The first wave hit at 08:30 on 26th December. It wasn't a big wave where we were. It was more of a surge. Most of the time, the waves go the right distance up the beach and then go back down again. This time the wave just kept coming and flooded the gardens of the hotel to a depth of about a foot. Nobody knew what was happening. It was a “full moon day” or poya day – a holiday in Sri Lanka – so there were spring tides – but surely it didn’t flood the next door hotel every month? The water was deep enough to break the glass doors and clearly this was not a common event. The waters went down again so we assumed it was just a freak event and went for breakfast.
We’d arrived in Sri Lanka on 23rd December after an overnight flight via Dubai to Colombo and then a 4 hour drive to the Bentota Beach Hotel on the south west side of Sri Lanka. It was a tiring journey so we spent a couple of days relaxing around the extensive grounds of the hotel. We introduced ourselves to the dive shop and booked to go diving at 10:30 the next day (26th) – we never did get to go.
We had just wandered over to the dive shop at about 10:15 and we were urgently waved back to the hotel. “There’s another wave coming! Get back!” We ran back to the hotel – built on the base of an old Dutch fort, it had strong stone walls and was on higher ground than the other buildings. Over the next 2 hours or so about 7 more waves hit with seemingly increasing ferocity – only the last one flooded the main hotel swimming pool.
The hotel was built on a spit of land with the sea on one side and a river on the other. The waves seemed to come from both directions. By now, we knew this was something serious. The sea had opened up a new channel across the spit and water was pouring through it creating a whirlpool and there was debris and rubbish being washed downstream. I think there had been a hotel where the new 150 foot wide channel now existed. People were being ferried away from the hotels at the end of the spit – now an island. There were sounds of buildings collapsing. Clearly there was a lot of damage. It was only later in the day that we learned just how extensive the effects of the tsunami had been in Sri Lanka and elsewhere.
Our hotel was one of the only hotels in the area able to keep going – mainly because the kitchens and public rooms were not at ground level. The ground floor rooms were flooded to a depth of a couple of feet and many people had their belongings trashed or soaked – unfortunately mostly families with younger children but, as far as I know, there were no fatalities. Many guests – affected or not – decided to leave the hotel and head for Colombo to try to get home. We made the decision to stay. The hotel was not badly damaged. Reports on the television (BBC World and Deutsche Welle) suggested other areas were much more badly affected and it seemed unlikely we would be able to get flights home. Subsequently we learned that the people who left spent up to a week on mattresses on the floor of Conference Centres and similar buildings before they got away. Meanwhile, we continued to stay in a fully operational luxury hotel. Good decision!
The hotel had a generator and a water treatment plant and two months supply of food for full occupancy. Diesel for the generator was limited but this was not a major issue because mains power became available again reasonably quickly. The grounds were a mess but the combined efforts of the staff and remaining guests made a huge difference on the next day so it became reasonably presentable. The staff were magnificent despite many of them having lost family members and/or their homes – or worse, not knowing – they continued to provide us with top class services. Kuoni (our tour operator) held a meeting of guests to tell us what they knew and advised us to stay where we were. The staff cheered to know we were not deserting them. The guests organized a collection for the staff and their dependents which raised something over $1000. The hotel company organized a rota for the staff to give them time off and paid them all an extra week’s wages.
The main cause of death in the immediate area was a rail crash, probably caused by the waves, that killed probably more than 1000 people. Many people were travelling for the holidays and others to escape the first wave. On its own, this would have been a major disaster – but it got almost lost amongst the other devastation.
The hotel was able to offer some accommodation for locals made homeless and provided immediate food and drinking water to the local village. The fact that guests had stayed enabled them to stay open and to continue to operate. Our role as tourists was to spend a lot of money! We kept asking if there were other things we could do to help but the consistent answer was to enjoy ourselves. During the multi-faith service on the national day of mourning, a Buddhist monk said something along the lines of “don’t forget, despite the tragedy, it is still okay to have fun, to smile and to enjoy yourselves”. This actually made a lot of sense. When that sort of devastation surrounds you, it is easy to forget that you can enjoy anything.
When making purchases, bargaining is expected in Sri Lanka. Normally you start at 30% less than the asking price and agree at 15-20% less. Given the situation, we tended not to bargain anything like that hard and settled for 5-10% off – but things were so cheap even that seemed mean! Good quality (often branded) tee shirts were about $3. I had a suit made to measure for me in very good quality mohair for about $150 and the quality of the workmanship was excellent. We became more generous with our tips as well – 100 rupees (about $1) was always well received.
Over the next few days, things became a bit clearer. One of the things that happen in this sort of situation is large numbers of rumours fill the gaps where there is no information – rumours and false alarms abounded. Tales of rampaging bands of brigands armed with knives turned out to be totally unfounded! One of the TV channels noted that even where things were at their worst, people did not fight for the available food. The people of Sri Lanka were welcoming, respectful, helpful and, surprisingly cheerful in the face of such adversity. I cannot praise them enough.
On a more normal level for a trip report, we managed a 2 day trip to Kandy taking in the elephant orphanage (fascinating – especially bath time!), the Temple of the Tooth (crowded but dazzling), Kandian dancers and firewalkers (worth seeing) and a wood-carving factory (essentially a sales opportunity dressed up with a bit of culture).
The average speed of traffic is less than 30 mph – so journeys take a long time. Of course, the sea had damaged many roads but, even where undamaged, road surfaces are poor and roads are mostly very narrow. Driving is, to our standards, suicidal – especially overtaking which seems to be obligatory. There is a “horn code”. A double tap on the horn means, depending on context, “I’m about to overtake”, “I am overtaking”, “I have overtaken”, “Don’t you dare overtake me”, “I’m about to pull out”, “There is my mother-in-law” (true!). Somehow it all seems to work without many serious accidents – probably because nobody can ever drive very fast.
The main problem for the future in the area we were in, apart from the obvious need for reconstruction, is going to be the lack of tourists. The economy relies on fishing and tourism. The boats were trashed or beached and there may not be many tourists over the coming months. It is going to be a very lean time for them – but I have little doubt that the locals will survive and probably with their customary good humour.
There is so much more I could write but this is long enough already. I truly wish Sri Lanka and its people well and I hope people will feel able to go back again in the near future. It is a great destination full of wonderful people and sights. We will certainly go back again sometime in the future. The aid that has been mobilised world-wide for the region will be needed but, most of all, they will need hope for the future – and returning tourists will provide that in a way that temporary aid, however necessary, cannot.
Please continue to give generously and, more importantly, include Sri Lanka in your list of possible holiday destinations.
