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Abstract
Indian subcontinent is highly vulnerable to major natural disasters such as earthquakes, cyclones, floods,
droughts, landslides and bushfires. Tsunami, which is a recent addition to this list, had occurred in the
early morning of 26th December 2004, after a massive earthquake of 9.2 magnitude on the Richter scale in
Andaman & Nicobar islands, resulting in the submergence of large area of farmland, and subsequent
drying up of water bodies. It caused moisture stress for the standing crops, livestock and fisheries and
affected the livelihood of the people to a large extent. In this context, the present study has been carried
out to make the socio-economic impact assessment of livelihood security in agriculture, animal husbandry
and aquaculture on the tsunami-hit lands of Andaman. Data have been collected from 150 sample
respondents and the survey has been conducted for two periods, pre-tsunami and post-tsunami. The
results have indicated that tsunami has ravaged the households, standing crops, farm inputs such as seed,
feed and implements, livestock and poultry population, their sheds, fish ponds, etc., thereby affecting the
basic livelihood security of the people in Andaman. The rehabilitation measures taken by the government
and NGOs have improved their livelihoods by reviving agriculture considerably in the subsequent years
and by creating employment opportunities in various farm and non-farm activities. The paper has suggested
creating profitable livelihood security to vulnerable sections of the society in the existing socio-economic
penury with holistic intervention of the community, government and NGOs.