The Hindu : International : The cycle of life and death

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Sunday, Jan 02, 2005

International

International

The cycle of life and death

THE WAIT: People queue up to collect relief materials being brought by boat, at Hut Bay near Port Blair on Saturday. — Photo: K. Pichumani

PORT BLAIR, JAN. 1. On the island of death, the first cry of a newborn on the day the tsunami struck heralded hope of regeneration despite the brutalityof nature.

When the killer tsunami was busy devouring most things alive, a 26-year-old who escaped the fury of the waves to the relative safety of a hillock, and gave birth to a baby boy under extreme conditions.

HOME AND DRY: Namita Roy with child on Saturday. — PTI

Namita Roy, the wife of shopkeeper Laxminarayan Roy in Hud Bay, became the mother of a 1.5-kg boy on Sunday evening in the jungles atop the hillock, even as creepy and poisonous creatures swarmed all around.

Recalling the horrors of the night from her bed at the G.B. Pant Hospital here, she said: "I was doing my daily chores in front of our thatched house when suddenly I felt the intensity of the tremors. I shouted for my husband who was still asleep."

Hearing his wife's screams, Mr. Laxminarayan rushed out and realised that there was something wrong about the ocean, which was only about 100 metres from their house. Without a second thought, he held on to his wife who was in an advanced stage of pregnancy and ran towards the hillocks.

The waters engulfed their village, Sutuntai, while they reached the hilltop and clung on to a tree. It was then that Ms. Namita felt labour pains. But there was no help around. She spent the next 12 hours writhing in pain with only her husband by the side. Then she gave birth to the baby, their first-born.

There were reptiles around and though there was water all around, there was not a drop to drink. "The ocean with which we lived for so many years has taken away everything from us," the woman said. They were rescued by an Army helicopter, which brought them to Car Nicobar. They were shifted to Port Blair on Friday.

Both mother and child are fine.

— UNI

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