I spoke to my Mum in Sri Lanka this morning, and she is safe-safe-safe. Everyone in my family is safe, and there's just property damage to deal with. I cannot believe our luck...
My Mum and my Aunt from the US had wanted to drive down the South Coast (the worst affected areas) on a pilgrimge to a temple of Hindu god (Kataragama) (in whom Buddhists believe in/pray to too) this weekend, but all the holtels were booked so they went to another Aunt's house in Awissawella, which is inland. They didn't actually hear anything 'til after it had all happened.
Yesterday morning they had planned to drive down to visit my Grandma, who lives in Morragulla, Beruwalla--on the West Coast of Sri Lanka. The planned early-morning journey was interrupted when a water main burst in the street near my Aunt's place and my Uncle had to get in touch with the authorities to sort that out. It was a Sunday and a public holiday (Sri Lanka observes Buddhist, Hindu, Muslim and Christian holidays--another excellent reason as to why we should embrace true multiculturalism) so it took ages to organise maintenance... while they were waiting they got call from a relative of a relative asking if they had any news. It was apparently a "what news?" moment. The TV went on and they weren't going anywhere.
The first wave had come up to my Grandma's front fence. She spoke to my Mum and said everything was fine, the water's receded quickly. Silly old lady! The second wave was worse, and her place, which is actually raised about a metre off the ground, was flooded up to her chest. Her neighbours carried her to the second storey of the house across the street. My Uncle who lives nearby (the one with the new bub) owns a restaurant and a small guesthouse which did not get touched.
My second Uncle's house in the South was destroyed, but the family is safe, and a second cousin was playing cricket on the beach on the East Coast and he got sucked out to sea twice, but he's a national junior swimmer or something and he is ok.
Again, thank you everyone who called/messaged/got in touch with me, it means so much to know that you guys care, and thank you thank you thank you for your prayers/good karma... if you can, please keep it coming; my family is ok but thousands, maybe millions, more aren't doing so well.
If anyone is able to, the Red Cross/Red Crescent is taking donations...
- Red Cross Australia's Asia Quake and Tsunamis Appeal: Info, Donate Online
- International RC/RC accepts donations to the Emergency Disaster Relief Fund
P.S: My brother's in the US at the moment and he and my cousin drove to Canada this weekend... apparently there's a bitch of a blizzard out there right now. Is this a test, Mother Nature? I promise I will recycle even more...
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