[J.] On 24 December, we went to the tsunami museum in Telwatta, just about 4km north of Hikkaduwa.
The museum is a collection of photographs taken by various people from that day on 26 December 2004, and run by a local lady who lived in that place before the tsunami hit her home, destroying it to the grounds and having been rebuilt afterwards. The entry is free, but visitors can leave a donation if they like.
Some things that I did not know before include that the tsunami here in Sri Lanka came in two waves: the first comparably low, flooding the coastal area after which the water went back to the sea to a large extent leaving the people behind wondering what just happened, taking photographs and even catching fish from the shore. The second wave was reported to be a 10 meter high wave having the disastrous effect everyone knows about.
The second thing I did not know was that after Indonesia, Sri Lanka was the country with the second highest number of death casualties. And the third is that during that event a train with hundreds of people on board was hit resulting in approx. 1700 deaths (people drowing while trapped in the coaches or smashed while hiding from the waters behind or on top of the train when it was hit by the second wave, as far as I understand). This is reportedly the train accident with the highest number of death casualties ever. There is also a memorial (Buddha statue) at the place where the train was hit by the waves.
As Sri Lanka found itself in a civil war when the tsunami hit, which effected something like two thirds or three quarters of its coastline. After the tsunami, a temporarily ceasefire was agreed on. The cicil war ended in 2009.
[Pics will follow]
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