Car Nicobar, an island 270 kilometers south of Port Blair, the capital of the Union territory Andaman and Nicobar Islands, has finally started to pullup its slacks 10 days after the devastating tsunami struck the island.

"We have guaranteed the food and clothes, restored electricity,prevented any epidemic threat, disposed the dead bodies and even completed part of the road building around the island," Brigadier J.M. Devadoss, who is in charge of the relief operation in Car Nicobar over the past 10 days, said proudly to a dozen of foreign journalists on Thursday at the military airport of the island.

Car Nicobar is about 100 square kilometers with a total population of 22,400, with most of them local tribal Nicobaris. OnDec. 26, an earthquake shattered part of the houses on the beach of the island before the killer tsunami hit the island, thus saving a large number of lives as local residents were alert by the quake and run out of the houses to the inland.

Even though most escaped the earthquake and the tsunami which followed just a few minutes later, around 400 corpses have so far been found and more than 3000 are still missing.

"In my village, 12 people were killed by the huge tidal waves, and most houses along the beach were demolished, driving us homeless with nothing left," said Hubert Sen, the captain of the Malacca village, said outside his temporary tent in the dense jungle just one kilometer away from his wrecked house. Surrounded by coconut palms on all sides, every house is now just rubble.

A total of 14 villages along the 40 kilometer-long beach were flatted by the Black Sunday tsunami which mounted more than 10 meters high, according to 48-year-old Sen.

"It's like we were hit by a huge bomb but we reacted quickly tosave as much as we could," said M Kumar, a lieutenant colonel while showing people around in the military air base which is now only left with debris of buildings and thousands of uprooted trees.More than 100 military personnel were washed away by the waves, hesaid.

"We were hit hard by the natural disaster but with the help of the central government and the army, we are plucking ourselves up and try to return to the normal life," said Sen.

While touring around the wrecked beach villages, people were shocked by the power and fury of the waves. But at the same time, the villagers' courage and patience also very moving.

"I will never leave this island which is the homeland since my great-grand father. I'd rather take this disaster as an accident which happens once a century," said another villager, who was satisfied with the timely relief and was determined to rebuild hishouse again with his own hands.

"Just 10 days after the calamity, we have managed to bring the island alive again. More than 1,000 soldiers are working day and night to make the achievement done."

It may take this land and its battered people two years to recover from it all, but emergency relief so far seems running quite well to meet the basic requirement of the local victims.

"You can see people walking on the road, children playing football on the ground, injured people being treated in the local hospitals. Most communications have been restored and after a weekyou can even use your mobile phone here," said Devadoss with a broad smile on his tiring face.