Tsunami Disaster: A Wake-up Call to all Sri Lankans

"Civil society in Sri Lanka had risen to the task of disaster relief and civic action on a scale never before seen in our land. Gamarala had never witnessed such compassion and spontaneous generosity in all his life. Was this really my country – our people? He pinched himself to make sure that he wasn’t dreaming."

by Gamarala
Courtesy: The Island

(December 26, Colombo, Sri Lnak Guardian) The Tsunami disaster of 26th December 2004 is perhaps the worst natural disaster ever to befall our Island nation. Disasters like this compel us to reflect on and stake stock of things. It could even have a cathartic effect on our lives, and the future of our nation.

Let us reflect on life before the Tsunami- perhaps going as far back as February 4th 1948 (Independence Day). We were a multi-ethnic, multi-religious society living in harmony despite other differences of caste and class (rich/poor) when our colonial masters – the British – granted independence.

During the five decades that followed, ethnic differences between the Singhalese majority and Tamil minority widened alarmingly resulting in several clashes leading to the creation of the LTTE and its call for a separate state. A neglected southern province, limited employment opportunities for southern youth, and insensitive government policies led to the formation of the militant JVP. Continued neglect and repression of their just demands for a more equitable sharing of resources and more jobs by successive governments resulted in two insurrections (1971 and 1988-90). Civil war in the Island’s North and East, and JVP insurrections in the south, cost the nation dearly. Sri Lanka lost the cream of its youth. These two events also accelerated the ‘brain drain’ – an exodus of talented and creative professionals who saw no future for themselves and their children in mother Lanka. Open economic policies initiated under the guise of globalization and continued with gay abandon for the next twenty five years, widened the gap between rich and poor. The urban rich, mainly confined to the western province, became richer, while the rural majority predominantly engaged in agriculture and fisheries experienced increasing marginalization and pauperisation. High cost of living, loss of food security, malnutrition, environmental degradation, cultural erosion followed suit accompanied by an alarming increase in crime and violence against women, indiscipline in schools and universities, recurrent ‘strikes’ and ‘work to rule’ campaigns even in the ‘essential services’ and intolerance of opposing views (unthinkable in a true democracy) became a hall mark of Sri Lankan society. There was a spiralling increase in drug abuse, child abuse, prostitution, alcoholism, racism, religious conflict, political opportunism and squabbling over petty issues. Despite all this, the latest models of fancy imported cars sped along our roads – shops were filled with glossy imported goods – stylish clothes, the best perfumes and cosmetics that money could buy. Supermarket shelves were filled with imported goods – from caviar to vodka and some of Europe’s finest wines. Nightclubs, five star hotels, international schools and private hospitals mushroomed in our cities. Colombo’s skyline resembled that of many modern cities of the affluent west, and more was coming – " we want more- more- more", cried out the pampered kids of the super rich in tinsel city. Acquisition of material wealth and craving for power became an obsession in Lankan society. Some called this "progress and growth"!


"I wish you wouldn’t squeeze so," said the Dormouse, who was sitting next to her. "I can hardly breathe".

" I can’t help it,’ said Alice very meekly. ‘I’m growing. You’ve no right to grow here said the Dormouse.

‘Don’t talk nonsense, said Alice more boldly; you know you are growing too’

‘Yes, but I grow at a reasonable pace,’ said the Dormouse; not in that ridiculous fashion"

- Lewis Carroll,

‘Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland’

In early April 2004 the UNP government of Mr. Ranil Wickramasinghe was swept out of power by Ms. Chandrika Bandaranaike’s UPLF. The election was deemed to be free and fair by both local and international election monitors. The magnitude of the defeat astounded the UNP, while the victorious UPLF was equally surprised by the ground swell of voter confidence it had received.

Despite 56 years of democratic governance, many Sri Lankan politicians lacked the humility to accept the people’s verdict, and seemed incapable of gracefully accepting and conceding defeat, and many a victor lacked the capacity to be magnanimous in victory. The defeated UNP was licking its wounds and bent on destabilising the newly elected government. Its main concern and obsession was in ‘capturing power’ as ‘soon as possible’. The new government blamed the UNP for all the ills, which had befallen the country. In the North and East the militant LTTE was adamant in its call for a separate state (compromise was not in its lexicon). Even more frightening was a smouldering religious conflict between some Buddhists and Christians – the Buddhists blaming and accusing Christian fundamentalists of ‘unethical conversion’ of Buddhists. As the year 2004 was drawing to a close, Sri Lanka was a deeply divided nation about to explode into chaos and anarchy!

Then, the unforeseen and unthinkable happened. In the early hours of the 26th of December, a massive tidal wave (Tsunami) swept over two thirds of the Island’s coastline killing over 30,000 people. Damage to infrastructure and property was colossal. Over 20,000 houses had been destroyed. Over half a million people were displaced and compelled to seek refuge in temples, kovils, churches, mosques and open tents. These were the living victims – many of them injured, maimed and traumatised. There were many children among them – some had lost both parents – others lucky enough to have even one parent alive. It was a catastrophe of ‘biblical proportions’.

Almost every Sri Lankan family was affected by this tragedy. We had all lost someone – a spouse, a child, a parent, brother or sister, a distant relative, a friend or colleague at the work place. We were made acutely aware of the transience of life. "All is impermanent’, said the Buddha. " Be of good cheer, Ananda. Have I not told you often that this is the regular course of things; that we must part from all that is precious and dear to us?"(The Buddha on his death bed)

The tidal waves that swept over the pettiness of man and all his works compelled us to realise with a shudder that we were at ground zero now. What’s more, the same ultimate destiny awaits us all:

"The boast of heraldry, the pomp of power,
And all that beauty, all that wealth ever gave,
Await alike the inevitable hour;
The paths of glory lead but to the grave" (Thomas Gray)


" Wealth, youth and flowers are guests only for four days. They wither and fade like leaves of the water lily" ( Guru Nanak)

We were now compelled to realise that nature does not recognise or discriminate between the many labels that we humans give ourselves – Sinhala, Tamil, Moor, Malay or Burgher; Buddhist, Hindu, Christian or Muslim; nor does nature bestow any special privilege based on caste or class – rich man, poor man, beggar – politician – UNP, SLFP, JVP, LTTE, SLMC etc. These are mere labels – walls that insecure humans build around themselves.

"If you prick your white skin, red blood will appear,
If I prick my brown skin, red blood will appear,
We both look alike on the inside. That’s where God sees us"
"No man is superior to another. One can only be superior to one’s former self" -(Mahatma Gandhi)

"Religion is a personal matter between man and his God….
It is essential that one should have the same respect for other religions as for one’s own.

Religions are not for separating men from one another, they are meant to bind them"

(Mahatma Gandhi)

The public response to the tragedy was spontaneous, generous and truly magnificent – on a scale never before seen in our country. No sooner did our people hear of the disaster, they responded with great compassion:

" I sought to hear the voice of God,
And climbed the topmost steeple,
But God declared: go down again,
I dwell among the people"

People from all walks of life – men, women and children rushed to the assistance of Tsunami victims. They collected food (dry rations), drinking water, cooking utensils, clothing and cash to buy medicines. Young men and women formed themselves into groups and flocked to the affected areas – Galle, Matara, Hambantota, Ampara, Batticaloa and Trincomalee. Traders and transport agents volunteered to provide goods and vehicles. Contractors provided tractors and bulldozers to help clear the rubble of collapsed buildings in Tsunami ravaged areas. Children dug into their ‘piggy banks’ to contribute money. Some women were so moved by the tragedy that they gifted their personal jewellry to raise money for the ‘Tsunami relief fund’. The venerable Maduluwawe Sobitha Thero narrated the touching story of a young mother at a relief center – a women who had lost her own infant in the Tsunami – she was seen breast feeding another infant who had lost both its parents. She cared not whether this baby was Sinhala, Tamil or Muslim. As far as this woman was concerned, this was a baby in need, and she just did what she had to do – hold the infant to her breast and ensure that at least this baby would live. If that isn’t the milk of human kindness, what is?!

Civil society in Sri Lanka had risen to the task of disaster relief and civic action on a scale never before seen in our land. Gamarala had never witnessed such compassion and spontaneous generosity in all his life. Was this really my country – our people? He pinched himself to make sure that he wasn’t dreaming.


" The most sublime courage I have ever witnessed has come among that class too poor to know they possessed it, and too humble for the world to discover it."- George Bernard Shaw

The response of the local media (private and state controlled) was admirable. Television networks revealed in graphic detail the magnitude of the Tsunami disaster to millions of TV viewers here and abroad. They went beyond the normal call of duty by rapidly organising emergency relief for Tsunami victims. Some networks were highly innovative in fund raising and galvanising people into action.

Local media also played a commendable role in spotlighting some despicable events – looting, jewellry being torn off corpses, molestation and abuse of women tsunami victims at some relief camps, material goods meant for tsunami victims being stolen and sold by some unscrupulous elements.

Having played such an admirable role initially, a few privately owned media seemed to resort to a spate of negative reporting and criticism – a gross distortion of facts, and reporting trivia. What prompted this sudden change in attitude? Why throw a spanner in the works at a time like this? Was there a hidden hand intent on embarrassing the government?

Criticism can be very destructive if it is unjust. It is rarely appreciated even when it is just. Why do we criticise? If we want to correct something that we think is wrong, let us make sure we check the facts. Is it true? What is the context the prevailing ground situation? Is the criticism really necessary? Is it valid? Will it help? Help whom? The national cause – not the fancies of our patrons (whoever that might be – politician, employer, or boss). What is he best way to correct that which we perceive to be ‘wrong’? Will our criticism fan the old divisions – political, ethnic, and religious?

" Easy it is to perceive another’s fault; hard it is to see one’s own; it is so for he who is searching for other’s faults will toss it like chaff, but cover his own, as the cheating gambler hides an unlucky throw"- Dhammapada

"There is so much good in the worst of us,
And so much bad in the best of us,
That it ill behoves any of us
To find fault with the rest of us"- Anon

Today, four years after the Tsunami, we seem to have returned to square one forgetting all the lessons that this catastrophe taught us. Do our politicians, the rich and powerful people in our society consider themselves immortal? Why are they so obsessed in craving for power and material wealth?

" The educated and the rich, befooled by greed, plunge into wickedness, then feel the pinch of need"- Panchatantra

"The trees bear fruit for others, streams flow for the good of others and so do cows yield milk for others.

The human birth is likewise meant for doing good to others."

- Hitopadesha

Come, my friends, tomorrow may never dawn. Tomorrow is a post-dated cheque. Today is cash. Let us sink our petty differences and strive unflinchingly to unite our fractured nation, and build a better Sri Lanka.


" Where the mind is without fear and the head is held high;
Where knowledge is free;
Where the world has not been broken-up into fragments by narrow domestic walls;
Where words come out from the depths of truth;
Where tireless striving stretches its arms towards perfection;
Where the clear stream of reason has not lost its way into the dreary desert sand of dead habit;
Where the mind is led forward by thee
Into ever widening thought and action –
Into that heaven of freedom,
My father let my country awake! - Rabindranath Tagore- Sri Lanka Guardian