TCC - Houston Area

Tsunami Survivors

A first-hand account written on New Year’s Eve by TCC Houston area coordinators Janet and Ken McAfee

E-mail: janet_mcafee@hotmail.com

We have felt this tsunami – we have looked into the people’s eyes, shaken their hands, smiled with them, cried with them and hugged them. We hope we can put a personal feel into this tragedy and make it better for everyone. PLEASE PRAY FOR SRI LANKA and all the others. Ken and I have been to most of the Asian islands and they are beautiful. We never want the world to forget these people who now, more than ever, need us. We will go back to Sri Lanka one day.

IT IS NEW YEARS EVE HERE in Colombo, Sri Lanka. All celebrations are cancelled throughout Asia and especially here as Sri Lanka is in a state of emergency and mourning. We are on the beach right now watching the sunset - there are 7 warships off the coast. Military are everywhere. White ribbons are everywhere. White Flags are everywhere. We will attend the candlelight ceremony here in remembrance of those who lost their lives.

Please pray for the people of this region. They are GOOD PEOPLE and always SMILING and ready to help. "Ayubowan" (may you be blessed with a long life) is their gentle gesture of welcome and respect. They are of diverse races and faiths. The majority are Sinhalese who are Buddhists, while among the minorities the Tamils, mainly Hindus are the largest, followed by Moors who follow Islam and some Christians. There is NO water, food or basic essentials. If you can donate anything for these humble people of Sri Lanka; please do it. They make $1 per day so are poor anyway and now they can never recover from this. To make it worst, so many children have lost parents - many thousands need to be adopted. There was little "hope" for many in this country as Sri Lanka is one of the poorest countries in the world. Most people live a couple of families to a hut/home and education is minimum, if any. They wear sarongs and are barefoot (maybe flip-flops) if they have money to spare. They live off the land. The island's economy has traditionally been based on agriculture with rice, coconut, rubber and tea the base of the economy. Spices (such as cinnamon, cardamom, cloves, nutmeg and pepper) have been age old exports, as are gems and even peacocks and elephants.

Sri Lanka describes itself as "A LAND LIKE NO OTHER". It is a beautiful island with breathtaking diversity of scenery that will capture your heart and soul like few destinations can. What struck us most was the amazing diversity of scenery - It possible to pass brilliant green paddy fields, sun-bronzed beaches, ruined cities, small lively villages, near desert regions, sanctuaries for wildlife in tropical jungles and hill country tea plantations literally within hours of each other. The main road around the coast is only 2 lanes and the infrastructure inland is rough. The roads are filled with trucks, bikes, motorcycles, tuk-tuks, rickshaws, dogs, people, cows, elephants - it's just a lively island and driving is chaotic.

Christmas Night was perfect here in Bentota (about 2 hours drive south of Colombo) and one of the most devastated sites - CNN reported only 39 survivors. We were sitting on the beach with the locals and I was taking photos as they were telling me "LIFE's a PARTY" and that this is paradise. We sat on the beach and watched the sunset - I have photos of the last sunset before hell. I am sure that the people in my photos are finished - everything is finished now. The train came by several times and it was over-full with people hanging out the doors; all smiling and waving and excited to be traveling somewhere. After the sunset, Ken and I went and had Christmas Dinner and listened to the Sri Lankans sing Christmas Carols by the Christmas tree, etc. There was the most beautiful full moon which also marked a holiday for the Buddhists on Dec 26. We called our families and couldn't believe they were having a "white" Christmas back here in Texas.

The next morning, Dec 26, was perfect with sunshine. We woke up early and had some tea and decided to leave early to drive down to Hikkaduwa and then Galle. That saved us b/c we had checked out – other tourists were asleep and died and the ones on the beach already had their passports, airline tickets and money in the hotel safety security boxes which were washed out to sea. I just think it’s a miracle that it didn’t happen during the night in the dark – there would have been NO survivors. We also survived because we had a car – a silver baby Mazda car. Most tourists don’t drive because Sri Lankans drive on the left and the steering wheel is on the right plus the main road is only two lanes and very crowded and chaotic. Most backpackers/surfers take the bus & train while other tourists take tour buses/vans or hire drivers. We like freedom and rented the ‘last’ car from the rental agency – our car was the only one to survive and is now all of his fleet! It was about 9:30am and I asked Ken to stop up the street to buy some postcards from the women vendors. The sea was calm but we all saw the water starting to rise and everyone went down by the beach and river out of curiosity to see what was happening. Then within minutes as we were standing there watching, a young teenager ran over to Ken and said "RUN, the SEA IS COMING". Everyone starting running and saying "RUN, THE SEA IS COMING". Within 20 seconds, the 1st wave hit. People were initially panicky, scared. The first wave washed out part of the road, some houses, knocked down coconut trees and flooded the hotels and houses on the beach with 3 to 4 feet of water. Rumors spread - but the 1st wave only confused those whom (like us) had never seen the sea do this. They were as totally unprepared as we were for what the next wave would bring. A GIANT wave somewhere at around 75 feet tall was coming. FEAR came as we watched MILLIONS OF GALLONS OF WATER starting to flow. In only a few seconds, the entire coast would be destroyed - flattened! Everything just happened in minutes - count down 15 minutes (900 seconds) at the most - that was the time between the first and second waves - and that's not very long to absorb what can happen. The water 'rose' and nobody really "saw" the wave coming until it was right on top of them and by then, there was no place to run to or no way to outrun the speed of the roaring water - it is estimated that the waves were 400-500 kilometers per hour. Ken screamed to me "Janet, this is not natural. GET in the CAR and let's go!!!!!". We started to drive the road but within a kilometer or less, it was totally blocked so we had to turn around. We saw all the panic and the water was getting high really fast - we saw it coming. We turned the first road up the right toward the hills. As we turned, the mist was coming on the car and I screamed to Ken to "GO" and then it was all over. There were people on rooftops, people clinging to coconut trees, cars (even the railway cars) being swept away. There were thousands of tourists separated from their husbands, wives and children. Some tourists were still asleep in their hotel when the wave came. We 'saw' it but 'still' didn’t realize the carnage and catastrophe of everything. We had no clue that this deadly tidal wave had just washed away so much of life.

We had a radio in the car but of course there were no English programs. We drove inland and parallel to the coast road down to Galle (where it was total disaster). There was water everywhere, cars and houses and bodies and animals in the street - people were just quiet - in shock and walking dazed. Still, nobody knew that it was such a disaster b/c there was no communication on any of the island villages. We were actually now in shock because we looked at our map and realized that Bentota and now Galle were washed away - what was happening?!?! We drove back toward the hills and the people followed behind us, walking, driving, and trying to get rides. Everyone was scared and running up the hills to get away from the coast. Nobody knew how many more waves were to come and what was causing them. There were NO gas stations open b/c it was Sunday. There were no hotels inland but just some scarce and modest guesthouses. We saw a guesthouse inland (about 10 kilometers) with a huge fence around it and I stood on the car yelling over the walls to the man who happened to be the owner. He opened the guesthouse up (we were his first customers) and said he had seen on local TV and started to tell us what happened. Then a Swiss couple who had been in Hikkaduwa came and told us their story there. We now knew the island was in chaos. The next morning, we knew we had to get petrol to get inland. People had started lining up in the night and the line was miles long and nobody was allowed to get gas except the police and emergency crews. I asked the police to help and they limited us to 10 liters (3 gallons). We then started to make our journey inland. We never really knew the impact until we arrived in Colombo yesterday (on Dec 30) and saw CNN.

We did not meet many survivors. There are still thousands missing. B/C of the sun, it is now impossible to identify the bodies so ALL BODIES are being moved into a mass grave - so many foreigners will never know where their families are. Entire towns have disappeared - sort of like an atomic bomb just hit...there as so many dead bodies everywhere and now of course everyone is worried about disease - they are sooooooo poor and there is nothing to eat and drink and there are no medical supplies. The roads to the coast have been destroyed and the there in no infrastructure in the middle of the country. Anything will set off a panic - yesterday the Indian gov't said ANOTHER wave is coming and the country went wild. Machine guns and soldiers are guarding the beaches and coastline.

There are currently 4000 missing, 30,000 dead just here on this baby island. They are estimating over 200,000 dead in the entire Asian region but I think that is a low number - nobody will ever know for sure. There is mass exodus from Asian islands by the tourists. Local Survivors are frantic and everyone is scared and in shock. Some areas are still under water. This country needs help. People are begging for water and food. They are dazed and confused. There is rubble everywhere. There are over 5 million displaced people here in Sri Lanka. ALL SHOCK AND TRAUMA. The situation is dire here. There is such a high risk of epidemic and experts warn major epidemics could be as deadly as the tidal wave. On the coast there is no petrol - the lines for petrol inland run for hours and only police and emergency vehicles get gas first - everyone is limited to a few liters if there is any left.

The papers report that a scientist said the earthquake had actually thrown the whole earth out of rotation. Everyone we see here is sad and says "It is God". Everyone hugs each other and consoles each other. I cannot watch CNN anymore - it is just too sad and true. I don't think pictures will ever capture this event. I'm not sure anyone will ever forget this event. I brought back a plastic bag of beach sand - to always remind me how precious life is and how fast it can vanish - I will send some of the sand to the families of the dead if they want it too.

One thing I know that nobody else knows……everyone in Sri Lanka (and I imagine all of Southeast Asia) looked and said GOD. Buddhists, Christians, Muslims and Hindus all prayed after the tsunami. Everyone looked at ‘their’ GOD for peace. It was the first time that Muslim men would walk up to me, and I was wearing my cross, and they would say “GOD BLESS YOU”, and I thought, isn’t this sad, that a disaster has to happen for us to have peace?! I feel helpless but I also feel so blessed. But I still feel part numb. I feel sad b/c I will come back to a home, a life, a family, a job, material possessions…..it doesn’t seem fair that they have lost everything. They are so poor anyway so why do disasters hit the poorest? But they are such good people and still smiling. BY ACCIDENT, I picked up a copy of a book called “LOVING and DYING” by Visuddhacara on Christmas. I am Christian but want to quote some of what this monk said “All of us must die. There is no escape. And if we cannot relate to death now, how can we relate to it when we are lying on our deathbed, about to breathe our last? Might we not be overcome with fear and confusion then?” “One day when I die, as I must, I’d like to die with a smile on my lips. I’d like to go peacefully, to greet death like a friend, to be able to say quiet cheerfully “Hello Death, goodbye Life.”

What I’ve now learned about the tsunami is: the undersea earthquake was caused by the Indian Ocean floor being pushed under the Eurasian continent along a fault line that measured 9.0 on the Richter scale. As the sea floor moved, this pushed an entire water column up and down creating tsunami waves on the surface. Minutes after the earthquake had struck, the initial tsunami split in two. One tsunami, known as the distant tsunami, traveled out to the deep ocean and the other, known as the local tsunami traveled toward to the nearest coast. In deep water, the distance between the crests of the waves was more than 300 miles and 10 meters from crest to trough. Over deep water the waves traveled at speeds of 500mph. As the waves moved into shallower water, friction of the seafloor slowed the wave down but increased the height of the wave to more than 30 feet. Tsunamis devastate shorelines b/c shallow water slows them and increases its height. The force of this energy, which researchers call the run-up, comes crashing down on the coast. One of the paper’s headlines was “Planet vibrated, its rotation was disturbed.” Another scientist was quoted as saying “This will happen again in the next several million years”.

TIPS FOR TRAVELERS - 1) My family has locks of our hair and our finger prints for DNA matching - just in case for whatever happens. 2) We never thought about this but we have now given my family names of people to help them search for us (Not all family members or friends are as well traveled as we are and they have no clue where to start when they think you are missing!). 3) I have also now given my family names of people to be notified in case of an accident or our death b/c they did not know who to call. 4) SOMEONE should have an itinerary (even if you 'wing it' as we so often do). We only met 3 survivors and one of them was a Taiwanese woman who's family had no clue she was in Sri Lanka - good b/c they did not worry but they would have also never searched for her in Sri Lanka either had she never returned home. 5). We always keep our passport copy on our possession but that would have been washed out to sea or ripped off our bodies - now we are having military ID tags made with our name, passport, emergency information, etc. on it and will never leave home without them around our necks. 6) We never had a 'meeting' place arranged in case we were separated by natural disaster or terrorist attack. Most of the hotels were washed away so we would have never even known where to reconnect with each other - now our plan is to meet at the nearest USA Embassy or if that's bombed or ruined, then the airport.

Life is a party (Bentota Beach)