tsunami

After one of the greatest displays of nature's wrath in modern history, the death toll continues to climb, surpassing 200,000. The tsunami of Dec. 26, 2004, triggered by an undersea earthquake in the Indian Ocean off Indonesia, sent giant killer waves from Sumatra to Somalia that wiped out whole communities and flattened beachside hotels. The sea that for millennia has sustained numerous fishing peoples -- most of them poor, vulnerable and in remote places -- showed its cruel side, bringing unspeakable tragedy to millions.

In the words of U.N. Secretary General Kofi Annan, this is an ''unprecedented global catastrophe'' that requires an ''unprecedented global response''. And this is a colossal challenge to the international community to respond in the name of humanity like never before.                                                                                                                              An Undignified Postscript for Sri Lanka's Dead
In death, as in life, the gap between the rich and the poor is wide.
(LA Times) At the Colombo National Hospital, the bodies of foreigners are brought to a lab where they're numbered and photographed. Blood and DNA samples are taken. The bodies are carefully stored in refrigerated containers until they can be identified and transported back to their home countries. A different ritual unfolds 70 miles south in Galle. A truck designed to carry telephone poles pulls up on a dirt road and disgorges the bodies of Sri Lankans on land that was once a palm oil plantation. Several dozen decomposing bodies are dragged off the truck and dumped into a quarter-mile-long mass grave holding about 1,600 corpses. As rich countries work to identify their tsunami victims, the poor island nation uses mass graves.


An Undignified Postscript for Sri Lanka's Dead
In death, as in life, the gap between the rich and the poor is wide.                      (LA Times) At the Colombo National Hospital, the bodies of foreigners are brought to a lab where they're numbered and photographed. Blood and DNA samples are taken. The bodies are carefully stored in refrigerated containers until they can be identified and transported back to their home countries. A different ritual unfolds 70 miles south in Galle. A truck designed to carry telephone poles pulls up on a dirt road and disgorges the bodies of Sri Lankans on land that was once a palm oil plantation. Several dozen decomposing bodies are dragged off the truck and dumped into a quarter-mile-long mass grave holding about 1,600 corpses. As rich countries work to identify their tsunami victims, the poor island nation uses mass graves.         
     
Worst ever tragedy in Sri Lanka History                           
The most powerful earthquake in 40 years erupted under the Indian Ocean near Sumatra on Dec. 26, 2004. It caused giant, deadly waves to crash ashore in nearly a dozen countries, killing tens of thousands. A long stretch of Sri Lanka's coast was devastated by these killer waves, with more than 40,000 dead and staggering 2.5 million people displaced. Although 1,600km from the epicentre, the waves struck with huge force and swept inland as far as 5 kilometers. Waves as high as six meters had crashed into coastal villages, sweeping away people, cars and even a train with 1700 passengers.  It was the worst human disaster in Sri Lanka history.