Members of the ancient Jarawa tribe have emerged from their forest habitat for the first time since the December 26 tsunami ravaged the isolated Andaman and Nicobar Islands.

In a rare interaction with outsiders, they announced yesterday that all 250 of their tribespeople had survived.

"We are all safe after the earthquake. We are in the forest in Balughat," Jarawa member Ashu said in broken Hindi through an interpreter in a restricted forest area in the northern reaches of South Andaman island.

According to varying estimates, there are only 400 to 1000 members alive today from the Jarawas, Great Andamanese, Onges, Sentinelese and Shompens.

Some anthropological DNA studies indicate the generations may go back 70,000 years.

They originated in Africa and migrated to India through Indonesia, anthropologists say.

Seven men emerged from the forest carrying bows and arrows and wearing only underwear, amulets and coloured headbands with leaves.

They told government and police officials that when the tsunami struck, they all fled to the forest and survived.

Two reporters and a photographer for The Associated Press were allowed to accompany the official delegation to an outpost in the isolated northern region where the seven men were waiting.

Some sat on plastic chairs resting their feet against the trunks of trees, one perched on a wall, while another mock-wrestled with a government official who had taught them a few Hindi words.

Ashu, who said he was in his early 20s, introduced himself and three others - Danna, Lah and Tawai. Like many south Indians, they use only one name.

The men stopped an Associated Press photographer from taking pictures.
"We fall sick if we are photographed," Ashu said.

The tribesmen said they survived by eating coconuts in the aftermath of the tsunami, which killed 901 people and left 5914 missing on the Andaman and Nicobar islands.

Ashu showed off his bow, arrows, and a metal box containing ash that he smears on his face during ceremonies, which he attached to a thread tied around his waist.

Ashu then asked for "khamma", meaning water in the Jarawas dialect, and drank from a bottle of mineral water offered to him.

When asked what they typically eat, Ashu said, pork and fish caught with their bows and arrows. "And we like honey."

He said tourists sometimes threw boxes of cookies at them from buses - but said packaged food upsets their stomachs.

"We prefer to eat raw or roasted bananas. Ripe bananas make us sick," he said.

Though friendly, the tribesmen are wary of visitors.

"My world is in the forest," said Ashu. "Your world is outside. We don't like people from outside."

The police and Jarawas have not always got along. In 1997, a year after the tribe first made contact with local authorities, tribesmen stormed a police outpost in Jirkatang and shot a guard dead with arrows.

Relations have since improved. A police officer who asked that his named not be used called the Jarawas "good friends".

"Today is the first time they have come out of the forest in a month," said another accompanying official.

Ashu demonstrated his shooting skills. Mounting an arrow, he arched his body to the left, pulled back the arrow, smiled, then let it go.

The official then joked that he would shoot an arrow at the police officer.
Ashu turned around and said, matter of factly: "If you kill him, I will kill you."

When asked where he was when the earthquake came, Ashu just shook his head. He didn't want to talk about it.