The Other Side of the Road

I have been spending a lot of time in a little section of Weligama called Sathniwasapura. It's just across the road from the fish market, which is where I ended up when the tsunami interrupted my morning swim on Dec. 26, and swept me toward the beach.

As I was clinging grimly to a catamaran, I could hear screams coming from the village on the other side of the road. After a few minutes, the screams died away and were replaced by an eery quiet. When the water finally receded, and I was able to wade to the shore, I was desperate to find my wife, who was herself swept across the road by the waves and ended up near the top of a palm tree.

While it was clear to me that many people had been killed in the tsunami, I had no real idea of the stories behind those anguished cries. I have been troubled by them ever since, and have often asked myself whether there was anything I could have done to help. One of my goals in returning to Weligama has been to understand exactly what happened in Sathniwasapura as I was holding on to the fishing boat.

When I get back to Washington, I plan to post a detailed plan of this little community on this Web site, along with photos of the inhabitants. For now, imagine two rows of flimsy, single-story, brick-and-tile houses, almost back to back with one another -- 10 houses in all. An open sewage canal runs along the northern and eastern sides of the subdivision. Prior to the tsunami, a high brick wall marked the western boundary of Sathniwasapura. It was built several years ago by slightly more affluent neighbors, as a way of protecting their privacy.

When the waves came in, sloshing across the main road, "most of the people here were trapped," says fish salesman Samantha Wijethunga. The sewage canal turned into a raging river, sealing off two sides of the village. The wall prevented escape on the third side. The fourth side was the ocean.

A total of eight people were killed in less than 15 minutes in Sathniwasapura. Four of them were children under the age of 5. The others were all women who did not know how to swim.

-- Michael Dobbs

By washingtonpost.com |  February 18, 2005; 5:00 AM ET  | Category:  Michael Dobbs
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