The article below is taken from ChurchInsight.com but I thought it was really worth re-publishing on the CLC site. For those of you that don't know, ChurchInsight is the platform that the CLC web site runs on, and several CLC'ers work for the company (Endis) that make it. Nick was a colleague of ours so we're helping him raise money for the re-building work out in Sri Lanka. If any of you want to give to the fund then you can pass cheques (made payable to 'ChurchInsight') onto Andrew, Justin, or Steve.
We'll be posting a new update on the work that has already taken place on our company web site shortly.
Andrew
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The scale of the tragedy unfolding in the wake of the Asian Tsunami has left few unmoved over the past week. But for Nick Wynne-Morgan, former ChurchInsight staff member and trustee of Gods Golden Acre now living with his family in Sri Lanka, the events of 26th December will leave an indelible impression as his personal account below illustrates. We'll be helping Nick provide support for the local community directly - click here to find out how you can help. |
| Unusually, I was up just before 8 o’clock, this being the third day of an 8 day Christmas break that we had planned for our extended family including my wife Anne, her mum Nora, six of our seven children, her brother Adrian, his wife Alison and their three children – Phoebe, Xavier and Martha Rose. |
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For the first time we were to have a non-traditional Christmas – few presents, no turkey, no tree, no Queen’s broadcast – just a jolly good family time in a beautiful setting and with the benefit of an equatorial climate. Indeed, we had completed our Christmas Eve dinner at the hotel and followed that with a walk around the old Fort area of Galle on Christmas Day afternoon. |
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The beach front before the Tsunami struck |
On Boxing Day morning, my daughter Esther and I had gone down to the lawn in front of the hotel at about 8.00am - 10 metres from the small sandy beach and sea beyond. Half an hour later we were joined by my wife, Anne. It was a very tranquil setting – having coffee in front of the wide expanse of the Indian Ocean framed with palm trees. The morning was warm, the sky clear and the sea calm. We had just one child up and unusually, she was entertaining herself quite happily on her own away from us elsewhere on the wide lawn. I can’t remember the last time we were able to enjoy a few minutes peace together in such a beautiful setting. |
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At around 9.00 am, Adrian, my brother-in-law arrived joined shortly afterwards by my daughters, Fleur and Bethany although they didn’t sit down - I think they were eager to start breakfast in the large open eating area on a platform about 10 metres behind us and directly facing the beach. |
"It took us a few seconds to realise that this wasn’t just a high tide" |
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Then, Adrian suddenly remarked –‘the sea looks a little rough!’ – this immediately surprised me as I had consciously taken a note of how calm the sea was that morning. I looked up and there appeared a swell about 100 metres away that was unusually high. This was followed in the next few seconds with more waves of increasing power and intensity, now flowing freely over the sand barrier, through the hedge and onto the lawn and pool area. We stood up and laughed at a couple walking on the beach who had been swamped by these initial waves. We seemed transfixed by the scene and it took us a few seconds to realise that this wasn’t just a high tide. |
The hotel breakfast area as the waves suddenly rose. |
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We walked at first, then ran, attempting to get to a higher point in the building. Chairs and tables were already being smashed and chased around the restaurant area and this was shortly followed by the large uprooted trees and large paving stones and blocks of concrete walling. Most hotel guests were taken totally unawares, indeed, there was no time to plan anything. |
"Within 10 seconds the whole hotel and at least 100 metres inland was under four feet of raging water" |
Within 10 seconds the whole hotel and at least 100 metres inland was under four feet of raging water, carrying with it the sort of debris one associates only with disaster newsreel footage – concrete blocks, doors, cars, palm trees and assorted flotsam and jetsam - and yet this was real! Lorries and cars that had been neatly parked in the hotel car park and the main road outside just seconds before were being tossed about like small boats. Needless to say, it was not possible either to stay with anyone or keep track of where everyone was. We had all run in different directions, some of us having been swept into the deep swirling water, flowing at something like 100km/hr. |
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Of our family, Adrian and Alison had been swept away far inland, miraculously avoiding being crushed by the cars, trees and debris which flowed alongside them. Their two youngest children, aged 3 and 6 had been immediately separated from them and would have been in great difficulty or possibly even drowned were it not for Fleur grabbing Martha Rose and Xavier from the rising water and passing them up to one of the first floor balconies. Prior to this, Annie and Fleur had been swept away and had found themselves in one of the downstairs offices. They realised quickly enough that, with the water rising, they needed to get out and managed to get into the small reception area. Both Annie and Fleur managed to climb up onto the balcony of the first floor and then onto the roof where Annie stayed with the children and watched as the horror unfolded. |
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I myself had run to the restaurant area with Bethany. This was slightly raised above the lawn but we soon realised that it was not going to be enough to save us from being washed away by the ferocity of the surging water. Unfortunately, one had to go down 4 flights of stairs in order to access the stairs up to the first floor at this point. Bethany managed to get down and back up to the first floor but I missed the opportunity and had to leap onto a wall which connected the restaurant area with the first floor via a lean-to roof. But by the time I had got onto the wall, what appeared to be a roof from the ground was merely a piece of green mosquito netting. With the water rising, I had to take a decision to leap from the precarious position on top of the wall onto the veranda of the first floor since I was not too sure as to how long the wall would stand up or indeed whether the water would continue to rise even higher.
From the veranda, I could see across to the bedroom block from where we had emerged some one hour earlier. I could also see Anne and Fleur on the roof with Adrian and Al’s two little ones. On the first floor of the bedroom block I could see Hermione and Nora standing there watching the water rush past. They were accompanied by a very distraught Jerome and Phoebe, Adrian’s eldest daughter - but no sign of Dora! Only two minutes before, Anne and I had been enjoying the peace of a morning, drinking coffee on the lawn without the demands of our 3 year old wanting breakfast, and now I was petrified that she would wake up hearing the immense noise of the tidal wave and rushing water and leave the room in search of us both. I tried to shout across to Nora to go into the room and get her but because of the noise, she couldn’t hear me. Eventually, either Nora or Hermione heard me and went to the room to get her. She was still asleep! Thank God. Once saved, the five of them watched from the first floor balcony as the remaining remnants of the hotel ground floor were completely washed away. Luckily the foundations of what was a predominantly concrete structure held under the battering and they were able to remain in that position until the waters subsided and they were led away by members of the hotel staff to higher ground. |
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Meanwhile, there was no sign of Adrian or Alison or Esther. They had disappeared and were not responding to any shouts. All around us, there were similar distraught relatives from other family parties looking for their loved ones. Indeed those sleeping in the ten or so rooms that were situated on the ground floor were already engulfed in water up to 5 feet high and many of the hotel bedrooms had their exits blocked by trees, furniture and other debris. |
"The ten … rooms that were situated on the ground floor were already engulfed in water up to 5 feet high" |
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A hotel employee, still wet and bloody, manages a smile of relief. |
Within a period of about 2 or 3 minutes, the force of the waves seemed to abate and much of the water was sucked out of the hotel and back out to sea. This ‘undertow’ was so great that it took much of the furniture and debris back out of the hotel and out to sea again. There was an amazing sight of a 4 ft high wall of coral, stretching as far as the eye could see and standing proud above the sand about 50 yards beyond the point from where the waves would normally break onto the beach. This coral reef would normally have been 2-3 feet below the water level and yet was now in complete full view – an unforgettable sight. |
| As the water levels subsided, the full impact of the devastation was clear. Many houses had simply disappeared and the main road outside the hotel was indistinguishable from the land around it being covered in 2 feet of water and debris. At this point, Alison and Adrian emerged from their eventual resting places, battered and bruised and returned to the hotel. They were able to see Annie on the roof with two of their children and their relief must have been immeasurable. As yet, no sign of Esther! |
The main Colombo Road shortly after the Tsunami |
"Sewage pipes had been smashed and the contents quickly mixed with the residual sea water making it impossible to see where we were treading." |
Annie remembered in a blur that, as she was running for safety herself, she thought she had seen Esther with a young Sri Lankan hotel staff member in the reception area but there was no sign of either of them. Whilst, some stayed with the younger children on high vantage points, Adrian, Alison, Fleur, Bethany and myself engaged in the harrowing task of searching for Esther, calling out her name and wading through tons of rubbish, broken glass and all manner of debris to try and find her. Sewage pipes had been smashed and the contents quickly mixed with the residual sea water making it impossible to see where we were treading. We had all lost our footwear in the initial rush and were barefoot, making the search that more painful and dangerous. |
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There was constant panic all around as rumours of further tidal waves spread. In the ensuing minutes, a number of very high tides crashed across the road depositing further large quantities of sea water in the ‘search area’. We searched for about an hour but to no avail, finding nothing but complete devastation and loss of life. Our hopes of finding Esther were beginning to wane as so much of the buildings, furniture and even cars had been sucked out to sea. There was little to be optimistic about her chances and we relied on prayers alone to counter what looked like insurmountable odds of her being found alive.
In response to the rumour that a major tidal wave was due for 12.15 the hotel management decided to evacuate everybody to a house about 1 km away from the beach. Here we all gathered and waited, without Esther – it was a period of time which all of us will never forget. We felt powerless. We were safe, or so it seemed. We were relatively unscathed with just cuts and bruises but were only a party of 13 not 14. We were advised not to go back to the beach until the threat of a further tidal wave was over. Many of the children lost it at this point and broke down. What were we to do? Care for our 8 children who had seemingly survived this catastrophic event or go back to look for our beloved Esther, even though by now it didn’t look good for her chances.
The owners of the hotel (three brothers), who had fortuitously been staying at the hotel for the first time as a large family group, just happened to own a tea estate about 15 km inland from Ahangama. They had organised a vehicle to come to the house where we were all gathered and take us back to the safety of the tea estate where we could stay the night and have food and drink. It was decided that everyone except me and the three brothers would go back to the tea estate and that I would return to the beach area with the brothers and some other volunteers to search for Esther and one other missing guest and retrieve whatever belongings we could from the hotel.
The family duly departed north and I was left with my own thoughts as to what I might or might not find over the next hour or so. I will have to admit that at that moment, I felt at the lowest point in my otherwise relatively happy and fortuitous life and I was left alone to face whatever tragedy might become more evident as time passed.
After about half an hour, the few police that were evident in the area gave the all clear to continue the search for bodies down at the sea front and myself and the three directors of the hotel proceeded back down the road towards Club Lanka. We were walking against the majority of pedestrian flow which was still seeking the safety of higher ground. |
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The sea front, when we got there, was an eerie place; gone was the panic of two hours ago, as the water levels had subsided, a horrific scene of devastation and destruction now greeted us. Cars and lorries had been upended and carried great distances from their original overnight parking positions. There wasn’t one that was intact. Buildings had been battered into almost unrecognisable shapes. The road mingled with its surroundings, still covered in water, rubble and vegetation. It was impossible to walk for more than a few feet without having to clamber over mangled debris or fall into large gulleys and yet this was the terrain in which I hoped to find some trace of our daughter, dead or alive. |
"Buildings had been battered into almost unrecognisable shapes. The road mingled with its surroundings, still covered in water, rubble and vegetation." |
Read the second part of this account >> |
