Sunday, June 11, 2006

Going up into Tamil country

The beach town that once stood here is still all but ruins. 900 people lost their lives on that beack alone, quite hard to imagine...

We are going to spend the rest of the trip in Thirukkovil, further up in Tamil territory. From what we heard, 900 people died in the tsunami, out of a population of 10,000, that’s almost one out of ten people. When we arrive we first go to the beachfront, where the damage is still visible. Only house remains are visible, rubbles all over. Only a few houses are being rebuilt, with money from foreign NGOs, as this part of the country doesn’t get anything from the government. As we hear more and more about what is happening here, although there are two sides to the story, one cannot help but feel anger at the fact that not only disaster hit here, but there are just not getting as much help as less affected parts of the country, on the basis that they are of the wrong ethnicity….

In spite of the destruction, lack of money, poverty all around, having had a mini-cyclone hit the town 10 days ago (and the heat too, I must say), people here are incredibly good spirited, it is incredible and quite a lesson for us.

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