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| Friday, 4 February 2005 |
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How the sea took its toll Text and Picture by Christie Fernando,Chilaw special correspondent (Reporting after a fact-finding tour of the South on January 15 in the aftermath of tidal waves.) The sea had receded and caved in. This was witnessed by sightseers on the coastal belt on that fateful day December 26 when tidal waves ferociously hit the coastline - and some had descended to the shoreline without discerning any apparent danger looming ahead and it was nothing but innocent fun and frolic for them.
The sightseers who escaped said, they had seen the gleaming, blue rocks and crevices - the petite golden pebbles and the myriad fishes underneath the sea! It was such an entrancing spectacle, they said. And it was sheer ill luck that only one or two scampered away, through foreboding anxiety and fright. For others, though, who lagged behind - scarily, it was a wee bit too late - and their fate was perpetually sealed - they were gone - and never to come back alive. And those who stayed in the periphery of the sea too had perished ominously in the deep ocean. An eyewitness said that, a tourist in the South escaped miraculously because the moment he descended the precipitate, impetuous beach-front, the sea was caving in and sensed danger and ran away from the unusual bizarre spectre. Others, who stayed on, were taken in as victims with the mounting sea waves. Eyewitnesses told the writer that men in their excitement had sped in their motor bikes to witness the turbulent sea howling and receding - the sufferers precariously rushed towards the rising sea and tidal waves. No sooner the roaring sea was lashing its tumultuous waves of unimaginable size and dimension of over thirty - forty metres high. What then happened is now etched in history replete with ghastly stories of horror and destruction. The ferocious sea had mercilessly engulfed them. The sea was most unkind and outrageous to say the least, witnesses said. The ocean was never so mean and heartless. It was cruel and vindictive. As for us, living near the seaside in Chilaw, we had witnessed high waves, which receded after a while - but never so brutal and vicious to sightseers like the past episode of tidal waves that killed thousands. We know the oft repeated lines of the poem... "Blow, blow, thou winter wind. Thou art not so unkind as man's ingratitude!" But that's another story reflected in a different perspective, which is irrelevant to the ordeal of tidal wave victims. The sea took a heavy toll of human lives. Some individuals had perceived potent danger ahead and run for their lives in earnest - some were perched on trees, or had held on to whatever they could grope for or hold on to some climbed tall and soaring buildings. An eyewitness said the chattels in an attractively built house were completely washed away by the horrid sea. But providentially, the house was intact. In another case, in a house, the mother and daughter were taken away by the waves. Others escaped. A sister saved her little brother along with her. A mother had died clasping her two kids. Even the clothes of the victims were ruthlessly wrested away by the sea. That's why some were found naked or scantily clad when they were rescued. Residents in the grief-stricken ares related ghastly tales that shocked and upset me. Trauma and distress were wrought on their faces. A victim said she had only her dress to call her own. All other earthly belonging had perished. Their bereavement was the loss of their children - their dear ones - and their kith and kin. Cries of wailing and howling echoing in the air could still be faintly heard in the ravaged areas, people said. |
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