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An Australian amidst post-tsunami havoc in the South

DISASTER: Untold stories of the people in the South affected by the tsunami are recorded and narrated by an Australian woman, Carrie Lock, under the title Nothing in the World, which moves you. This is a Vijitha Yapa Publication. The book is also dubbed: A journey of the spirit in tsunami-affected southern Sri Lanka.

I wish that somebody writes about those affected by this disaster in the East and North of the country.

The book has 188 pages with four pages devoted to the small size photographs of people who told her their experiences. Apart from maps of Matara town and the District, a note on The Asian tsunami and an introduction, the book is divided into two parts. The first has five chapters and the second six chapters.

The last chapter also includes the profile of the people and a glossary of terms. The glossary is particularly useful to foreigners as it details family relations, words with religious significance and words related to Australia.

Since the writer is from down under, some of the words used in that country are useful to us Lankans. Here are a few:

Bush - The more rural and isolated areas of Australia, Heading out bush - Approaching a rural isolated area, Henry Lawson - Famous Australian bush poet (1867-1922), Knocked off - Finished, e.g. finished work Outback - The remote and often desolate regions in Australia.

Purpose of writing

Some information about the author helps to understand the purpose of writing this book.

Carrie Lock (38), a graduate, had worked in the areas of Aboriginal education, community relations and process improvement. She explores Nature and Spirituality and enjoys long walk. She was an aid worker in southern Lanka in 2006.

Statistics

We all know what the statistics are. Carrie retells that "The final toll of dead and missing in Lanka was almost 49,000 people. About 1000 children were let orphaned and over 3000 children lost one parent. More than 500,000 people were made homeless and it is thought that around 400,000 people lost their livelihoods. Vast tracks of coast line were devastated."

Why did the author write this book? Carrie Lock explains:

"This book covers the thee-month period from April through to June 2006, and presents the stories of the people I met in Matara during that time. As I came to know, intimately, the stories of some of those who lived through the tsunami, I indeed felt questions rise within me.

Namely and simply," How did people cope? What was the source of people's strength?"

She adds modestly, "I am not a journalist, researcher or writer by profession. I am simply one person who came to this place from elsewhere, who had questions, and who was blessed to meet some of the most incredible people."

For charity

We note that the personal proceeds from this book would be given to charitable causes in Lanka.

I shall let the author speak about what she is narrating for the benefit of local and foreign readers how South Lanka was affected by the tsunami of December 26, 004: "Among the people I met was a Buddhist monk who described the day when the sea roared forth and swept 53 of his people to their deaths; and a released prisoner whose first response, when the prison walls collapsed, was not to flee but to carry the injured to safety...

"I encountered a family who saved a woman in a gutter, only to learn that she was the mother of a world famous cricket player... And I learnt the story of an amazing statue which, for the third time, returned from the sea to her people of Matara...

As Carrie Lock rightly says, after reading this book of accounts of the experiences of survivors of the tragedy.

Messages

"These stories are inspirational and they contain messages that need to be shared. You are about to meet some remarkable people who will share with you their journeys and doing so; take you on a journey of your own, a journey of the spirit."

Carrie Lock writes in a manner that what she writes is simply absorbed by the reader as it does not have flourishes nor a pedantic style. Sentiments are expressed in a natural manner. It's a good book.

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