Thursday

Being of Sri Lankan origin does mean something to me and these past few days have been so surreal, I was going to write something. I wasn't really sure what to say though, I mean what can you say? It's so heart wrenching. On Xmas day news came through that some cousins of mine from Canada were there on vacation with their kids. I'm not sure exactly where they were but it was one of the places on the east coast that got totally destroyed. I heard that they ran for their lives but made by the grace of god. My sister in Toronto spoke with them yesterday after they returned so I'm just going to quote her e-mail which says it all:

'Hi Michael, just spoke to Revathy and told her you had been worried and inquired about them. She says it is a miracle all 13 of them are alive and is traumatized by the whole ordeal. They had to run for their lives. She did not get wet but John who followed was waist high in water and his slippers were pulled from under his feet. Tino gave him Arina (daughter) to carry and he had her over his head. There were dead bodies 15 feet from them and were being brought into the army camp they stayed in. At one point Revathy was alone with the 3 kids not knowing where the rest of the family was and if they were dead or alive. Their driver clung on to a tree and was slapped by dead bodies and then landed in a hotel room and managed to get on a mattress which had another dead tourist on it. The driver managed to escape thankfully. Aidan (Ravathy's son) was trapped in the van with water getting into it and thank God John saw him and ran from the otherside and got him out. Revathy is exhausted. She says they feel bad to be back when there is so much help needed there.'

1 Comments:

Blogger Norman Rose said...

i don't even know what to say, or do, really. it's devastation on a scale that just makes people feel hopeless. shit. i'm gathering my clothing together and i will give some of them away and give some money when i can but... shit. words don't do the job. but i'll say that having sri lankan friends makes me scared to even ask "how's your fam" and things like that.

9:46 am  

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