Reuters Posted online: Tuesday, January 04, 2005 at 1131 hours IST Updated: Tuesday, January 04, 2005 at 1624 hours IST
PORT BLAIR, January 4: India turned down offers of help from international aid organisations in the tsunami-hit Andaman and Nicobar islands.
Minister of State for Home Prakash Jaiswal said the Indian government believed it could handle the catastrophe on the badly hit southern islands, which are home to military airbases and considered a strategic zone by New Delhi.
"We are very grateful to foreign governments, agencies, and all others who have offered to help at this moment. But the government of India has enough assets at its disposal. We believe we can handle this calamity," Jaiswal told reporters.
He said domestic volunteer groups were already operating in the tsunami-hit areas, where bodies of hundreds of people lie and harbour jetties and roads have been washed away.
Thousands of people remain cut off in the remote chain of islands, many living off coconuts in thick jungles since the deadly tsunami, triggered by a massive undersea quake off Sumatra, tore ashore and swept away all in its path.
Aid workers from foreign relief groups Medicins Sans Frontieres and Oxfam have been unable to reach the chain of more than 500 islands, which are off limits to foreigners and mainland Indians alike.
"One of the reasons is that this area is restricted," an interior ministry official said.
Although most of the islands are uninhabited, some are home to hundreds of stone age tribespeople. The islands lie 1,200 km east of the Indian mainland and near one of the world's busiest shipping routes.
PORT BLAIR, January 4: India turned down offers of help from international aid organisations in the tsunami-hit Andaman and Nicobar islands.
