Living in a Tsunami Struck Land

Yesterday we drove down from Colombo to Galle. The drive was mostly along the coastline, so I got to see a lot of devastation from the tsunami. Like everyone else, I saw pictures of it right after it happened. For a little while, I made an effort to pray for it. Soon the buzz about it died down in America. My commitment to prayer died with the buzz.

Being here is a whole new experience. For me, pictures and videos just never hit me with the full reality of it. On a screen, things are entirely real. I can watch movies and lose myself in them, but when they are over the reality wears off. I always knew intellectually that it was bad over here, but getting here made it real. I saw house after house that could no longer serve as a home. Some were leveled down to the foundation. Many of them still had one or two walls still standing. There were even a few buildings that had entire ground floor rooms intact, but then had a stairway leading up to a second floor that no longer exists. We saw a section of train tracks that were fully overturned.

All of you have heard about it. All of you have seen the pictures. There's nothing I can say about it that hasn't been said many times before. Still, I doubt that any of you think about it as much as you did three months ago. I just want to remind you that the destruction is still here. To the people living on the southern coast of Sri Lanka, it is still a daily reality. Yes, it is a lot better now than it was three months ago, but there is still so much that needs to be done. Please do not forget the people hit by the tsunami. Please continue to hold these devastated people in your prayers. Please make whatever financial sacrifices it takes to get money into the hands of relief organizations.

I'll close with the words from signs along the road north of Galle. They remind me that although a lot has been done, there are still many areas in Sri Lanka (and Asia) that still have not received any aid.

When will we receive aid?