The Adventurist

“I ran and ran and ran; kilometres and kilometres; for more than one hour. I saw the sea go out, far past those rocks. I saw fish flapping on the sand where water once was, and I saw confused looks on people’s faces, completely unaware of the horror which was about to come and change their lives forever.”
Luckily, for me, this is not my story. I was on a three-week adventure in Sri Lanka and my final few days were spent travelling north along the south-west coast.
I remember nearly 10 years ago, December 26, 2004, turning on the TV and consuming every network was coverage of a disastrous tsunami which destroyed a large part of Thailand.
It was truly a horrific site.
Fast-forward nearly 10 years and I was on Phi Phi Island - an island of Thailand which was nearly wiped out from the tsunami, but which has now been rebuilt and is once again a tourism mecca.
Not too long after this holiday I ventured to Sri Lanka in early-2014. I have always considered myself to be an open-minded person, who keeps up-to-date with current affairs locally and internationally.
Yet, as I found myself in the surf town of Hikkaduwa, located in the Southern Province, I’ll never forget the day that my eyes were opened to just how ignorant and caught up in mainstream culture I had been.
Nearly 10 years on from the tsunami, destruction is still rife. Just north of Hikkaduwa, in the village of Telwatta, families are still living in make-shift houses as big as our backyard shed. A Tsunami Photo Museum has been set up in the remains of one woman’s house, telling the story of just how badly Sri Lanka was damaged. For me personally, this really opened my eyes. I had no idea just how badly other countries besides Thailand and Indonesia were ruined.
The museum’s curator told me that up until that fateful day in 2004, many Sri Lankans did not know what a tsunami was, and this lack of education caused so many people to lose their lives and loved ones. She told me that at first the water receded, nearly one kilometre out to sea. It was only those who ran inland who survived. Some, who ran, saw an oncoming train as a sign from Buddha, and jumped on board: the huge wave derailed the train and caused one – if not the – world’s most disastrous train accident in history. Others ran, for kilometres and kilometres, until the horror had passed.
As survivors cautiously made their way back to the coast they entered a Hell on Earth, which nearly 10 years on they are still trying to clean up.