ジョン・スタンメイヤーのインスタグラム(johnstanmeyer) - 12月29日 12時10分

10th Anniversary of Indian Ocean Tsunami — Sole survivor of his family, a man breaks into tears while climbing over the remains of his home less than one day after the 2004 Indian Ocean tsunami slammed into the town of Trincomalee, Sri Lanka.

On December 26, 2004, I was standing in a richfield in Indonesia. My mobile phone rang with then editor of Time Magazine, Lisa Botos, on the other line: “Did you hear about the wave that hit Thailand?” “No”, I said. “Get on a plane quickly and go to Puckett.” By early evening of Dec 26 I arrived in Bangkok, Thailand. Turning on my phone, a text message arrived from Lisa with only 4 words: “Go to Sri Lanka”

At the Cathay Pacific counter and I asked when the next plane to Colombo might fly. The agent squinted and said: "You're in luck, there’s a flight in one hour.’ By midnight that evening I was in Colombo sorting how to drive 200 or so miles to a town I had heard was hit terribly hard. In the wee hours of the morning I was racing through the night — getting into a minor accident with a tree — arriving the morning of December 27, 2004, to the east coast town of Trincomalee.

The village of Trincomalee along the waterfront was gone, crushed by a wave that had traveled a few thousand miles, wrecking havoc in its path as far away as Somalia, taking over 230,000 lives across six countries.

I came upon this man completely unexpected while standing next to the remains of his home. He walked over the rubble, foot sprained and with a walking stick, wailing in tears. I asked if I could help him walk. He said no, then shared how he had lost everyone in his family the day earlier, returning to see what remained.

I was completely helpless on what to do. Unlike war, conflict or other human created disaster, when an act of nature happens there is no one to blame.

I’ll never forget this moment, a sense of complete hopelessness where ones insignificance is eclipsed yet again by the world on which we all call home.

The Indian Ocean tsunami was a period in life and in the work I do that humbled yet still haunts me today.

John Stanmeyer

#srilanka #Trincomalee #2004tsunami#2004IndianOceanTsunami #10Anniversary

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