, occurred in 1987, when Prasad set up a station in Port Blair and made 15,500 contacts, a record, Suri added.
The brave and selfless act of Bharathi Prasad of NIAR has now made the Administration to think seriously about establishing ham station in Andaman and Nicobar islands for which the NIAR Chairman visited Andaman recently.
''The job done by our team during tsunami would be remembered for a long long time, especially the work of Mrs Bharathi Prasad the ‘Angel of the Sea’,'' the NIAR Chairman added with pride.
A 46-year-old mother of two from New Delhi, Bharathi Prasad, a well known figure in the world of Amateur Radio was the one who informed the world about the Indonesian quake which triggered the giant killer waves.
Ham are those persons who operate amateur radio sets or Morse key to establish contact all over the world as a hobby or for relief and rescue work during emergencies.
''During December 2004, Bharathi Prasad and her team of six young ham radio operators landed in this remote island capital with a dream to achieve a new world record for global ham radio contacts.
In the world of ham slang, it was called a ‘Dxpedition’,'' said S Suri, Chairman, National Institute of Amateur Radio (NAIR).
In the early hours of December 26, while the other hotel guests were fast asleep, Prasad's room was crackling with the usual squawks and beeps. At 0629 hours, she felt the first tremors of an earthquake.
''The tables in her room started shaking violently. She jumped up and shouted, ‘Tremors!’ into her microphone. Then the radio went dead. She ran out and alerted the hotel staff and other guests,'' Suri narrated.
But with that one word, she had alerted the world of radio hams, too.
Within a few hours, the extent of the damage was clear to everyone in Port Blair. But the tsunami had knocked out the power supply and telephone service of the entire archipelago of about 572 islands, leaving the capital virtually cut off from the rest of India.
Undaunted, Prasad set up a temporary station on the hotel lawn with the help of a generator -- and put the city back on the ham radio map.
''Within 20 minutes the temporary antenna was raised and hundreds of ham throughout the world were contacting each other to pass the message of the devastation. Ham operators from Madras, Hydrabad, Kolkata, Thailand and other places were busy in exchanging news,'' Suri recalled.
Soon she and her six colleagues were conveying thousands of messages to and from the islands.
''They collected all the messages from the mainland, and made a big list with the telephone numbers of the local people and then they conveyed their messages to the local people,'' he said.
Bharathi knew this was going to be a big disaster and she immediately abandoned her ambitious expedition and concentrated on emergency communication for saving life of thousands.
While news of the death and devastation caused by the tsunami in other parts of India were quickly transmitted around the world, the fate of the Andamans and Nicobars was slow to unfold.
Prasad kept broadcasting information about the situation to anyone who could hear her radio. Over and over, she repeated that there was no power, no water, no phone lines.
Within a few days Bharathi with the help of Andaman and Nicobar Administration set up two ham stations, one in Port Blair and the other in the one of the worst hit Car Nicobar islands.
''Prasad also helped 15 foreign tourists, including several from the United States, send news to their families. Offers of relief aid poured in from around the world through her radio, and she directed them to government officials. She also arranged for volunteer doctors to be sent from other Indian states,'' Suri told
Sanjib.
The work of the housewife was also recognized by some foreign media, who named her ‘Angel of the Sea’. Later Bharathi returned when things settled down after 20 days.
Surprising the story was missed by almost the whole of Indian media fraternity and in India the amazing story of bravery is less talked about, Suri added.
The geographically separated islands of Andaman and Nicobar, which must have a ham station surprising never had one. Due to various restrictions of defence forces ham station and ham activities were never thought for Andaman and Nicobar Islands.
In fact, the last ham activity in these scattered islands in the Bay of Bengal, about 1200 kilometers away from Indian mainland, occurred in 1987, when Prasad set up a station in Port Blair and made 15,500 contacts, a record, Suri added.
The brave and selfless act of Bharathi Prasad of NIAR has now made the Administration to think seriously about establishing ham station in Andaman and Nicobar islands for which the NIAR Chairman visited Andaman recently.
''The job done by our team during tsunami would be remembered for a long long time, especially the work of Mrs Bharathi Prasad the ‘Angel of the Sea’,'' the NIAR Chairman added with pride.
