Stephan Vanfleteren

Arugam, Sri Lanka

Arumugam Sellathambi (60): I lost my wife on that awful day. They say I'm crazy and maybe they're right. I'm lonely. I still can't sleep. That wave keeps coming back every night. I was on the beach when it happened. It was a heavy, dirty wave. I was dragged along in it. I thought I was going to die. The dull sound of the wave and all those people screaming - it was madness. When the wave had gone I ran back to the temple, completely confused. I don't know why I ran there - maybe because this was the only building left standing by the wave. After an hour I went back to the beach to look for my wife. I found her body in the jungle. She was a bit older than me and she couldn't swim. She must have drowned. I moved to the interior after the tsunami but eventually came back [to the coast]. I'm a fisherman, not a farmer. But the sea still gives me no rest. One day that wave will come back.

Object Name
Stephan Vanfleteren
Sri Lanka
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