Families who lost their homes and loved ones in the Boxing Day tsunami are settling in a new village, thanks to people from our region. David Charters reports

NATURE raged in the bowels of the ocean, rinsing the shores of a faraway land. The ground shook, the waves swelled, the wind shrieked and man trembled – but back in England the tellies droned and bellies groaned, Christmas balloons puckered and the trifles sagged.

It seemed that our world was more divided then ever on that Boxing Day of 2004.

Yet, paradise rose from the ruins left by the tsunami. You might not call it paradise. I might not, either.

But today a man can rub his hands along the walls of a bungalow, as his children play and his wife sings. Together, they can speak of home, their home in a new village, where hope thrives again.

If you have experienced hell, surely that is paradise.

And those who have played their part in its creation know that they have left something precious on Earth.

Two of them, Colin James and Colin Ince, are sitting in the comfort and safety of a cafe in Liverpool.

They are members of Rotary International, the organisation still associated by many with local worthies gathering in provincial hotels for a weekly luncheon, to be addressed by a prominent entomologist or the editor of the local paper.

That is not so true these days. Many Rotarians have been involved in projects to help restore countries ravaged by disease, famine, disaster or war – those enemies which so often join forces against man.

Wonderful work has been done in the regions of Sri Lanka almost destroyed by the Boxing Day tsunami.

Four Rotary districts, covering Merseyside and North Wales, North Manchester, South Manchester, Lancashire and Cumbria, have built a new village over a 10-acre site on an old coconut plantation bought by Malteser International (a German non-governmental organisation).

This has meant moving people from the devastated coastal village of Moratuwa to nearby Panadura, some 20 miles south of Colombo.

Families have been moving in, though it doesn’t officially open until a date to be fixed in February.

At first, the scale of the disaster, which is estimated to have killed 225,000 people in 11 countries, wasn’t understood in the West, despite news broadcasts breaking into the seasonal festivities.

However, Rotary with overseas experience quickly recognised that, after the immediate relief programmes, there would be a need for continuing aid.

So Rotary International in Great Britain and Northern Ireland (RIBA) raised more than £10m in a mixture of cash and emergency equipment.

But the four North West districts took special responsibility for what is now the Rotary Panadura Village, raising £350,000 themselves through collections and special events.

RIBA donated £160,000 from its general funds. Malteser added £340,000, as well as buying the site for £160,000.

Colin James, a retired civil engineer of the Southport Links Rotary Club, visited the site of the village in March, 2005, to help begin the project and went there again in June last year to monitor its progress.

Colin Ince, a retired consultant anaesthetist, of the St Helens Rotary Club, visited in March, 2006.

“Before the tsunami, the very poor people lived in shacks,” said Colin Ince, 64, an assistant district governor with Rotary. “They just scratched a living. A lot of them were fisherfolk.

“When the waves came in, they destroyed the little that they had and wrecked all the fishing boats, so they were destitute as well.

“Then there was the railway line, which ran across the coast.

“One of the trains, now a national monument, was completely wrecked.

“That cost between 1,000 and 1,500 lives.”

The village, which is two miles inland, has 86 semi-detached bungalows for families, all built by local contractors to a standard which should be able to resist even fierce storms.

“Each is 540 sq ft with two bedrooms, a lounge/living room, kitchen and a toilet area,” says Colin James, also 64, a past district governor with Rotary, who estimates that the population will reach about 600.

Throughout this project, Rotarians have been inspired by their motto, “Service Above Self”.

“One of the conditions of being taken into the village is that they had to prove that they had lost everything in the tsunami,” says Colin Ince, a father-of-two. “The centre of the village retains most of the palms and the other bushes, which will help the village to be self-sufficient. One of the Rotary clubs provided funds for a multi-purpose community centre.

“We would only build something if we knew that it would be self-sustainable afterwards.

“The community centre has been designed not only for the village, but to integrate all the smaller villages around the site.

“The people there couldn’t have built one house, let alone a village, they were so poor. To see this village is deeply moving. The moment these people see you, their faces beam.

“Although they don’t have much money, they provide tea and biscuits.

“I met one little lady of about 4ft 10ins. I asked her what she did in the tsunami and she told me that her son had clung on to a tree.

“But I asked her what she had done and she told me that she had hung on to something until the waters had passed over her head.

“As she spoke, her face changed from happiness to horror. She was reliving that experience.

“Can you imagine not knowing if you were ever going to breathe again, as that torrent of water went over your head? Everywhere you go, they are thrilled to bits and grab your hands and say ‘thank you’.”

With brick, breeze blocks, tiles, electricity, plaster and paint work, the houses are comparable to those in this country, except the water is supplied to nine communal stand-pipes.

“I would happily live in one myself. In this country, each bungalow would be worth between £80,000 and £100,000,” says Colin James, a father-of-five.

He will be going to the village again in January while in the region on a programme for amputees.

When laughter rings in this faraway village, it is heard by the two Colins and others, who gave a little of themselves so that other people could be happy again.

“If people work together, they can achieve anything,” says Colin Ince.

davidcharters