When It Happened

Having survived the tsunami myself, I have been curious to know the exact time it arrived in southern Sri Lanka. This afternoon, I found out. As I walked along the beach at Matara -- a dozen or so miles south of Weligama -- I came across a clock in the ruins of an abandoned house. The hands stood at precisely 9:12 a.m.

Geologists timed the earthquake off the Indonesian island of Sumatra that caused the tsunami at 6:59 a.m. Sri Lankan time. It took the tsunami just over two hours to travel the 1000 miles between the earthquake epicenter and southern Sri Lanka.

-- Michael Dobbs

By washingtonpost.com |  February 9, 2005; 2:00 PM ET  | Category:  Michael Dobbs
Previous: Disaster Tourists and Professionals | Next: Ownership Matters