January 10, 2010
Bordering Galle on either side are the seaside villages of Hikkaduwa and Unawatuna which were both largely destroyed by the tsunami.The fortified city of old Galle remained untouched by the tsunami– the old fort walls protected it from the waters. Although Unawatuna has been re-built due to the large foreign donations by tourists who frequented it, there are, all along the coastline, the relics of homes and buildings that were destroyed in the tragedy and never rebuilt – foundations of buildings, broken walls, the stone ruins of small homes, upturned fishing boats much further inland as they must have been carried in by the wave, and even some graves and tombstones. The inhabitants of these areas either died in the tragedy or were too traumatized and heartbroken at the loss of family to ever want to return and rebuild their homes. Even five years later the signs are still there of the thousands who were lost and the structures that crumbled under the force of the ocean water. The amazing thing was that every so often you could see the crumbled foundations of a house and right next to it there would be a home that was left intact. Apparently it all depended upon the nature, the structure and the energy of the wave as it came rolling in – at what point it crushed and at what point it bypassed and left untouched was completely unpredictable and inexplicable. Between Hikkaduwa and Galle is a towering statue of Buddha rising from the middle of a small placid lake – a monument erected as a tribute in memory of those who were lost along this coastline. And speaking of which, the numerous Buddhist shrines that one sees along the roads is a clear reminder of being in a Buddhist country. Just as in India temples spring up everywhere, so do Buddhist shrines in Sri Lanka- under trees, along the roadside, in people’s residential compounds, in rural countryside and on busy intersections in the heart of urban development.