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24 September 2014

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The effects of the tsunami in Sri Lanka

Nick Rowland is counting his blessings after he and several friends doing charity work in Sri Lanka were lucky to escape with their lives when the tsunami hit the island.

LISTEN TO NICK TALKING BY CLICKING ON THE AUDIO LINK AT THE TOP RIGHT OF THIS PAGE >>

Nick, from Ipswich, is working for Project Trust and told BBC Suffolk's Stephen Foster his amazing story:

SF: Nick, tell us what happened.

Nick's guesthouse room after the Tsunami

NR: Okay, well we were staying in a small town called Marissa, on the south coast of Sri Lanka and it was 9.15 in the morning when we woke up and heard the water outside. I looked up from my bed and I could see water coming in under the door and a few seconds later one of the waves actually crashed in and re-bounded off the wall of our guest house and back through our doors.

The force was so great it broke our doors in half and lifted our beds up and we were floating around in the water. It wasn't long before the water raised to about chest height. We tried to wade out of our rooms and we managed to get up on to the roof and watched the water as it went down. It was quite scary.

SF: It sounds an extremely frightening ordeal, at one point did you think your time was up?

NR: I think we were extremely lucky, yes. There were many factors which could have changed anything really. If our rooms had been facing the other way I think the water might have pinned us against the back walls.

We were about 100m from the sea, if we had managed to get a seaside, on the beach place, I don't know. If the wave had hit any earlier or any later then we may have been on the beach or we may have been fast asleep. We may have been caught in different places.

We are just overwhelmed about how lucky we all are - all 18 of us are safe. So it was quite an ordeal.

SF: When did you find out it was an earthquake that had caused all this?

A shared meal

NR: Well, we didn't know where the water had come from. The boys and girls were staying at different guest houses and us boys were slightly closer to the sea, so we had more of an idea that the water had actually come from the sea. But the water just appeared really, it was more like a surge. It wasn't like a tidal wave, as you'd imagine from a film, but it was like a surge of water.

Our guest house was really good and got us to another house on higher ground and then we actually found out what had happened via a car radio, I think. But we had lots of conflicting reports and the locals were extremely frightened.

First of all we ran to a temple, basically sprinted down the road because they said there was another wave coming, and there was fear and terror in peoples' eyes as we raced down the road. Even after we got there some people decided they would try and get back to the houses to salvage stuff before things started to get looted. People were scared of their belongings being stolen.

Beach in Sri Lanka before Tsunami

On a couple of occasions they shouted there was another wave coming and we heard screams and shouts from the beaches and people actually sprinted back to the temple and up the stairs to try and get to higher ground, but thankfully nothing actually came.

SF: I understand that Project Trust have done you proud?

NR: Yes, they have been absolutely brilliant. Our representatives are actually on holiday in New Zealand at the moment, who normally look after us in Sri Lanka and they have been doing so much from such a long way away. The office on Coll in Scotland too has been fantastic, they have kept all our parents informed, sometimes when they have had very little information, and our deputy rep here in Sri Lanka. We are now staying at her house in Colombo, just to keep us away from the troubled areas really - and we are all safe, which is good.

SF: Well that's great news, much relief to your friends and family listening to BBC Radio Suffolk this evening. When are you planning to come home?

NR: Well. I'm in Sri Lanka until August, that's when my volunteer period finishes. So I've got another eight months here and I'll be returning to my project in Embilipitiya maybe tomorrow. Embilipitiya is about an hour and a half from the south coast, so we may have things to do there to help out with the aid.

Dusk in Sri Lanka

I know there are convoys travelling through Sri Lanka trying to try to get to the worst hit areas, so we may be part of that. And we've just got permission from Project Trust to try to help with as much aid work as we can as well. So it brings a slightly different perspective on our volunteer work, not just teaching.

SF: I understand Nick you've lost your glasses, but a very small price to pay!

NR: I spent ages looking for them back in our room but there is so much silt and sand piled up that I can't find them anywhere. But I've got a spare pair at the Project so when we get back there I'll be able to see a bit more. But we're all alive and that's what counts.

SF: Of course it is, and a message Nick for your family listening back home?

NR: Yes, don't worry too much, we're all safe now and hopefully I'll have spoken to my Dad this afternoon and I might try and ring again tomorrow to speak to them all. And a very happy birthday to my Auntie for today as well!

SF: Nick, thank you for joining us and all the very best and try and keep safe.

NR: Thank you very much.

IF YOU WOULD LIKE TO FIND OUT MORE ABOUT THE TEMPLE WHERE NICK IS STAYING CLICK ON THE LINK TO THEIR WEBSITE AT THE TOP OF THIS PAGE >>

last updated: 21/02/05

Have Your Say

nr
i hope you can recover from the tsunarmi

jasmine
it is horrible 2 the coutry m8

...............
I hope you get better and well

Jess xxx
i am soo sorry for you, it must have been awful!!hope you are coping all the best in the future

hello kitty
i saw i video of it i felt so sorry for every 1 and hope they all recover very well

Olivia
My friend died in the tsunami, it was very tragic and heart breaking. :( I cried for 4 weeks, non-stop :( I needed help :L

Jack Ondiko Hawood.
Thank you so much for the resource material.A a geography teacher,your site has proved very important especially on studies involving earthquakes and Tsunamis.

lewis galer
my mums antie died in a tsunarmi.

joey m
having done a project on the tsunami last year i feel really shocked even now to think hat people lost their homes,families and their country's beautiful landscape. when we say millions of people died that's all fine but we never actually think about th fact that "a million" is actually a large number of people to lose from our population. for those of the people that survived, i hope you can get over your tragic experience and for all the dead may you rest in peace.

R.C
even though this incident happened 4 yrs ago..i'm still really shocked...i hope everyone who were injured and had lost their homes ave now got everything back....i'm doing the asian tsunami in school so that's why i thought of researching abit, and i saw a video..soo umm i hope every1 is alright..

danan
i had a sister but she died in the tsunami.:(

School Studyer :)
Thanx Very Much You Helped Me With My Tsunami Project Alot :) Thank You x

So sad
R.I.P Every 1 Who Died!!! x

Rishi
my family live in india u know!

kelsey Loz and Charlie
it was a terrible event which shocked the world.i hope that no one has to go throught it again and may i say i hope they all rest in peace thankyou x

Alex Doyle
It was a terrible event that shocked the whole world those who died were people either on holiday relaxing or people doing their day to day things may they all rest in peice.

kirsty
be safe and take care hope you dont go threw that again it was ashame..my heart goes out to u all!!

amy
i hope non of you have to go threw that again..i couldnt even think about goin threw any of that, that any of you hab#ve been threw because some ppl loose there stuff that are precious to them take care

dalton kropp
u guys are very lucky that no one got hurt or killed. i hope u stay safe and never have to go through that again.

Miffer
i had my leg blown off because of that thing :@

katie
what r some effects on peeps after tsunamis

Jodie
It horrbile to even think about what it done to people best wishes all of you xo

suga babe
u know i am born from sri lanka so iknow how it feels so thats good u survived

henstar
ur so lucky!!! its awfull about all the other people but maybee you should think of itin a way of that maybee you survived because god wanted you to survive so that you could go on and help others. May his spirit be with you

Hubba bubba
We think it is very upsetting that all these people died and hope that the work that is being done is easing the pain and we hope that the families of peeps lost will recover but still remember them forever n always xxxxxx

...Believer...
I prayed and prayed over ten years ago that something like this would never happen, the Lord thought it was necessary for such an ordeal to happen.

Aidan
This is taken more effect on the world than the 9/11 bombings. I pray for all those lost souls

kt
i hope everyone is oksy and the tsunami does not strike its monstrousity again

a luckey survivor
may god unleash his rath upon us!!!!

sami n mel n emily
iam very sorry to all the people who died in the tsunami a year after and people are crying and will never get over their lost family i truely feel for these poor poor people R.I.P I PRAY THIS WILL NEVER HAPPEN AGAIN

Amelia
i think more people need to help and more money should be raised by inflicting more awareness on this issue.

Ashlea
This Is Very SAD! i hope that everyone can get beetter soon

Anoma de Alwis
It's almost 18 months since the disaster, yet several hundreds of people are still in temperory sheltor and does not live a normal life;We, a Post graduate team at the moment, are providing a scholeship fund to a selected group of 50 displaced students of the age group between 14 to 20, as a part of our project and conducted Skills / Personality Development Programs yet feel we could provide school bags,stationery etc, if we could get assiatance from any person who is interested to do so.Kindly assist if possible.

Sheba
I felt so sorry for all those people who had lost their homes in the Tsunami when i heard i could not belive what i was hearing hope eveything works out alright for u all

BUBBLES
it is so unfortuneate that so many died, injured and that peoples relitives were looking for there mum dad brother dad nan grandad etc but i hope you are well and trying to move on hope u live and think how to spend the rest of yOUR LIFE IN HAPPYNESS! :) HOPE IT WORKS OUT 2!

Hobnob
I felt so sad when i heard about the Tsunami. When i found out one of my friends was there it was devestating. She did survive and is back at school but i kind of felt the pain more. I know that i didnt expirience it but i have made a donation and im feeling so sad after reading that. I hope it works out for u.

Jung Hye-Park
I live in Sri Lanka.I'm foreigner. but I have feel pain and realize the uncertainty of life~

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