Comments on: How did the tsunami affect you?

By: MythiliS

MythiliS — Wed, 20 Apr 2011 19:23:12 +0000

I was in Chennai when the 2004 tsunami struck. My mother passed away in the tsunami and my father was comatose for many hours because of the salt water. I lived five years after that in grief, not bothering to actually do something about it. An organization in Auroville, called Tsunamika, helps fisher women who have lost everything to the tsunami, re-build their lives by selling their hand made crafts. I am very grateful to the Lord to be able to be a part of this organization and help out these women, and currently the survivors of the Japan tsunami.

By: DanThomas

DanThomas — Wed, 26 May 2010 08:36:42 +0000

One of the best explanations of the Indian Ocean tsunami tragedy I have seen. Many congratulations to all on some great story telling and a big thanks to the survivors who told their stories.
I visited Sri Lanka three months after the disaster and, among other things, produced a radio report on UNICEF’s work to look after the survivors.
http://www.unicef.org/infobycountry/sri_ lanka_25941.html

By: Dinny

Dinny — Wed, 06 Jan 2010 14:08:40 +0000

Congratulations to all involved in this project. It is a deeply moving
testimony to the power of the human spirit in the face of unbelievable
and undeserved tragedy. The focus on the survivors is absolutely right
and there is a strong message of hope and recovery which teaches us
all an important lesson about life, in fact probably the most
important lesson, extending a helping hand to someone else benefits
the giver as much as the recipient.

Best wishes,

Denis McClean.

By: patrickhackl

patrickhackl — Thu, 24 Dec 2009 03:52:48 +0000

I was in the Maldives on an island in the northern atoll and remember that day, beautiful blue sky, and then out of nowhere, the noise – like a huge waterfall, people running, screaming, and finally, being taken by the wave and the horror of the collapsing buildings, blood, terrible wounds. we waited for 2 days for water, shelter, sunburned, not sure of how bad the tsunami really was until we were evacuated. it was not as bad as indonesia or sri lanka, but we were in a country that was virtually underwater – completely submerged by the tsunami.

By: mithynn

mithynn — Tue, 22 Dec 2009 18:42:51 +0000

I was in the UK studying when the tsunami. I remember waking up and seeing the footage on TV – it was like a bad dream. The region I grew up in, the places I have been to and the people I know were impacted by this event in a way many of us could have imagined. Five years on, I had the privilege to meet Dina, the courageous Indonesian lady in the video, who really is as amazing as she came across on the screen. I hope we could all learn to survive adversity and grow stronger and more positive like she has.

By: jasonsmith

jasonsmith — Tue, 22 Dec 2009 01:38:47 +0000

I clearly remember emerging news of the tragedy and its devastation while celebrating the holidays with family. At the time, I was running a community-based Red Cross chapter in California, USA. The immediate outpouring of humanitarian generosity and support from those across the US was amazing. It made the world feel smaller and more closely knit, for me, than at any time in my life.

Working as I and my team did to manage our community’s generosity, we didn’t have much time to process for ourselves the magnitude of this emergency. Now, five years later, I realize it changed the world: people grew closer, international aid became more well coordinated, and based on global generosity a few countries are more well prepared. So many lives were lost, but perhaps there has been some small “silver lining.”

By: Pazeth

Pazeth — Mon, 21 Dec 2009 04:20:13 +0000

I had a GSM business; sale and service, it’s a good business actually. After the hell arrived into my shop, I was completely broke, I can’t start to build my own business at all. One year after tsunami I tried to find a job with NGO, help the people, and build a thousand houses and returning their livelihood. I’m working with them until December 2009 and then I return to be a jobless up to now. It’s an affect of Tsunami for me and life being difficult for my family.

By: VladimirV

VladimirV — Fri, 18 Dec 2009 11:05:40 +0000

I was driving down the galle road with my family heading to Unawatuna in southern Sri Lanka for our Christmas holiday. The road hugs the coastline pretty much all the way to the southern most tip of the island but when the tsunami came in we were on a stretch that had taken us a few kilometres inland to the town of kalutara. I still think that if we had left an hour earlier the story may have been very different. As it was the police were diverting the traffic and we only found out what had really happened a few hours later. Returning to Sr lanka a few years later it was evident that a massive amount of rebuilding had taken place. The Red Cross and others have done an amzing job of getting peoples lives back on track. These films are wonderful and very poignant. Such amazing stories!

By: Thorir

Thorir — Thu, 17 Dec 2009 22:59:48 +0000

I was Director of Communication at the Icelandic Red Cross. We immediately opened a phone line for donations, already on the 26th. Money flowed in from the public in a tremendous outpouring of solidarity. About two weeks later, I was on a cargo plane in the UAE loaded with relief supplies destined for Colombo. The transport was donated by an Icelandic air company, Atlanta, and the plane was piloted by the company’s chairman, Arngrimur Johannsson. In Sri Lanka, I was impressed by Sri Lanka Red Cross grass roots volunteers. In Hambantota, they were still pulling bodies out of a lake that had been created by the tsunami. The chairman of the Hambantota branch said that 10 minutes after the waves, his volunteers were rescuing people from the flood waters. Nearby, a lady was giving psychological support to children, many of whom had lost relatives or their homes in the tsunami. She had set up shop the day after the tsunami. The devastation was evident all along the coast. The stench of death was in the air. Yet Red Cross volunteers were hard at work.
Thorir Gudmundsson
Icelandic Red Cross

By: rvonfeldt

rvonfeldt — Thu, 17 Dec 2009 20:52:22 +0000

PHUKET TSUNAMI

I along with many people were on the beaches of Phuket during the tsunami. Everything moved in slow motion until we realized what was coming.

Along with many other people, I have shared my story at a Tsunami Survivor Website. Please feel free to read the stories and understand what happened.

http://www.phukettsunami.blogspot.com

Rick Von Feldt