Sri Lanka Map

Sri Lanka is an island nation of about 20 million people, located in the Bay of Bengal near the southeastern tip of India. About the size of West Virginia, its capital is Colombo.

Weligama is a town of about 30,000 people with one of the largest natural bays in Sri Lanka. It's just down the coast from Galle, an old Dutch seaport, near the southernmost tip of the island. According to the mayor, the tsunami claimed around 300 lives in Weligama town and another 300 in the surrounding district. A total of 1,352 area families lost their homes -- which, if each family had an average of five members, would mean that one local inhabitant in five was either killed or lost his or her home in the tsunami.

By washingtonpost.com |  February 8, 2005; 10:00 AM ET
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