Photo courtesy of World Vision
The tsunami that struck Sri Lanka 20 years ago on December 26, 2004 was the most destructive natural disaster in living memory. It claimed over 39,000 lives and destroyed thousands of houses and livelihoods.
In recent years, Sri Lanka has witnessed a surge in natural disasters, prompting an urgent need to strengthen and enhance Disaster, Risk and Reduction (DRR) policy and practices at community and national level.
Since 2010, approximately 13 million people in Sri Lanka have been affected by natural disasters, primarily floods, droughts and landslides. Community preparedness remains scattered and its structures have not been adequately identified or positioned to support communities anticipate, prepare, mitigate or respond to disasters. While there hasn’t been a tsunami of that magnitude again, the increasing risk of climate change can leave a lasting impact on children’s lives, thereby shaping priorities today.
In 2024, Save the Children marks 50 years of work in Sri Lanka. At the time, when the tsunami hit, the organisation was able to provide assistance to children and families who survived within hours in the Matara, Batticaloa, Trincomalee, Ampara, Jaffna and Kilinochchi districts.
While the organisation will continue to respond to the urgent needs of children and families when a disaster strikes, its efforts are pivoted towards ensuring that children and their families have enhanced resilience and are better prepared for disasters.
Across four high disaster risk districts, Save the Children is piloting a community resilience and system strengthening model that fosters and strengthens with local and national actors. The model is designed with targeted approaches to improve the preparedness, response and recovery of communities through DRR policy and practices, climate resilient agriculture, market and economic recovery and protection interventions.
A core component of the model is aimed at strengthening local community structures such as Village Disaster Management Committees (VDMCs). At present, these structures do not exist in every village but by having a community structure of this nature children and their families are better prepared to respond before, when and after a disaster strikes.
Through this approach, community participation and leadership is enhanced, introducing context specific tools and approaches where the VDMC members identified climate-induced risks, capacity gaps and mitigation measures that will help them to better plan, prepare for, respond to and recover from climate and economic shocks.
Even 20 years on, the impact of the tsunami is still felt by survivors. These are stories of two people who faced up to the crisis and helped others to cope with the disaster.
Thamoratharam Ladshakumary was 29 years old when the tsunami hit and was working as a volunteer at Porativu Pattu Pradesh Development and Rehabilitation Organization (PPDRO).
Where were you when the tsunami hit?
It was a normal, quiet morning in my village of Kaluwanchikudy in the Batticaloa district. I was at home getting ready to go to the temple because it was a poya day. I didn’t know that day would change my life forever. My village was hit hard by the disaster. My mother, father and my two brothers were with me as the tsunami struck, coming as close as 500 metres from my home. We were lucky that it didn’t hit us. With the shock and panic, my family and most of my neighbours fled. Our first instinct was to run to safety, so about 30 of us got into a lorry and went to our neighbouring village, which was three kilometres away. There were some people who had lost family members and so they wanted to come back to Kaluwanchikudy to look for them. The first things I saw were a blur because I remember feeling a mix of panic and fear. We had heard from neighbours how this massive wave had come and caused so much destruction. What I saw was people running everywhere trying to escape. In my head, as we were travelling away from the sea, I was picturing the horrors that some of my neighbours were describing; it was such a difficult thing to process.
Do you remember the impact on children?
Yes, children were hit the hardest. Many lost their families, friends and homes. Some were left without parents and siblings, which was heartbreaking. I saw so many children without their parents and relatives as I went to the camps for the displaced because I worked with PPDRO. It was so hard to see children who were wounded and crying, in pain and lost without their families. The camps and hospitals were full of people needing immediate, urgent care for their wounds and injuries. It was the first time I saw so many children suffering in different ways – I saw them sitting by themselves, isolated and children in their relatives’ homes who were not eating anything, not smiling at all.
How did you help with the tsunami response?
Batticaloa was already a conflict affected area and with the impact of the tsunami we saw people suffering even more. Many people lost everything – their families, homes and livelihoods. There were already many NGOs working in the Batticaloa District and they immediately began to support the children and families hit by the tsunami. As a volunteer for PPDRO, I helped people in the nearby villages by cooking meals, giving out clothes, cooking utensils and providing basic hygiene items. I also worked with social welfare groups handing out food and water and helping families cope emotionally. My focus was on making sure people got what they needed right away and giving them some comfort during such a terrible time. A few volunteers were collecting family details such as the number of children and adults, if any parents or children were lost, what their immediate needs were, what kind of damage had occurred in their homes and if there were any pregnant women, elderly people and people with disabilities. This information acted as our needs assessment at the time,and it helped to segregate the support needed in different camps.
If another tsunami like that hit Sri Lanka, how could we be better prepared for children?
We need to be more ready in every way before disasters strike. I think it’s very important that we:
- Teach parents in coastal areas about tsunamis, being alert for early warnings and how to stay safe in a coastal area during a disaster. Communities need awareness sessions, knowledge and practices to better prepare for a disaster.
- Connect with local government actors and engage communities including children in evacuation drills so that they know what do when disaster alerts are issued.
- Families should have access to emergency supplies like food, water and medicines during a disaster.
- There should be strong local coordination networks including key stakeholders such as community organisations, local and national government agencies, UN agencies and international NGOs.
For the long term, we need to help children recover emotionally with counselling, safe spaces to play and learn and ongoing support that can make a big difference in helping them heal and move forward after a disaster.
Ranjan Weththasinghe is Save the Children’s the Regional Child Rights Governance Advisor for Asia.
What happened when the tsunami hit?
When tsunami hit no one knew what it was and how serious it was; everyone was confused and there was no communication on the danger of the situation. It took 30 to 40 minutes for water to reach southern parts after it hit the eastern sea belt, yet alerts were not shared. Within hours people witnessed an unimaginable level of disaster. Areas impacted by the tsunami were completely inaccessible. There was no communication or basic necessities. Thousands were dead and hundreds of thousands were displaced in couple of hours. I was traveling and got stuck in Panadura trying to reach Colombo. Many bodies were brought to Panadura hospital. I only realised the impact of the situation much later when more details of the devastation started coming out. It was heartbreaking to see what was going on.
What was the impact to children?
Thousands of children were impacted by the disaster. They lost their lives, families and friends. Families had lost their children, some of them without knowing if they were alive or dead. Thousands of children were living in temporary shelters. I worked in the south for a couple of years after the tsunami and everywhere we worked, there were heartbreaking stories of children and families struggling to recover from the experience and loss of their families.
Has there been a positive change in how we respond to disasters?
I believe that as a country we have progressed a lot since the tsunami. The government, development partners, private sector and the public have significantly changed in mindset and preparation. Today there’s a greater investment in disaster preparedness, response and recovery approaches. We see improved coordination between all stakeholders. However, the voices of children must be included to shape policies that impact their lives. Such progress helped the humanitarian sector to respond to many other disasters since, especially during and after the civil war.