When Mario Perera’s mother left the United States for
their home country of Sri Lanka on Dec. 23, Perera had no obvious
reason to fear for her safety.
But after the magnitude 9.0 earthquake off the coast of Sumatra,
Indonesia, and resultant tsunami devastated South Asia on Dec. 26
““ leaving nearly 50,000 people dead in Sri Lanka alone
““ Perera, a third-year transfer student, began to worry.
With many of the phone lines in the region destroyed by the
tsunami, Perera for several days had no way of knowing whether his
mother and the family members she was visiting were safe.
“For like four days I was just a wreck,” he
said.
But relief came when his mother was finally able to call him and
tell him that she and his family were safe.
Perera, along with the UCLA community and much of the rest of
the world, has felt effects from the catastrophic loss of life and
rampant homelessness plaguing the tsunami-ravaged regions.
“I know a lot of people that are affected,” Perera
said.
Lakshmi Gokanapudy, a first-year English student, was in South
Central India when the tsunami hit. On her way there, on Dec. 18,
she and her family stayed in a hotel in Sri Lanka ““ a hotel
which they had intended to stay in on their way back two weeks
later.
“When we went back on our way to L.A., we found out that
the hotel we stayed at was 12 feet under water,” she said, so
instead they stayed at the airport.
Much of the area in the affected regions has been completely
demolished, leaving foreign officials in disbelief over the degree
of destruction.
Many world leaders have been visiting the region in recent days
to assess the damage and determine appropriate levels of aid to
pledge to affected countries. A conference scheduled for today will
allow foreign officials to meet in order to coordinate aid
allocations.
Sent by President Bush to assess the damage, Secretary of State
Colin Powell, a battle-hardened veteran of the Vietnam War, was
aghast at the devastation on Indonesia’s Sumatra island.
“˜”˜I’ve never seen anything like
this,” he said.
“I cannot begin to imagine the horror that went through
the families and all of the people who heard this noise coming and
then had their lives snuffed out by this wave,” Powell said.
“The power of the wave to destroy bridges, to destroy
factories, to destroy homes, to destroy crops, to destroy
everything in its path is amazing.”
Powell, commenting after a 30-minute helicopter tour, said,
“I’ve been in war and I’ve been through a number
of hurricanes, tornadoes and other relief operations, but I have
never seen anything like this.”
Third-year psychology student Dilhara Fernando, who was not in
the area but has extended family in Sri Lanka, echoed
Powell’s disbelief: “You don’t really imagine
that happening,” she said.
Fernando said she wants to travel to Sri Lanka in the summer to
help out.
The steadily rising death toll has exceeded 155,000, prompting
many to give aid in any way they can. In addition to individual
donations, the United States has pledged $350 million in tsunami
relief aid, up from the initial pledge of $35 million.
Other countries have also upped their pledges, with Australia
leading the way at $810 million.
It is yet to be seen whether these donations will cover the cost
of the relief effort, which is estimated to be the most expensive
such effort ever.
In the aftermath of the devastating events of Dec. 26, some
stories of luck shine through.
Perera’s mother, who was in Sri Lanka at the time, had a
flight layover in the Maldives only hours before the tsunami hit
the islands hard.
“If she had been delayed or had to take a later flight,
she would have been there and I could have lost my mother,”
Perera said with some measure of relief.
“She was in the wrong place but she was there at the right
time,” he said.
With reports from Charles Proctor, Bruin senior staff, and
Bruin wire services.