islands were united under a single chief commissioner at Port Blair. World War II During World War II, the islands were practically under Japanese control, only nominally under the authority of the Arzi Hukumate Azad Hind of Subhash Chandra Bose. Bose visited the islands during the war and renamed them as "Shaheed-Dweep" (Martyr Island) and "Swaraj-dweep" (Self-rule Island). General Loganathan, of the Indian National Army, was made the Governor of the Andaman and Nicobar Islands. On 22 February 1944 he along with four INA officers—Major Mansoor Ali Alvi, Sub. Lt. Md. Iqbal, Lt. Suba Singh, and stenographer Srinivasan—arrived at Lambaline Airport in Port Blair. On 21 March 1944, the Headquarters of the Civil Administration was established near the gurdwara at Aberdeen Bazaar. On 2 October 1944, Col. Loganathan handed over the charge to Maj. Alvi and left Port Blair, never to return. Japanese Vice Admiral Hara Teizo and Major-General Tamenori Sato surrendered the islands to Brigadier J A Salomons, commander of 116th Indian Infantry Brigade, and Chief Administrator Noel K Patterson, Indian Civil Service, on 7 October 1945, in a ceremony performed on the Gymkhana Ground, Port Blair. After independence During the independence of both India (1947) and Burma (1948), the departing British announced their intention to retain possession of the island chain, and use them to resettle Anglo-Indians and Anglo-Burmese on these islands, to form their own nation, although this never materialised. The islands, as a possession of the British Indian Empire, claimed as an asset to allocated, by both the Congress Party and Muslim League, during partition negotiations. The Islands were later used to resettle peoples displaced by the partitions of the British Indian Empire, with a substantial number of displaced East Bengali families offered land on the islands, in exchange for clearing forests and establishing agricultural colonies. Responsibility for the administration of the islands was transferred from Viceroy Mountbatten, to President Rajendra Prasad, in 1950, and was declared as a union territory of the India, in 1956. India has been developing defence facilities on the islands since the 1980s. The islands now have a key position in India's strategic role in the Bay of Bengal and the Malacca Strait. 2004 tsunami On 26 December 2004, the coasts of the Andaman and Nicobar Islands were devastated by a high tsunami following an undersea earthquake in the Indian Ocean. More than 2,000 people died, 4,000 children were orphaned or