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| Saturday, 01 January 2005 |
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by Anjana Gamage Foreigners who survived Sunday's cataclysmic tsunami waves spoke of their harrowing experience while vowing to return to Sri Lanka. They were unanimous in praising the Lankan people for helping them despite their own suffering. This reporter spoke to a number of foreigners camped at the BMICH, awaiting travel arrangements. Most had lost all of their possessions and some had only the clothes they were wearing. Yet, they all wanted to put the nightmare behind them and come to Sri Lanka again. "This was my first visit to Sri Lanka but certainly not the last. We hope to come back to Sri Lanka," said Sue Medcalf from the U.K, sitting on the steps of entrance to the new Sirimavo Bandaranaike Memorial Convention Centre, which has been turned into a makeshift shelter for hundreds of foreigners trapped by the tsunami while holidaying in the Southern coastal area in Sri Lanka. Most foreigners were sprawled on mattresses talking to each other and playing cards at the main hall of the BMICH. Explaining her agonising ordeal, Medcalf said: "Twenty of us came to celebrate Christmas in Sri Lanka. We were at the Hikkaduwa Beach Hotel. On that fateful day we were at a diving centre in Hikkaduwa run by a Sri Lankan who is a personal friend of ours. "When the waves came in, I was in the rest room and was trapped in the water. At that time, I could not search for my other partners and was not aware what was happening. My son was also in the diving centre. Many of our diving friends in the group were trapped in the waves. I was snatched by the waves for sometime and somehow I managed to escape by stepping to a high building near by. Later we found our group members at a temple near by. The monk at the temple helped us a lot". Pointing a finger towards her son and her friend's daughter, she said: "They are stars and lucky enough to escape such a disaster without any injury". While explaining step by step the dramatic situation on December 26, tears poured down her eyes. Her tears spoke thousands of words for Sri Lankan hospitality. "We will never forget the typical Sri Lankan hospitality provided to us by the local people at such a time of peril. Especially our local diving friend in Hikkaduwa, looked after us very well even after losing all of his diving equipment and diving centre which provides his 'livelihood'. Such treatment was too much for us at such a terrific moment," she said with tears. John Gudgeon of UK described the "tidal terror waves experience". "We were at the Diving Centre of Hikkaduwa Beach Hotel. The massive waves took me through a passage of the hotel. I had several injuries mainly due to knocking myself against hard furniture such as tables, wardrobes and chairs and also from broken glasses. The water level was rising in depth but I managed to breathe. However I was able save my-self after running to a nearby street. We would have been lost without the assistance of the Sri Lankan people. Today, we are alive because of them. Sri Lanka is such a beautiful country. This was a natural disaster. We will come back to Sri Lanka," he said. Chriztine Convey, seated in a wheelchair with a fracture in her leg was helped by her husband Alf Engelkump. "We were on the beach and ordered our breakfast when water came in. Each wave was much higher than the other. I started running and my husband was little bit slower than me. But water came all the way and trapped me. The water was dirty and black. Then huge waves grabbed me into a building and I was pushed out of a window. I ended up in a jungle under the debris and leeches were all over my body," she said. "I was in Sri Lanka last year and was in the same room in Unawatuna where I got caught to the tsunami waves on Sunday," said Leslie Raymonp Hihh, a gardener in UK. Talking to me in the corridors of BMICH, he wanted this reporter to have a look at his clothes and said: "I am wearing your people's borrowed clothes. The pair of shorts, a T-shirt and even this pair of rubber slippers and a big water bottle were provided to me by your people". "I was sleeping on my bed when water came in. "The room door was broken due to the heavy waves and I was drowning. I had several knocks - I was hit by a surfboard and other furniture in the room. Water waves grabbed me out and I had a big knock on a tree as well. He had been treated at the Galle Hospital for his fractures too. "While I was treated at the hospital, I realised that my case was not something great when comparing with others. It was a pitiful state at the hospital and I feel very sorry for the Sri Lankan people," he said. The massive tidal waves had taken away his passport and all other important documents. More than 100 foreigners died in the disaster and 64 are still missing according to the Sri Lanka Tourist Board. |
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