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The
deep sea earthquake off the coast of Indonesia produced one of the
worst natural disasters in recent history. It's believed that over
250,000 people were killed as a result of the deadly tsunami that
hit 13 different countries on Boxing Day 2004.
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Sri Lanka
was one of the countries that felt the impact of the tsunami wave
as it struck coastal areas and brought death and destruction with
it. It's estimated that over 25,000 people lost their lives in Sri
Lanka and a million left homeless. In the immediate aftermath, salt
water from the sea had contaminated the water table, making water
from local wells undrinkable. There was an urgent need for supplies
of all kinds.
Gloucestershire based search and rescue outfit SARAID went out to
Sri Lanka to provide specialised support to the various aid agencies
that were tasked to bring relief to the country's people. The group
borrowed a water filtration unit and made the 10 hour journey from
Britain to Colombo in Sri Lanka.
Stefan Hopkins, the director of SARAID, led the mission and he took
a minidisc recorder from ÃÛÑ¿´«Ã½ Gloucestershire to record what he found
out there. As an experienced search and rescue operator, Stefan has
witnessed the aftermath of natural disasters but even he was stunned
by the sheer scale of the immense devastation caused by the earthquake.
Here are some of Stefan's audio diaries from Sri Lanka which capture
the desperate situation just two weeks after the earthquake:
Arriving in Colombo
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Since
the earthquake happened on Boxing Day 2004 SARAID had been on standby
to head out to the region. They were waiting for a clear picture of
what sort of relief was needed and the best location for it to be
deployed. They received the go-ahead for Sri Lanka early in January
2005.
The six strong team landed in the Sri Lankan capital Colombo after
a 10 hour flight from Britain and promptly headed south to one of
the areas severely affected by the tsunami.
Though they knew the desperate scenario they were heading into from
past experience, the team were in high spirits - glad to be doing
something constructive after almost two frustrating weeks of waiting
to hear whether they were needed or not...
Listen
to Stefan's audio diary - Part 1
To
listen to audio content on the ÃÛÑ¿´«Ã½ you will need to have a program
called RealPlayer installed on your computer.
Saturday
8th January 2005
Stefan and the team got their first glimpse of the destruction in
the region to the south of Colombo and saw for themselves just how
bad it was. Buildings were flattened and the devastation was obvious.
The team received a report of many people requiring water at a local
temple but it proved to be inaccurate as there were only 75 people
there and they already had an adequate supply of water.
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After
that the team headed further south to the scene of a train derailment
which resulted in the death of over a thousand people. The Sri Lankan
government had already cleared the site of bodies and much of the
debris but the eerie sight of the battered train remained.
The team moved further south and based themselves at a temple where
they managed to drain two wells of salt water. They also chlorinated
a third well to make the water drinkable.
Listen
to Stefan's audio diary - Part2
To listen to audio content on the ÃÛÑ¿´«Ã½ you will need
to have a program called RealPlayer installed on your computer.
Sunday 9th January 2005
The team travelled south again towards Galle where the devastation
was even worse.
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The
first thing they noticed in Galle was the utter destruction - the
town had been virtually wiped off the map by the tsunami. Around
5,000 people died in Galle and the team noted that the smell of
death was heavy in the air wherever they went.
After receiving instructions from the local police chief, the team
journeyed to Harbaraduwa. It was apparent that the further south
they went, the worse the devastation was becoming. It was also becoming
clear that there was a lot of confusion about the situation in the
area - nobody seemed to have a clear understanding of what was needed.
They were then told by a local town council to visit three temples
to help around 600 people who were without fresh water. But they
suffered a frustrating setback when a source of water was denied
to them when the need in the surrounding area was so great.
The team ended the day tired and frustrated after having travelled
from one location to another without getting to help the local people...
Listen
to Stefan's audio diary - Part 3
To listen to audio content on the ÃÛÑ¿´«Ã½ you will need
to have a program called RealPlayer installed on your computer.
Monday 10th January 2005
A new day and Stefan sent two of his team to Colombo to receive
instructions from the the aid agencies based there. Meanwhile he
and the rest of the team went to Saregama to provide fresh water
to children at a local school.
However,
they suffered another setback with a fresh water lake being contaminated
by sea water. Fortunately they located another source - a fresh
water river. They processed 2,000 litres of fresh water and delivered
it to the school.
The team finished the day in a happier mood because they'd done
exactly what they set out to do in providing fresh water for local
people. They also helped to reopen the school.
All in all a good day, as Stefan notes...
Listen
to Stefan's audio diary - Part 4
To listen to audio content on the ÃÛÑ¿´«Ã½ you will need
to have a program called RealPlayer installed on your computer.
In
pictures...
Stefan and his team also managed to capture the aftermath of the
tsunami on their digital camera. Here are their pictures from Sri
Lanka:
(12 Pictures)
See
also:
For
more information about SARAID including how you can support the
agency, .
If
you would like to comment on this story get in touch at gloucestershire@bbc.co.uk
or have your say on our
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Gloucestershire based search and rescue agency SARAID went to Sri
Lanka to help with the disaster relief effort. Stefan Hopkins, director
of the agency, recorded an audio diary for us...
