It is estimated that there are a hundred human groups without communication with the outside world. Anthropologists point out that about 40 live in Brazil and 15 in Peru. There are also small uncontacted communities in other countries where the Amazon rainforest extends – Bolivia, Colombia, Ecuador or Paraguay – in the Andaman Islands (India) and in New Guinea.
Following the tsunami that devastated large areas of Southeast Asia in late 2004, scientists feared for the fate of the Sentinel, an isolated tribe living in the Andamans. When a helicopter flew over the area, one of the villagers ran out and threatened the pilot with his spear: they had survived the disaster and did not want to know anything about other people. Anthropologists know that violating their solitude could expose them to fatal diseases for which they have not developed defenses.
