These are photographs taken between January 8th and February 4th 2005 when I was back in Kosgoda, Sri Lanka to repair and rebuild after the tsunami. Click on the small images to see a higher resolution version (1024x681).
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A view along Kosgoda beach in the opposite direction (towards the hotel from the hatchery, although you can't see the hotel in this shot). |
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Bones on the beach. These are cattle bones. |
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Another bone on the beach, found along side a shoe (it's also a cattle bone, by the way). |
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To complete the collection of cattle bones found on the beach, here's the skull. |
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While walking along the beach towards the hotel, I noticed this fairly sizeable area of water. This is new, it wasn't there before the tsunami. I don't recall there being a depression in the ground there either, so it seems to have been freshly carved by the power of the water. |
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Turtle tracks! A turtle tried to nest here the previous night. |
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A view into the Kosgoda Beach Resort, taken as you approach the hotel from the beach. This shot is across the volleyball court towards the pool and bar. |
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Looking at the hotel restaurant from the little pool-side bar. There used to be a roof on this bar, as well as a number of small "cabana" style tables around the pool where you could enjoy a drink, a dip and savour the sea breeze. Sadly the barman on duty, Rohana, did not survive. |
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A view of the pool from where the tables used to be. Behind the rubble and in front of the tree, you can still see the centre pole of one of the poolside tables with a small fragment of thatch on the top. There used to be a circular table built around the pole with chairs around it. |
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A view from the "deep end" of the pool, looking back past the hotel restaurant (on the left) towards the bar. The hotel's chief engineer, Jeffrey, also died in the tsunami along with a pastry chef from the kitchen. |
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One of the rooms at the hotel. Despite the force of the water, only one guest lost their life in this incident. |
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This is Room #2 at the hotel. My daughter and I stayed in this room on the night of December 24th as we were joining our friends who worked at the hotel for the Christmas party (and my daughter wanted to see Santa). On the 25th morning, I walked back along the beach to our house in the village with my daughter on my shoulders. |
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A view from the entrance towards the hotel's reception area. Reconstruction was already underway and the hotel management (who I know anyway) told me that they hope to reopen in April 2005. |