Tsunami Wake...

After work today, we had the opportunity to tour 3 other tsunami-affected villages where Habitat is working. In each village, we were amazed at how much devastations still exists now that the tsunami is some 15 months past. In many instances, the same debris still lines the shoreline as it did 2 weeks after the disaster, and in many cases, “life as normal” still has not resumed for the people most affected by it. You can also see on most of the houses that actually survived just exactly how high up the water came. Pictured here is one of our friends from Habitat marking the high water stain on a house nearly ½ mile from shore! Most houses that were made of traditional Indian materials (such as thatch and wood) did not survive at all. Most that were made of sturdier materials such as mud and plaster had some minimal success in withstanding the waves. Even a good number of brick homes were completely decimated as well. In the three villages that we visited, a total of about 35 – 40 people lost their lives in the tsunami. Most of those people were children who lacked the ability to swim to shore, or were not strong enough to tread water until help arrived.