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BACK TO LIVING
Amidst the rubble of the tsunami devastation, a shattered people are beginning to pick up the pieces. Kumudini Hettiarachchi and Renuka Sadanandan report
Four weeks ago, the tsunami took everything they had. But now along the ravaged southern coast, people are coming back to what was once their homes and salvaging the little that the sea had spared. In small pockets by the roadside are clusters of different coloured tents pitched amidst the rubble of their former homes.

Just past the Koggala industrial zone is Sinha deevara gammanaya that once housed some 180 families. Here as the first rays of dawn lightened the sky, the family of G. W. Nimal, 33, was stirring. With a plastic jug of milk tea in his hand, the 33-year-old fisherman and his baby son were preparing for another day in their new temporary home, a bright blue tent, donated by a Dutch organisation.

As a chill wind blew from the ocean just across the road, the smiling baby sans a stitch of clothing sneezed repeatedly. "He has been ill since the tsunami," says Nimal, adding that his wife is with their elder daughter, aged eight, who cannot bear to be near the sea since the ordeal of December 26. They are at their grandparents' home, further inland.

The thought uppermost in Nimal's mind is how he and others in this fishing village can resume their livelihood as soon as possible. "My father's boat was destroyed and we need help to start fishing again. At best, we go out to sea only for about four months of the year and at other times earn an income through stilt fishing," he says.

"Though we fear the sea, we have no option. 'Hithe gasma thiyanawa'. We are terrified especially at night but what choice do we have? Going out to sea is the only job we know," says Nimal.

G.W. Chandrasiri, 47, who lost his own boat in the tsunami echoes similar concerns. "Otherwise how can we survive and feed our families," he asks.

At Unawatuna, where a board proudly claims this to be one of the seven best beaches in the world, sits Dinesh, 26, surveying the wreckage of his family's diving centre. In contrast to the shimmering turquoise waters lapping at the bay, the shoreline is a picture of devastation. Still uncleared, the rubble of broken buildings, bits of furniture and tattered clothing are strewn on the beach. All that is left is in a tent given to them by Seva Lanka.

Dinesh's father, Gnane, a veteran diver and younger brother Chammi were killed when the monster waves hit the bay. "My father shouted to us to secure the boats and urged the foreign tourists to run to higher ground. He was an expert swimmer and was never afraid of the sea. He had lived by the sea for 30 years and believed no harm could come to him from it. We found his body the next day. He had a big gash on his forehead and we think he had been dashed against the building," says Dinesh, reliving the horror of that morning.

Of their diving centre, only the board remains. Now living in a tent on the beach, Dinesh and his friends contemplate what the future holds. "No one seems to be thinking about Unawatuna. The media has forgotten us,” says Asanka. "We have been working for many years and rendering a service to this community. We also act as lifeguards and have saved so many."

In the temple close by, the chief priest of Amarasingharamaya, Ven. Talpe Ariyajothi Thera at the village of Yaddehemulla feels that the tsunami was retribution for the way the coast was polluted. "We threw rubbish into the sea and the sea has thrown it back at us. The water in the wave was black... thada kalu patta. We need to protect our resources and learn to live in harmony with nature,” he says.

He and some of the devotees who had observed sil that Poya morning had gone up to the chaitya to do a bodhi pooja when they heard a tremendous roar and saw the tsunami surging towards the shore. The temple on lower ground was submerged but even after the water receded, they stayed with the injured foreigners and locals who had sought refuge there. The injured were taken to hospital after some time by a chopper.

On the outskirts of Galle in Dadella, a well-organised community of villagers displaced by the tsunami live in spacious tents on a small hillock overlooking their former homes. With their settlement being looked after by Italian aid workers, the womenfolk have just finished cooking a community meal of rice, potato curry and devilled salmon for their lunch.

D. Nishanthi, 29, in tent No. 20 has four children between the ages of 12 to seven. When they saw the wave coming that fateful day, the villagers grabbed their children and fled to higher ground. "All of us escaped. Only one mother who went back to salvage her gold lost her two children," says Nishanthi.

Visiting her tent was W. Anusha, 20, breastfeeding her three-month-old infant son while her three-year-old daughter played alongside. Nishanthi's husband works for the Galle Municipal Council while Anusha’s makes a living selling rope.

A few doors away with his hand in a clean white bandage was Wellage Amarasena, 44, a labourer at the Galle Municipal Council. He is worried about the plight of his elder daughter who will soon be a teenager, his wife having deserted the family, leaving their three children in his care. Ever since his wife went away, when their son was a baby, she has taken on the role of a little mother and no longer goes to school.

In his tent sits the wooden cabinet sans its glass front which he salvaged from the debris of their home. In it are a few precious possessions, cups and glasses that the sea had left behind. In his spare time, Amarasena armed with his fishing rod goes out to catch fish for the family even now trying to maintain a semblance of his old life before the tsunami.

Here in Dadella, where the entire community has virtually relocated onto higher ground even with their dogs, there was a sense of hope and expectation that within perhaps three to four months they could rebuild and start life anew.

From utter despair and hopelessness, these families now living in semi-privacy in their canvas tents have begun the long journey back to normalcy after the tsunami. This is but the first step and it is the bounden duty and responsibility of the authorities to ensure that they go from temporary tent to permanent home as soon as possible.

Operation cluster camps
The government's plan is to identify land and put up temporary shelters for each family in the affected areas so that the displaced could be moved out from schools, temples and churches that are now being used as camps, says the Media Co-ordinator of the Centre for National Operations (CNO).

"The plan is to set up 16 tents in a cluster and have 10-12 clusters in an area. As of last week, there were 370 camps, down from the earlier 700. This has been due to smaller camps being merged, people being encouraged to leave the camps and return to their partially damaged homes or to move into individual tents,” he explains.

"Those who have gone back to their damaged homes will receive a few basic utility items such as kitchen utensils and mattresses as well as food vouchers to enable them to start living independently,” he adds. While there has been a donor pledge for 50,000 tents, government agencies as well as NGOs too have been distributing tents.

Already one plot in Panadura, 500 metres from the clock tower junction along the Bandaragama Road has been identified and the first ‘cluster project’ set up. "It is very well-organised with all facilities such as pipe-borne water, electricity and 50 toilets. We have 100 families already relocated there," says Rear Admiral Vasantha Karandagoda under whose purview this 'Interim Housing Project' falls.

The families are also being given food vouchers with which they can get dry rations, rice, dhal etc from the co-operative stores."This arrangement will be kept in place until homes are built for these displaced families. The majority are fisherfolk, the rest labourers. The community has been allocated different tasks, looking after the cooking arrangements, the security aspects etc. Overall round the clock security for the project is being provided by the Navy,” he says.

Rear Admiral Karandagoda also explained that those who have been allocated specific duties are being paid a small allowance. There are also others who are going to work from the project itself. And in an effort to restore some normalcy, two large tents have been equipped with television sets, and sports goods are also provided to enable the children especially to enjoy some recreation.

Two more such interim projects in the Kalutara district are to be set up on temple land in Payagala and church land in Maggona, where the displaced are already being accommodated.

Tale told by Unawatune mamandi: Was it the tidal wave of 1883 or another tsunami?
It was a few days after the tsunami and A.G.H.E. Nanayakkara, 65, retired principal was at the Yatagala Raja Maha Vihara at Unawatuna where some 89 families had taken refuge from the tsunami. They were discussing in hushed tones the tragedy that had befallen their community. Nanayakkara is the elder brother of the chief priest of this purana viharaya.

Suddenly he was a child once more and in his mind's eye, he saw Unawatune Mamandi visiting his ancestral home. In a flash, he remembered the frightening tale told to the wide-eyed youngsters. That was the story Nanayakkara related to the monks and the people at the temple, a story long buried in his mind.

Going in search of just this very long-forgotten folk tale handed down from generation to generation, The Sunday Times found Nanayakkara in his home at Metarambe, in the inner heartlands of Unawatuna.

Reliving his childhood, he recalled how this man used to bring them fish in exchange for jak and very pungent betel leaf from their estate. He would also do various odd jobs like whitewashing their home. He earned his living making brooms and coir rope. Unawatune Mamandi or Kiringodagamage Kiridoris or Siyadoris (he can't exactly remember which) would tell of an incident told to him by his own grandfather.

"Muda hinduna. Passe udata awa. (First the sea receded and then it came back very high)," Mamandi had told the young Nanayakkara. It seemed Mamandi's family had lived on a property adjacent to the rock atop which is now located Unawatuna's 'Welle Devale'. On the boundary was (and still can be seen) the massive 'Vahala gala' where the villagers believed that the Devol deviyo (the controller of the Yaksha-bhootha groups) came to from Seenigama. To revere the Devol deviyo, the humble village folk used to light clay lamps under the Vahala gala.

Over the years this had become a ritual and a kapu mahattaya took up residence in the area to tend to a "nonivena pahanak' (eternal flame) there. Then came the huge wave and the lamp was extinguished while the kapu mahattaya managed to flee to safety.

After the waters subsided, the kapu mahattaya was reluctant to come back to his duties until one day he had a vivid dream. In his dream, he was asked "Ai bung, kapugewatte linde watura wath nedde? Eka wath genath paththu karanda."

That was the day the kapuwa relit the lamp. Even today, on the last day of the Kataragama festival, there is a festival at Welle Devale and devotees light lamps here. And so, according to Nanayakkara, even four generations ago, there had been a 'muda goda galeemak' at Unawatuna.

Was it the tidal wave caused by the volcanic eruption of the island of Krakatoa, west of Java on August 26, 1883 or a different tsunami?

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