In an article first published in The Sunday Age newspaper, World Vision Australia’s TIM COSTELLO writes of what he experienced in Sri Lanka…
Nothing could have prepared me for the scenes of devastation and despair that I have witnessed over the past few days.
I have been in Sri Lanka for less than a week but it seems so much longer than that. During this time I have seen bodies piled high and people distraught after losing their loved ones. While some bodies are being identified others are being buried in mass graves just to stem the spread of disease. This disaster has meant that people who have lost their loved ones are also being robbed of the opportunity to provide them with a dignified burial.
The thousands who have fled their homes are taking refuge in temporary camps that have been set up in schools and temples and the main priority has been to ensure that they have food and clothing. But we need to continue to support them as they return to what was once their homes. The aid that we give is not just for the short-term but for the long term.
“Galle, once a popular tourist resort, now looks as if it has undergone intensive bombing. What once must have been a stunning oval is now strewn with debris including cars and buses that were simply swept away by force of the tidal wave and then dumped hundreds of metres away. But the worst is the scene outside the oval, where bodies are being amassed. Fingers are being cut off with the hope that even after the bodies are they can be identified. The bodies are then piled onto a cart with the added distress that a number of them are children.”
I travelled down to Galle on the southern coast, which should have taken no more than three hours, but due to part of the road still under reconstruction, cars taking food and even sight-seers it took us eight hours to get there. The roads are also clogged as people try to return to their villages.
Galle, once a popular tourist resort, now looks as if it has undergone intensive bombing. What once must have been a stunning oval is now strewn with debris including cars and buses that were simply swept away by force of the tidal wave and then dumped hundreds of metres away. But the worst is the scene outside the oval, where bodies are being amassed. Fingers are being cut off with the hope that even after the bodies are they can be identified. The bodies are then piled onto a cart with the added distress that a number of them are children.
During the journey from Colombo to Galle I spoke to Prashant, a fisherman, who had lost his 18-year-old sister. All he could do was stare despondently out to sea, a man completely defeated. He told me I can’t even mourn and grieve properly, without anybody to convince me she is dead.
I also witnessed what was left of large fishing boats that had just been lifted up and thrown by the force of the ways as if they were toys. The boats, which can carry 30 people, are now completely destroyed along with the livelihoods of the families that depended on them.
In a centre that has been set up in a school just outside Colombo, I helped to give out food to some of the 250 families sleeping there. One mother, a widow with three young daughters, told me how she had lost her home. Like many others she has yet to return and witness the devastation that will greet her.
It will take many, many months for families and communities to rebuild their lives in all the countries that have been affected by this appalling catastrophe. This disaster has hit some of the poorest nations. We are one of the richest nations and it is our responsibility as well as humanitarian duty to help them. So far I am proud to hear how Australians are responding to this challenge with enormous generosity and I am constantly telling Sri Lankans that the Australians will stand with them.
Tim Costello is the chief executive of World Vision Australia.
