Fearful of a bleak economic future, tsunami scared Sri Lankans in this southern holiday resort village that was flattened by the killer sea surges are urging foreign tourists to return. Nearly all the survivors here depend on foreign tourists who are lured by a coconut palm-studded surf beach and excellent diving. Many of the locals…
Read moreVery little water but lots of champagne”: panic in Sri Lankan paradise”
Sri Lanka’s famous Taprobane Island, a speck of palm-fringed paradise just off the southern coast, was lashed by the deadly tsunami, leaving its visitors stranded but its world-renowned villa spared. Owner Geoffrey Dobbs, who threw the historical villa’s doors open to well-heeled paying guests after refurbishing it in the 1990s, was swimming off the island…
Read morePriests, volunteers keep hope alive for tsunami victims
Catholic priest Nihal Nanayakkara has not slept since Christmas. Not only is he the priest of a church in this tragedy-struck town, but also caretaker of thousands of tsunami victims taking refuge in the building. On Boxing Day, when tsunami waves lashed the coastline of Sri Lanka, thousands of people from Galle rushed in terror…
Read moreBodies still entombed in train swallowed by tsunami
The buzz of an electric chain saw pierces the air as it cuts through a coconut palm pinning a bloated corpse. It is the only sound of rescue here where the sea swallowed an entire train packed with 1,500 passengers. At this site of mass death and destruction — where the Indian Ocean sped in…
Read moreStench of death chases patients away from Sri Lankan hospital
The stubborn stench hanging in the air at the small Sri Lankan district hospital where more than 150 corpses have been brought is so bad that a policeman is retching in the front garden. "We have room for only two bodies" in refrigeration, says Dr. Manorie Talgaswatta, who was on duty when the first casualties…
Read moreSurvivors count blessings as Sri Lanka begins mass funerals
In the horror of Sri Lanka’s tidal wave tragedy, undertaker Mahilal Punchihewa manages to raise a smile. He has just seen his Galle shopfront and home washed away but doesn’t care. His three daughters and four grandchildren are safe. "We have lost before," said Punchihewa, whose pet dog Doggie somehow survived the carnage that has…
Read moreShattered seaside community grieves, starts picking up the pieces
Pala Withanage gestures towards the flattened remains of his wooden seaside home, then he points a few hundred metres inland. That’s where they found his wife’s body. "I will never come back to this area. I want to stay far away from here," he says, wringing his hands and still in a daze two days…
Read moreLaughter turns to terror for couple in Sri Lanka tidal wave disaster
American tourist Matthew O’Connell started laughing when he saw his hotel room filling with water. But when a raging wall of tidal wave water ripped him and Israeli friend Sue Mor apart, the laughter turned to sheer terror. O’Connell and Mor told Monday of how they survived after being separated by floodwaters at Ambalangoda, lucky…
Read moreSri Lanka’s Muslims begin to bury their dead amid pleas for help
Sri Lanka’s Muslim minority began to bury their dead here Monday, a day after tsunamis killed more than 5,800 people along the island’s coastline, amid pleas for help. "We need help … We need everything such as water, food, electricity," said Shaul Hameed as volunteers dug graves at a mosque compound located on high ground…
Read moreCambodia’s land concession system needs overhaul, corruption persists: UN
Cambodia’s land concession system has undermined the rights of the poor and led to the plundering of natural resources and must be urgently overhauled, a United Nations human rights envoy said Sunday. The special representative of the UN secretary-general for human rights in Cambodia, Peter Leuprecht, also said at the end of his 11th mission…
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