False alarm sets off panic

Panic has been sweeping south Asian coastal regions amid reports that a second tsunami was on its way, as the death toll from the Boxing Day disaster almost doubled to more than 125,000.

Following a warning from the Indian Government, fear spread from the country's east coast to the Andaman Islands and to Sri Lanka. Hours later, the authorities dropped the alert, which had been precipitated by aftershocks in the ocean off Indonesia.

That did not stop some traumatised people from India's Andaman and Nicobar Islands flocking to the main airport and demanding to get on the first plane off the islands, where many have lived for decades.

Many left, clutching just a few belongings.

When the Andaman local government announced, at 11.45am, that the central Government's warning of a new wave arriving at noon was true, panic had broken out. In Port Blair, the capital, someone burst into the government information office and yelled: "Get out of here; the water is coming!" Officials screamed and a stampede began as office workers shoved past each other to get out of the building.

The street was jammed with cars, buses and rickshaws trying to get to higher ground. Rickshaw drivers gave free lifts to anyone who could hop on quickly. Those running more slowly were elbowed out of the way.

In Madras, barricades were put up to prevent people getting to Marine Beach. The federal Home Ministry issued an urgent warning that people living within 2km of the coast should be on high alert.

The Delhi Government insisted that it was right to issue the warning, insisting that it had to take new threats seriously and had to inform its people.

In southern Sri Lanka, the already devastated people of Galle, one of the towns worst hit last week, rushed for high ground in a state of fear. Joan Vincent, a Briton who lives in Galle, was returning to the town when the panic struck. "It was extremely frightening," she said. "People were running around with their hands in the air, saying 'The wave is coming back. The wave is coming back'."

In the Tamil village of Karaitivu, in eastern Sri Lanka, one young man heard of the alert and cried out: "Get away from the sea!" He began waving his hands frantically at the knots of families who had returned to the seafront to inspect the flattened remains of their homes.

The atmosphere of subdued reflection was transformed into one of blind panic as a frantic throng of people ran inland. Sari-clad women dropped the items they had retrieved from the debris of the first tsunami and grabbed their children as they fled the seafront in the heart of the Ampara district. Fathers stopped chopping wood and burning rubbish, charging into the stifling jungle heat.

ARMY officers confirmed their fears of another tidal wave, ushering residents out of the area. A group of men on motorbikes rode around the remains of the village, tooting their horns. They were trying to warn others, but merely added to the chaos.

Amid the maelstrom, one man remained unmoved. Pusparatnum sat rocking back and forth on the dusty road outside the ornately painted Hindu temple, apparently the only building in the village to have resisted the force of Sunday's tsunami. Sitting with his dog by his side, he seemed oblivious to the rush of people around him and of the serious injury to his left foot. But, rather than being calm, he had been numbed by the horror of Sunday's tsunami and could not begin to contemplate a further disaster.

"He is a fisherman who lost nine people in his family," said his companion, Ravi, whose wife was also killed. "He lost his wife, three sons and all his daughters. He has no work, no home and no family. I can understand why he isn't running inland."

While Sri Lankan Army officers ordered the instant evacuation of coastal areas around midday, within several hours the panic appeared to have subsided. Hopes rose that the force of the aftershocks was not enough to cause further damage to the battered island.

Police Inspector Upul Jayawardena described how the sense of confusion and foreboding was inevitable among those fearful of the sea in the aftermath of the devastation caused by the tidal waves.

"We had to issue warnings to the coastal belts following the earthquake early in the morning," he said. "People are obviously going to panic after what has happened but it is all under control and there has been no further damage. We just feel that people should be aware that they should avoid these areas."

- INDEPENDENT