These are the personal observations of WBro Richard Hinge PAGDC who visited Sri Lanka.

“Earlier this year my wife and I spent two weeks in Sri Lanka, having delayed a previously planned visit for a year because of the Tsunami. Our first night was spent in the north where there was no apparent damage, and the following day we set off for Kandy in the centre of the island, and the Pinnawela elephant orphanage where we were lucky enough to see them having their daily visit to the river. Having visited all the usual sights, we arrived on the fourth day at the southern end of the island which had suffered most from the effects of the tsunami, and travelled by Jeep into the Yala National Park. The next day we travelled across the south to the town of Galle which will be remembered from the pictures on the TV. Some damage was still visible but much clearing up and repairs had been carried out and life appeared to be continuing as well as can be expected.

We met a lot of locals and heard many tales of sadness and bravery. It was very pleasing to see that an enormous amount of rebuilding had been achieved along the coast, and that many more houses were in various stages of construction including several Red Cross sites. We were happy to see that the donated money was being spent wisely. A lot of families continued to live in the wooden huts which had been donated as temporary dwellings, and some were still in tents, most of which were on their original house sites. We were assured that these families would have been offered new houses 200 metres from the seafront but had declined to move. The authorities will not connect these dwellings to electricity or water, so it is likely to be only a matter of time before the residents agree to move to safer areas. We went on for a further week to stay in a beach hotel one hour south of Columbo and were told how the wave came through about 2 metres high, ruining the dining room and the ground floor. This had all been replaced and we had a wonderful few days at the end of our trip, happy in the knowledge that our visit had helped in some small way to relieve the sufferings of the local people. Tourism from the west, especially the UK, is what is needed to help these people recover.”

WBro R Hinge PAGDC
Agricola Lodge No.4501

From Ed44, P11