9.0 - 2004
On December 26 2004, a massive earthquake of 9.0 degrees has struck in Indian Ocean region near Sumatra island. Most of the countries in South and South East Asia have reported of experiencing minor tremors.
The Tsunami
The underwater earthquake had all the ingredients necessary to generate a Tsunami. Sri Lanka and Indonesia are the mostly affected countries. The Banda Aceh city was totally washed away. In Sri Lanka people haven't seen such a horrific scene before. The sea had gone back around 300 to 400 meters back. Some people got affected by going to see this new phenomenon. Shallow beaches of Phuket in Southern Thailand have been washed away in to the sea.
The Destruction
The records say that there are more than 46,000 deaths in Sri Lanka alone. Indonesia is raising the number of deaths over 100,000. The historical Galle city in Southern Sri Lanka is simply a junk yard now. Around 90,000 houses have been damaged and there are more than 200,000 refugees. The Central Bank of Sri Lanka estimated the total loss as 200 billion rupees (around 2 billion US dollars). One third of the affected are children. There are a lot of children without parents.
The Humanity
The most beautiful scene I have seen in my life is the way our people had come forward to do their job in this situation. Everyone had identified their role and done it with heart. People simply put aside the differences and come forward in the name of humanity while the leaders were trying to find a way to get themselves united. A lot of countries came to Sri Lanka to help the victims. We, the Sri Lankans, are appreciating the effort of world community.