Planning Some Changes

Now that I'm back in Washington, we're planning some changes to this blog. We will continue to keep track of how the relief effort is going in Weligama through contributions from local people, both Sri Lankan and foreign, in addition to my own posts. I'll introduce you to my fellow bloggers over the coming days.

Over the next few weeks, we will be redesigning the site and posting short videos and more photographs. The videos, which were shot by Travis Fox, an award-winning video journalist for washingtonpost.com, will profile Weligama residents whose stories we will be following. We are also designing an interactive map to help you find your way round Weligama.

We want to make the site more interactive. You can now e-mail me directly at michael.dobbs@washingtonpost.com, or via the e-mail link to the left of this post. You can also post your own comments directly on the blog. We would like to get a conversation going about all aspects of disaster relief. So if you read or see anything here that provokes, stimulates, amuses or infuriates you, let us know.

Your post doesn't have to relate directly to Weligama, or even Sri Lanka. Weligama is really just a metaphor for the entire tsunami relief effort. As some of you have already pointed out, the issues and personalities that I have been writing about on this blog are familiar to aid workers the world over.

At the same time, this blog will continue to revolve around people and events in one very real place. After a few days in Weligama, I came to realize that it's not really necessary to go anywhere else to understand the story of the tsunami and its aftermath. The passions that come to the fore as the result of a great human tragedy -- generosity, envy, heroism, cowardice, kindness, stubbornness, you name it -- are all here.

Reporters are restless by nature. We're always on the move, from one dateline to the next. But sometimes we can learn more by following a single cast of characters, and by focusing on one place, than by letting our attention wander.

-- Michael Dobbs

By washingtonpost.com |  March 7, 2005; 9:10 AM ET  | Category:  Michael Dobbs
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