Tsunami - Effect to Sri Lanka 2004

Tsunami - How I saw it when I was 14 years old

Boxing day of 2004, 26th of December, Uduvap full moon poya day, was considered as one of the darkest day in Sri Lakan history, since it claimed that as one of the deadliest natural disasters ever recorded in virtue of an earthquake with magnitude of 9.1 struck beneath the Indian Ocean near Indonesian island of Sumatra.

By virtue of the complex slip on the Oceanic portion of the Indian Plate slides under Sumatra, beneath the part of the Eurasian Plate, where the tectonic plates in the area had been pushing and building pressure for thousand years, an enormous amount of overlying sea water pushed up into a tsunami wave that is a series of harbour waves whence the first wave may not be the most dangerous but the "wave-train"  comes as surges due to the repeated retreat and advancement in ocean, in every direction from the epicenter. It said that the energy the earthquake and tsunami dissipated had the energy of 23,000 Hiroshima type atomic bombs.

After a lag of several hours from the earthquake, as it hit Sri Lanka, most of the people were helpless as a kitten up a tree since the unawareness of tsunami and how the reactions ought to be taken. Though the people were unaware about the upcoming disaster at the moment, many people claimed that they saw animals fleeing for high grounds especially in Yala National Park, before the tsunami arrived and it was reported that very few animal bodies were found afterward.

In accordance with  Sri Lankan authorities, it reported 30,196 confirmed deaths, 21,411 injured people and one and half million of people were displaced from their home. Since the South and East coasts were the worst hit, it claimed many of the dead were adults and elderly, but the number of death had been continued to rise as the threat of catastrophically infectious diseases like cholera, chlamydia, diarrhea and measles were dispersed among people. It claimed that in  Ampara District and Galle District, 5000 and 4000 people died respectively. In the other hand holiday train which was named "Queen of the Sea", was disastrously struck near Telwatta as it travelled between Colombo and Galle carrying around 1,700 passengers on board.

Apart from the damages happened to the lives of people, the life style of people were upside down with the unexpected unbelievable disaster. As an instance, 259 km2 of paddy lands were destroyed in the Northern, Eastern, Southern and Western coastal belts, by demolishing the agricultural sector of country. Aftermath most of he paddy lands became barrens since the extensive salinization  and depositing rubbish affected to the paddy cultivation. As the canals, drains were blocked, underground sources of water such as  wells were salinated, that led it to have issues in drinking water.

Aftermath of the disaster most of the countries, Non Government Organizations and various volunteer service organizations gave their hand to Sri Lankans to uplift and recover the lifestyle of Sri Lankans.

Since then various steps have been taken in order to minimize the affect of natural disaster like tsunami. At that day, had the people been aware about the tsunami, we would have saved more lives of people and souls. Since the unawareness cost it as deadliest, awareness programmes ought to be conducted to acknowledge the people. It was reported that some people could have saved their lives, if they had known how to swim. Therefore being aware in swimming as a life saviour, would be helpful to elude from the natural disasters. In the other hand, it is necessary to continue and establish warning systems from earthquake experts. The development and funding in the region for the early warning system is a necessary precaution to be taken to mitigate the catastrophes like tsunami. 

Today after 11 years, many of the communities have recovered as Phoenix recovering from its ash, though painful harsh memories remain in hearts and souls. In remembrance of the thousands of victims all over the country memorials are held by remembering the loss of dear and near ones.