Should you come to Sri Lanka?

The answer is: Good God Yes!!

You should come without misgivings. No one will expect you to keep politely quiet about the tsunami, or gloss over it awkwardly: nor will they expect you to spend any of your time looking for good works to do. It is enough that you are there, and later you will go home and speak well of the place, and while you are here you are spending something. It might seem nothing to you - it should seem nothing to you - but the 150 rupees (about 50p) you spend on sweet roadside coconuts, hacked open by machete, for a party of five will wreath the vendor with smiles: his family eats that night. Full Story

Tsunami Aftermath: Here comes the light

At the Beach Hut in Arugam Bay things are moving ahead

Eventually the fog began to lift. A friend visiting from Colombo provided Ranga with a mobile phone and a small loan. Other contributions trickled in from former guests, a Briton, a couple of Australian surfers, a young man from Brooklyn who had visited several years before with his father.

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Aftermath of Tsunami : “How did we survive?”

“From then on, the Sri Lankans completely looked after me.” For three days, Hynes travelled around the south coast looking for Convoy, begging lifts to hospitals that were doubling up as morgues . The kindness of locals kept her going. She was given tea, food and clothing in the hospitals she was checked into, while in one, a woman – a complete stranger – sat her up in bed and combed her hair, stroked her arm and urged her to stop crying.

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Amid the Ruin and Sorrow the Reservoir of Kindness Remains

"We survived the trauma of this disaster in Unawatuna because we had the generosity and hospitality of the Sri Lankans. Every family in the village took in tourists for the three days we had to wait before we were evacuated. They shared their meager belongings, their limited food and their precious water. They, who had nothing and had lost much, gave everything."

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Tsunami lifts JVP

As Sri Lankans walked around stunned after the Dec. 26 tsunami and as federal officials were absent in the midst of the worst national disaster in memory, the JVP was on the street in force, with an aid plan, and with an advertising campaign that would have make Washington lobbyists envious. In the south and east the movement put on an extraordinary show of organizational readiness, in the midst of sudden tragedy.Full Story

Making Peace With the Punishing Sea

Oluvil : Conquering the waves with fear inside

A wall of water rewrote his life, his livelihood and his village. Instead, he stood on the beach under a moonless sky, unmoving and unsure, intimidated by waves he would have challenged easily three weeks ago. Full Story

Tea with the Tamil Tigers

(Salon.com) Inside a camp controlled by Sri Lanka's militant rebels, I investigate rumors that the Tamil people are being shortchanged in tsunami aid. From my limited research, I'm reasonably confident that the Tamil camps, in Tiger-controlled areas, are being treated as well as their Muslim, Hindu and Christian compatriots, and that the rumors of their neglect have been greatly exaggerated. Like the refugees I have visited throughout Sri Lanka, the Tamils are a people whose plight transcends religion or ideology. Full Story

Disabled lay in their beds as waters engulfed them

Some floated away on mattresses to their deaths

GALLE, Sri Lanka (AP) - Screaming with fear, paralysed children at a shelter for the physically disabled and mentally ill lay helpless in their beds as water surged into their dormitories during the tsunami that ravaged coastal areas of southern Asia. Some desperate children gripped the rafters as the water level rose inside the one-storey Sambodhi shelter, while others floated away on mattresses to their deaths, witnesses say. Just 41 of the 102 residents of the home survived, caretaker Kumar Deshapriya said Saturday. Full Story

Assessing Needs Where There Are So Many

some assistance was coming from a local church but recipients were asked to pray at the church in order to receive the care packages. Consequently, many were very uneasy about receiving further aid. Although Sri Lankans are tolerant of other religions, they have been wary of religious organizations in the post-tsunami era. This has been confirmed in the local papers as a major concern in the country and it was a theme brought up by people we spoke with.

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Tsunami Aftermath: Post-Traumatic Stress

(Salon.com) "We're not seeing a lot of injuries anymore," he replies. "Most of what we're dealing with now is post-traumatic stress disorder." What's interesting, Kerr remarks, is that the men, women and children all manifest the syndrome with different symptoms. "For children, the main thing is fear of the sea," Kerr says. "They won't go near the water. For women, they can't sleep. When they come in, they tell us everything is fine -- but soon the truth comes out. They are just not sleeping. For men, it is different. They come in, claiming to be sick and looking sick. But they are not sick; there is nothing physically wrong with them. Then we know it is the post-traumatic stress." Full Story

'Baby 81': No Name but Many Parents

Tsunami Takes him to New York

(AP) One man standing outside the nursery at Kalmunai Base Hospital threatened to kill himself and his wife if they are not given the baby. A woman at the hospital said she would kill the doctors unless she gets him. The battle over the wide-eyed boy, who appears to be about three or four months old, symbolizes the enormous loss in the Dec. 26 disaster. The infant, bruised and covered in mud but otherwise healthy, was brought to the hospital hours after the tsunami struck Kalmunai. He was given the nickname "baby 81" because his real name is not known and he was the 81st admission that terrible day. Full Story

(Photo @ AFP “Baby 81” plays with actress Uma Thurman in New York, )

Arugam Bay: The buried village

(Salon.com) Prior to the tsunami, Arugam Bay was considered one of the 10 best surf spots in the world; the British held their surfing championships here in 2003. Aside from a thriving tourism industry, the community included thousands of fishermen and their families. But the three waves of December's tsunami struck this region with apocalyptic force, killing an estimated 3,000 people, flattening the fishing villages, and turning the strand of beachside hotels and restaurants into a scene of Hiroshima-like ruin.Full Story

Arugam Bay wiped out within a flash

In memory of Per Goodman

Stardust Will Rise From The Ashes

Stardust was the jewel hotel of Arugam Bay and the dream of Merete Scheller and Per Goodman. It was a hotel, a paradise and a retreat for many grateful guests from close and afar. In his characteristic, charming way, he shared his personal thoughts and aspirations with every guest and he let his deep understanding, generosity and love for the local people of Pottuvil. On 26th of December 2004 Tsunami killer waves destroyed the hotel and took its creator Per Goodman with it.Full Story

Goodwill alive and well after disaster

Arugam Bay The buried village

Arugam Bay wiped out within a flash

SENTHALIR : war orphans devastated by tsunami

There were 135 children aged between 3-15 years in one home called Senthalir. This home was completely destroyed with heavy loss of life. 94 children lost their lives. 38 survived. Only 30 bodies so far have been recovered and identified. Very tragic indeed. Senthalir in English means “Tender Sprout”. Very young children, taken away in a moment of madness by the ocean. Let us take a few moments to remember and pray for their souls.Full Story

Planning the unplanned

Architecture for Humanity to rebuild Kirinda

Architecture for Humanity has sent a team of planners, architects, biologists and environmentalists to Kirinda in the hope of helping villagers to rebuild their community in a safe and sustainable way. "The community will be a 50% player in this," Sinclair stresses. "But when push comes to shove, we will be making the tough decisions." The team plans to work in Kirinda throughout 2005, and hopes to begin extensive building work this summer.

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An Undignified Postscript for Sri Lanka's Dead
In death, as in life, the gap between the rich and the poor is wide.
(LA Times) At the Colombo National Hospital, the bodies of foreigners are brought to a lab where they're numbered and photographed. Blood and DNA samples are taken. The bodies are carefully stored in refrigerated containers until they can be identified and transported back to their home countries. A different ritual unfolds 70 miles south in Galle. A truck designed to carry telephone poles pulls up on a dirt road and disgorges the bodies of Sri Lankans on land that was once a palm oil plantation. Several dozen decomposing bodies are dragged off the truck and dumped into a quarter-mile-long mass grave holding about 1,600 corpses. As rich countries work to identify their tsunami victims, the poor island nation uses mass graves. Full Story

Mass graves: Rapid burial to avert health risks is a myth

The most tragic lesson at a school in Sri Lanka, nature’s grim math

NAVALADI, Sri Lanka - Classes were supposed to start today after the end-of-the-year holiday at the Namahal Vidyalayam School in what used to be a fishing village on this sliver of sand between the Indian Ocean and a saltwater lagoon. But no class bell is going to ring. At least 150 of the school's 313 students are dead. Another 11 are missing. Full Story

Dark forces behind tsunami disaster - Conspiracy theorists

Among the more common suggestions is that eco-weapons which can trigger earthquakes and volcanoes remotely through the use of electromagnetic waves were being tested. More outlandish theories include one that aliens caused the earthquake to try and correct the "wobbly rotation of the Earth". Full Story

Grieving parents wait for ocean to return children

NAVALADY BEACH, Sri Lanka -- As dawn breaks over Sri Lanka's coast, dozens of parents come to the beach where huge waves seized their children a week ago.  "They believe their kids are alive and the sea will return them -- one day," UNICEF chief Carol Bellamy said Sunday after touring this island country's tsunami-devastated shore. Children accounted for a staggering 40 per cent, or 12,000, of Sri Lanka's death total of 30,000, officials said. But without bodies to mourn over, many parents find it hard to believe their children are dead. Some children were buried in mass graves, before parents were told. Many were swept out to sea.Full story

Samaritan Children's Home in Navalady

TRAGEDY AVERTED: 28 orphans saved

Navalady, Sri Lanka -- Two hundred yards away from the beach, in the orphanage he had built, Dayalan Sanders lounged in his bed early Sunday morning. He was thinking, he said, about the sermon he was due to deliver in the chapel in half an hour. A few yards away, most of the 28 children under his care were still in their rooms, getting ready for services.

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Tsunami swallows nursery school, children
KARAITIVU, Sri Lanka (Reuters) - Bob Uppington, a retired teacher from England, came to this tiny Sri Lankan tsunami-ravaged fishing village to find 40 children. But visiting a local nursery school and a refugee camp on Sunday, a week after giant waves hit, he found no faces to match the snapshots of the three- to four-year-olds he had visited less than a fortnight before Sri Lanka's worst natural disaster hit. Full Story
 

Yala National Park: 250 believed to have died

Tidal waves has caused severe damage to Yala National Park with more than 250 foreign and local tourists believed to have died. "Yala Safari" tourist hotel in close proximity to the main gate of Yala National Park has been completely destroyed . At the time of the incident about 250 foreign and local tourists had been occupying the hotel. About 100 dead bodies of tourists were discovered within the park yesterday (27) by Wildlife Officers and Army Officers and about 60 of them are foreigners. Full Story

Former Chancellor of Germany, Helmut Kohl survives tsunami, stays to help Sri Lankans

 HAMBURG 3 Jan- After surviving Asia's killer tsunami in Sri Lanka, Helmut Kohl, 74, the former German chancellor, has vowed to stay on in Sri Lanka to help organise relief for children and to demonstrate that the country needed tourist earnings. Full Story

Panadura: Another body, another wail

The path to several thousand private hells is all too public. In this small town 20 miles south of the Sri Lankan capital, Colombo, it leads down the open-sided corridors of the district hospital to a garden at the back, and the mortuary beyond. "We have received 44 bodies here so far, 23 women, 16 men, and five children," said Sub-Inspector DJ Karanaike. "Thirty-five have been identified already."Full Story

Kinniya island: Survivors stunned in the devastation

At least 580 of Kinniya's 80,000 residents were killed or have disappeared; about 5,000 homes were destroyed or damaged; more than 30,000 people are without shelter, according to the local emergency unit. Some 2,500 people were injured in the disaster. "They are mainly superficial injuries but they can become infected, there are complications, sudden fevers, and we have the first cases of acute gastroenteritis. We expect an outbreak of diarrhea," said a 32-year-old doctor named Ajeedh. full story

Galle is now a city of death and tears

Galle, a tourist city some 100 km south of Colombo, is one of the places  hit most by the tsunami. Over 800 people died and more than 500 injured in the tsunamis here, according to local police officials. Around 2,500 people are still missing in Galle district. "My wife and my sons were whirled away by the floods," said D.G. Lal crying loudly. He added many vehicles near the sea were washed away "like leaves," and one of them "with 17 people on it disappeared in no time." A 24-year-old man working for a local hotel pointed to a seaside marsh and said some bodies were still buried inside the marsh. He said it's too dangerous to go inside to recover the bodies. Full Story

Ampara most devastated with possible 25000 deaths

Ampara district on the southeastern coast of Sri Lanka was directly in the path of the December 26 tsunami and was the first to be hit. Massive waves swept over the low-lying coast without warning, flattening buildings and sweeping people away. It was a fresh calamity in a district that has already been deeply scarred by 20 years of civil war. While the government puts the death toll at 13,703, the actual figure is probably twice as high. Those we spoke to, including several divisional secretaries, estimated the number killed at nearly 25,000, with more than 2,500 still missing. Full Story

Buddha statues in South spared by Tsunami

"It’s a miracle" — residents
(The Island) The Ministry of Buddha Sasana said that 39 Buddhist temples were destroyed by last Sunday’s Tsunami tidal waves in Galle, Matara and Hambantota districts, but miraculously none of the statues of Lord Buddha had been damaged or swept into the ocean.
The ministry said there were no reports of any Buddhist monks in these temples being killed or injured by the monstrous waves. The damage to these Buddhist temples is estimated to be around Rs. 36 millions and the ministry has already allocated Rs. 4.5 million for their restoration, a spokesman said. (@Photograph: Elizabeth Dalziel/AP)

Killer  waves swept her three boys and three girls

“I wish that my husband and I would die soon.”

PALLAI, Sri Lanka - Housewife Viyarseeli Nadarajahlingam’s whole life revolved around her six children and helping her husband mend his fishing nets on an idyllic white sand beach at Sri Lanka’s northern tip. But she could only watch helplessly in horror as giant waves swept her three boys and three girls—the youngest just a year old and the eldest 13 -- to their deaths, and she is struggling to give new meaning to her life. Young men have lost new brides, mothers have lost babies, whole families have been destroyed - and most survivors vow they will never return to live by the sea. Full Story

"I used to call them you my little ones. Now I have no one!"

Camps washed away:  Military personnel, Sea Tigers Killed.
Brigade Commander and 18 soldiers were reported dead at Kalkudah.
Dec 28, Colombo. A Colonel, one Major, one Lieutenant, one Navy Lieutenant and two Warrant Officers (WO II) of the Army and Navy were among the 60 Army and Navy personnel now confirmed killed. Full Story

List of Army Personnel Killed

Sri Lankan tsunami victims Express anger and concern

The poorest of the poor most affected

With more dead bodies being discovered in the southern, eastern and northern coastal areas of Sri Lanka, the authorities admitted on Tuesday that the death toll from last Sunday’s tsunami could rise to 25,000. A Reuters report quoted social welfare minister, Sumedha Jayasena, declaring, “Dead bodies are washing ashore along the coast. Reports reaching us from the rescue workers indicate there are 25,000 feared dead. We don’t know what to do.” But many people simply do not believe the government estimates.Full Story

One psychiatrist for 1.3 million of the world's most traumatized people

A new wave of pain in Lanka

Even before the tidal wave, Sri Lankans were one of the world's most suicide-prone populations, with paranoid schizophrenics, manic-depressives, rape victims and thousands of torture victims from the civil war.  Now add to that the families of more than 30,000 tsunami fatalities in the region. Tens of thousands of homeless, jobless, destitute refugees. Orphans in the hundreds.  Full Story

Saving Sri Lanka's sea turtles Rare green turtles gone with the waves, Hatchery destroyed BENTOTA, Sri Lanka (CNN) -- The tsunami ended so many human lives, the environmental impact has taken second place.n Sri Lanka, though, there are fears entire species can be wiped out. At particular risk are sea turtles. Amid the rubble lies the remains of one of the world's last hopes for five endangered species of marine turtle. The waves killed thousands of baby turtles that were to have been released into the sea the very day the tsunami struck. Full Story