‘It’s the most painful memory I have ever had in life. People despite their race, colour, and gender were lying dead and I can still remember the screams of those who survived and had lost family members. No one in this world should experience this kind of disaster in real life.’ …
This man, who is older than I, has tears in his eyes and avoids my gaze. As a Wildlife Officer at Yala, he witnessed the brutality of the disaster that occurred in 2004. His voice and tears revealed the intensity of the trauma he experienced. While listening to the pain in his soul, I prompted him to recall his memories.
This year marks the 20th anniversary of the catastrophic tsunami that struck Sri Lanka that took countless lives. Although the memories of this tragedy are deeply painful and embedded, the younger generation of our country may not have a clear understanding of the intensity of the grief attached to the disaster. Thousands of individuals living near the ocean were engulfed by the waves and perished in their homes, regardless of race, religion, or caste. However, some individuals have forgotten this tragic past that left them orphaned.
As an immediate after-effect of the disaster, several people committed suicide without being able to bear the loss of their loved ones around the Kirinda area. Many cases were reported from areas like Hambantota and Kirinda where some people tried to hang themselves three months after the tsunami and others went without eating and drinking grieving for the dead. Today, some victims have forgotten the disaster to the extent that they do not even remember their families. This article includes the real-life experiences of the senior, regional journalist K.D. Dewpriya, B.V.R. Jayaratne, Assistant Director of Wildlife and several other wildlife officers who worked in Yala National Park during the time of the disaster.
Similar to this year, the Christmas holiday 2004 also fell a day before Uduvap Full Moon Poya Day. Due to the holiday, the Yala Safari Hotel was packed with both local and foreign tourists. Most of them were enjoying the beautiful ocean view of Pattanangala beach. Similarly, the sacred Kataragama Dewalaya was also filled with devotees due to the extended holiday. Unfortunately, some people got trapped in the massive waves and lost their lives while leaving for their hometowns. On the morning of December 26, while most foreigners were still asleep from partying all night, a Japanese family celebrated a child’s birthday on the beach with a cake. Unlike previous Christmas holidays, Yala National Park was bustling with both local and foreign tourists.
Found footage
On December 26, around 6:45 am, an unusual phenomenon occurred in the sea. A tourist from Belgium captured this amazing event using his camera. Firstly, a herd of elephants near Yala Pattanagala abruptly started running. Meanwhile, an elephant in the water screamed as if it had been attacked. Monitor lizards are typically ground dwellers, but the Belgian tourist also witnessed numerous monitor lizards running up tall trees that day.
The Pattanagala beach offered breathtaking views, but it was also the site of a tragic event. The Belgian tourist captured a photo of a huge crab that had rushed from the sea to the land, just before he lost his life in the tsunami. The memory card from the camera was found and examined, revealing that this photo was the last one he took while he was still alive.
Although his body was never found, someone found his camera and sold it. K.D. Dewapriya obtained the memory card containing the photos. After cleaning it and printing the relevant pictures, he released the images to the media.
The tourist’s photographs showed that the animals in the area seemed to have sensed the impending disaster in the hours leading up to the tsunami. Even though the waves came within a kilometre of the Yala National Park, no animal carcasses were found. Within a mere 15 minutes, Yala National Park was completely transformed, with trees and vines rearranged beyond recognition. It was like a devil’s dance floor.
Seven Japanese nationals who were at Pattanagala beach were swept by the strong waves and killed. A jeep belonging to the former Deputy Minister of Defence, Anuruddha Ratwatte, was found on the beach with serious damage.
The Yala Safari Hotel, which was located near the Yala Forest Park, was also destroyed beyond recognition. Remains of luxury cars could be seen on the trees everywhere. The bodies of 37 foreigners were lying all over the place. An army platoon was carrying the bodies from one place to another, and no one could hear a whimper.
The naval base near the coast of Tissamaharama Kirinde was also destroyed and several vehicles in the base were swept away by waves for about four kilometres. Bodies were brought to the Tissamaharama District Hospital by tractors, and among them there were lots of foreigners.
“A family who had come from Minuwangoda had been destroyed and only the father survived. He screamed loudly and begged to find his daughter and wife. Later in a few months he committed suicide,” Dewapriya who witnessed this catastrophe said. He outlined how several foreigners were also dead and Tissamaharma hospital was filled with their corpses. Amidst the chaos and devastation, Dewapriya recounted the heartbreaking story of a young Englishman named Harry who had travelled to the Yala Safari Hotel for his honeymoon with his wife. Harry’s wife was among the many foreigners who lost their lives, and he spent over two agonising days waiting for news of her fate. As Dewapriya observed, it was a deeply painful moment to witness amidst the screams and frantic searches for missing loved ones.
K.D. Dewapriya further said; “The city of Hambantota looked like a ruin, resembling the city of ‘Wishala’ during Buddha’s time in India. The telephone booths in the city were smashed into tiny pieces, and even the locations of the shops were unidentifiable. It was heartbreaking to witness the family members of a group of young women who had arrived to work at the newly opened Food City in Hambantota on the 26th.
All places in the city of Hambantota, where Muslims and Sinhalese lived together, had been turned into raw graveyards. The army soldiers painstakingly collected the dead bodies one by one from the debris. The bodies were piled up. The stench darkened the whole province, and the dead bodies were disfigured so that it was impossible to find out whether they were Muslims, Sinhalese or Tamils, and the tsunami taught people a terrible lesson. Most of the tourists at the Yala Safari Hotel died. Nearly 200 tourists, including the employees of this hotel, died in the tsunami”.
Painful memory
B.V.R. Jayaratne, Assistant Director of Wildlife, was in charge of the Yala Forest Park in 2004 when the tsunami hit. This is what he recalled;
“It’s the most painful memory I have ever had in life. People despite their race, colour, and gender were lying dead like animals and I can still remember the screams of those who survived and had lost family members. No one in this world should experience this kind of disaster in real life”.
On December 26, 2004, many visitors came to Yala Forest Park, including several dignitaries who stayed in tourist bungalows. While I was exploring the Yala area, I heard the sound of honking coming from some jeeps. However, honking is prohibited in Yala Park, so I asked around and some people told me that they were heading far from the beach because of a tsunami. I found this hard to believe because the route towards Pattanangala was blocked by water. This experience made me believe in God.
I noticed some tourists who were staying at our tourist bungalow in Pattanagala drowning in the water. As time passed, the seawater started to rise carrying with it large trees and vines. Suddenly, I saw the people on the beach running away as the sea started to recede. It was an unfamiliar experience for me.
The army came with the forest officials. As soon as the water receded, we went towards Pattanagala, where people were dead and hanging on the trees like a field where the devil had danced. One of the Japanese women was hanging from a tree. We rescued her and put her in the vehicle. The Japanese woman’s husband and son had died, and the bodies had been lost. She visited Sri Lanka for three years and searched for her husband’s bones.
I was so depressed that I couldn’t think of what to do. The bodies that were seen were collected as soon as possible. Some corpses were very hot, like boiled with water. The dead bodies of two former employees of the Pattanagala Wildlife Tourist Bungalow were found. We found more than 34 bodies, while nine jeeps carrying tourists were floating at sea.
We went to see the people at the Yala Safari Hotel. A child of a group of Indian tourists was crying on a tree. A young army man rescued this child and sent him to hospital. The child’s mother had been lost. Later, the father, who survived, came for the child. Meanwhile, we saw some people collecting things like cameras and laptops of tourists pretending as if they were looking for dead bodies. Later, as much as we could, the belongings of the dead tourists were collected together with the army and handed over to the court.
There was no one to be seen at the Yala Safari Hotel. Millionaire business people from abroad were dead and lying on piles of mud. Two hours after the incident, the dead bodies turned black. The main chef and the manager of Yala Safari Hotel was dead. After two days, we met another eight-year-old boy. That child also died in a few months. We even had to give food to those who were stranded that day. There was plenty of food. As calamities occurred everywhere in the country, the victims did not get the necessary facilities until several days later,” Jayaratne recalled.
As if a dam had burst open
According to G.L. Kularatne, an employee of the Department of Wildlife who was responsible for the Yala Butow Bungalow, he had an experience while he staying at the new Butowutho bungalow along with the former Deputy Minister of Defence Anuruddha Ratwatte. This is how he described his experience. “On that morning, I accompanied the minister to see the animals and returned to the bungalow at around 9:15 am for breakfast.
As we arrived, we were shocked to see a large amount of water flooding the bungalow yard, as if a dam had burst open. To our surprise, we also found sea fish scattered everywhere, and we were clueless about what had happened. We went to rescue the victims when we thought the sea had landed where we were. Minister Anuruddha Ratwatte joined us, and his jeep parked at Pattanagala Tourist Hotel was destroyed”.
Everywhere in the forest around Pattanagala, trees had fallen, and people had died as well as fish. Kularatne said that it was on that day that a large number of people were seen dead together. About 30 Muslim and Sinhalese houses near the Tissamaharama Kirinda shrine and the navy base were destroyed by the tsunami.
N.P. Chaminda, a young man who was seriously injured by the tsunami recalled his memories as follows: “That day, I was on the beach holding the three-wheeler and the sea suddenly washed up on the shore. We didn’t know what it was. I also checked and the second time I saw a massive wave coming up to a height of about 40 feet. When I tried to run, the tsunami waves got ahead of me, and I ran away. I barely saved my life by hanging from a tree, but the injuries did not heal for a year. My three-wheeler was also destroyed”.
After the tsunami devastation, the environment has gradually regained its natural balance. President Chandrika Kumaratunga urged the authorities to stop constructing houses within a kilometre of the beach. Despite this directive, numerous houses and hotels sprung up, encroaching on beachfront areas, often by individuals untouched by the tsunami and unfamiliar with coastal living.
Shockingly, the aid meant for the genuinely displaced individuals didn’t reach them as expected. Rather, a different set of people, not genuinely affected by the disaster, deceitfully claimed aid. Consequently, those truly in need of assistance remained in camps, battling mental distress caused by the catastrophic event.
The tragic tsunami took countless lives in a single day, without distinction of caste or creed. Victims, their identities lost, were laid to rest together, side by side, in a collective grave. In a heartwarming display of humanity, Buddhists extended aid to Muslim and Tamils, transcending religious barriers. The spirit of unity prevailed as people, irrespective of their backgrounds, supported each other during those trying times.
Fast forward to today and the once-displaced children are now grown-ups. Families shattered by the disaster have rebuilt their lives; some have remarried, forging new bonds. Yet, amidst this progress, the profound lesson the tsunami imparted seems forgotten.
The echoes of that catastrophic day should serve as a reminder of our shared humanity, urging us to set aside religious animosities and societal divisions. As tensions rooted in extremism loom, it’s crucial to recall the unity and compassion that once prevailed in the face of adversity.
Photo Credits – K.D. Dewapriya
