The tsunami also claimed Car Nicobar's other historic landmark -- the St Thomas cathedral, the biggest church in Andaman and Nicobar dedicated to the first Indian Christian missionary couple to reach the islands in 1896. One of their followers, Bishop John Richardson, lies buried in the cathedral ground. His statue half broken in the tsunami.
As far as Hut Bay, halfway into the sea from Car Nicobar, Nicobarese hold Bishop Richardson in great reverence. And walking into the church compound is being confronted by a lost piece of history.
"John Richardson stood up to the Japanese during their occupation of the island between 1942 and 1945 and was imprisoned. He was subsequently called to Singapore as a witness for the trials conducted by the British for Japanese war crimes," said Thomas Philip.
A short distance from the bishop's grave and broken statute is a memorial plaque bearing the names of Nicobarese who were tortured and killed by the Japanese during the Second World War (inset).
The youngest name is that of a six-month-old child.
Text and photograph: Archana Masih; Design: Dominic Xavier