Tsunami Horror Haunts Sri Lanka Survivors

8/10/2019 Tsunami Horror Haunts Sri Lanka Survivors

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Tsunami horror haunts Sri Lanka survivors

Dinouk Colombage-Last updated:26 Dec2014Memorial services have been held for 220,000 people killed in the 2004Indian Ocean tsunamiColombo, Sri Lanka - In the early hours of December 26,2004, a devastatin tsunami struck the shores of Sri Lanka, claimin the lives of!",!22 #eo#le and dis#lacin over half a million others$

%he coastal communities are earin u# to relive a day that sa& families torn a#art

&hen sea &aves, triered by a '$(-manitude earth)uake, struck a do*en countries

around the Indian +cean rim, killin 220,000 #eo#le$

Sri Lanka &as still battlin a #roloned civil &ar &hen the traedy struck, but #eo#le

forot the animosity to hel# those &ho had lost almost everythin in the disaster$

%he &ar finally ended in 200' after overnment troo#s defeated the %amil rebels$

ut divisions are once aain risin, s#urred by the recent rise of reliious etremism

and the clash of #olitical ideoloies caused by a sna# #residential election$

.or the #ast decade, #eo#le have been markin the day &ith candle-liht viils and

minutes of silence, but this year it may be overshado&ed by the electoral #osters and
http://www.aljazeera.com/indepth/features/2014/12/sri-lankan-tsunami-survivors-decade-2014122685733134944.htmlhttp://www.aljazeera.com/profile/dinouk-colombage.htmlhttp://www.aljazeera.com/Media/Images/AJLOGOGOOGLE.pnghttp://www.aljazeera.com/profile/dinouk-colombage.htmlhttp://www.aljazeera.com/indepth/features/2014/12/sri-lankan-tsunami-survivors-decade-2014122685733134944.html


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louds#eakers blarin out election #ro#aanda$

/l a*eera s#oke to some of the Sri Lankans &ho survived the disaster$ %hey recall

the dreadful mornin that left many of their dear ones dead$ %hey ho#e that the

country &ill foret its differences once aain to reunite in honourin those &ho died$S 1athmaayantha, 33, ido&, 5alle

.or the #ast (0 years 1athmaayantha has attem#ted to recreate &hat ha##ened thatfateful mornin, and only no& the full horrors are comin to liht$

7ye-&itnesses told me that &hen the &aves struck, my dauhter &as seen rabbin

my niece and runnin, but they &ere both draed by the &ater and &ere &ashed

a&ay, she said$

7very year, 1athmaayantha holds a small memorial service for her dauhter and

niece, and this year she does not see it as bein any different$

%en years have #assed, it is not somethin s#ecial$ %en years &ill not brin back mydauhter or my niece$ I no& live &ith my other dauhter and her family$ Des#ite all thelove and noise in that family I &ill al&ays feel an em#tiness in my life for my losses,she said$


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SC Seera&itti, "8, &ido& and mother of one, 9ikkadu&a

+n December 26, SC Seera&itti:s husband, Ca#tain Seera&itti, &as e#ected to o on

leave$

9e s#oke to me the niht before e#lainin that he &ould be comin home for a fe&

days that afternoon$ I still remember him lauhin and sayin he had been over&orked

and he &ould run a&ay, she said$

hen the &aves first struck, Seera&itti &as forced to flee her home$

+ur neihbours &ere runnin yellin that the sea &as comin$ I did not kno& &hat

they &ere talkin about but my son rabbed and yelled to run$

Lookin back, Seera&itti cannot understand &hy she thouht her husband &ould besafe$

I sa& first-hand the devastation caused by the &aves, I &as in shock and believed the

naval base &ould be #rotected by its hih &alls$

In the #ast (0 years, Seera&itti;s family has suffered more hardshi#$


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naval #ension, &hich is not enouh for the t&o of us$

Seera&itti says that she &ill use &hatever money she can save to ive a blessin at

the local tem#le for her husband$

I did not realise it &as (0 years$ hen I think about my husband it still feels like ust

yesterday that he &as on the #hone tellin me he &as comin home, she said$

19 =udua#riyanan, 42, &ido& and mother of t&o, >atama

hen the tsunami stuck, for most, the torment &as immediate$ 9o&ever, for

=udua#riyanan her misery &as only confirmed a &eek later$


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the body$

%his (0-year anniversary is a bitters&eet time for my family, my younest son &ill be

sittin his +;levels$ I kno& my husband &ould be #roud of him and for him to have

overcome the loss of his father and reach this level is an achievement on its o&n, she

said$

? alaatharun, 43, fisherman, %rincomalee

alaatharun, a fisherman in %rincomalee, sa& his entire livelihood &ashed a&ay by

the &aves$

I kno& it seems heartless to talk about the loss of my fishin boats &hen others s#eak

of the loss of life$ ut that fishin boat &as my family;s life line, and no& I am no&here

closer to rebuildin that broken life, he said$

Standin on the beach, alaatharun says that &hen he returned several days later to

the coast, his boat &as but a #ile of torn-u# &ood that littered the beach$

.or days I hel#ed &ith search for bodies and clear the rubble$ It &as only a &eek later

that I &as able to sto# and realise that I had lost everythin my family relied on$


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#eo#le ust to #ay off the loan on my old boat, he said$

9e says that (0 years or even a hundred years could #ass but time certainly &ill not

heal the damae the tsunami has done to his family$

= Sukant, 4', .isherman, %rincomalee

%en years ao = Sukant hel#lessly &atched as his t&o friends and &orkmates

#erished in the deadly tsunami$

I &as hiher u# on the tree and so the &ater did not catch me$ I &as u# there for a

fe& hours until I &as sure the &aves had sto##ed, he said$

Sukant says that he &ants to o out to sea &ith the other fishermen to honour his

friends$

e have #lanned a viil out in the ocean for those &ho lost their lives in tsunami$ %his

&ill be the first time I &ill venture out so far, but I must do this for my friends$

/muthan >ahaven, 62, 9indu #riest, %rincomalee


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I &as out in the arden &hen I heard yellin and shoutin$ I looked do&n and so this

terrible flood &ashin in from the sea and throuh the villaeA, he said$

>ahaven rushed do&n the hill to ather as many #eo#le as he could &ho had been

runnin a&ay$

%hey &ere runnin in all directions and I kne& that they &ould be safe u# on the hill in

the =ovil$ +ver ("0 #eo#le sheltered at the =ovil$ y the end of the day many &eresearchin for loved ones, he said$

I no& &ant to invite all those &ho had been affected back and hold a remembrance

event for the thousands of souls this country lost on that day$

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Tsunami Horror Haunts Sri Lanka Survivors