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Tusnami leaves legacy of crushing ruin
(China Daily)
Updated: 2005-01-09 22:33 Hope still lives on as tragic deaths leave an
ache in Sri Lanka
by Nadeera Seneviratne, The
Island/Sri Lanka
COLOMBO: Hope lives on here, in Sri Lanka, even though more than
thirty thousand o are dead. Their tragic deaths will leave an ache that will
traumatize those who loved them -- more so as they buried their relatives and
friends in mass graves. The final resting place of the nameless.
But there is still hope that some of the missing are still alive.
Perhaps the "missing" are suffering from shock and are unable to communicate
their names and details in order to reach family members.
Fatima Rijani, 11 a
Sri Lankan tsunami victim who is now orphaned watches a game at the
refugee camp where she is now living with relatives Friday Jan. 7, 2005 in
Galle, Sri Lanka. [AP] | But more likely the
missing are the missing dead. Men, women and children are still being found. The
body count forever rising, and those who would have battled hard to save
themselves are being washed ashore or on river banks, or are discovered under
the debris. Their bodies fall apart when lifted and emanate the stench of death
that pervades areas in southern, eastern and northern Sri Lanka.
The southern and western coasts were hit up to half an hour after the eastern
area, but nobody was informed. Our nation's geologists failed to warn of the
possible tidal waves following the massive earthquake.
Fears of more strikes prevailed last week, driving thousands out of their
coastal homes as late as Thursday. Southern roads near to the sea were
chock-a-block with traffic that day, with people screaming that no one should go
near the coast.
The fear psychosis reigns high, giving rise to panic triggered by reports
that the Indian government had warned coastline residents in South India to move
inland. Luckily, the Sri Lanka Police and civilians with more presence of mind
persuaded the people not to panic.
Galle and Matara were like ghost towns that day. The buses had returned to
the Galle bus stand, from where horrific footage of people losing their lives
was shot, and along the coast residents were picking up the pieces from the
wrecked houses that still stood, cleaning up what was left of their belongings
and desperately trying to wash the smell of the sea from their homes. Some of
them may have lost one or more members of their family. Yet in a sad and
desperate way, those who could remain in their homes without moving to a camp,
struggled to continue with their lives in an air still filled with pain and
anguish.
They did have help, especially those who lived near the main roads. Relief
vans were stopping at places where people queued to obtain what was offered.
Every help 'a blessing'
Sometimes there was a tussle to get the last packet of biscuits, or
some such item. Yet a lot more could be done, and for these traumatized people,
every little help is a blessing.
At Matara, people died and escaped from St. Servatius Church, as happened in
many other places of worship that fateful Sunday. One mother and her son escaped
unhurt, but only after the mother, who had paused to warn her son who had
clambered the stairs, was washed through the door of the church and ended up in
St. Servatius College.
There are hundreds of thousands of such stories. More than seven hundred
thousand displaced, more than thirty thousand dead in Sri Lanka alone. All of
their untold stories as poignant and important as those that do get told, like
those of the "well known" and those of tourists. Each tsunami story however,
makes each person well known. Making people recollect these stories however is
not the need of the hour. Their faces tell the story that cannot be told, that
being the story in itself.
The people, I think, understand this. It is shown in the massive effort to
collect relief, with supermarkets in Colombo being periodically emptied
throughout the week. In Akuressa, a man on a bicycle hauling coconuts was asked
if they were for sale. "No, this is for relief", he said and sped away. "Relief"
also has its darker side. Not all of it will reach victims. Some of it may be
given with other expectations, forcible or implied. Relief vans have also been
seen to carry more sightseers than goods.
Looting of abandoned houses, and the theft of jewellery and money from dead
bodies are vile acts that must be exposed. Organized criminals were reported to
have spread stories of further tsunami strikes, creating chaos in coast line
areas. These people have no feeling for the people of the coastline in this
country, many of them now suffering from in fear of the sea, a place that they
once adored and from where came food.Now they dare not go near it.
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