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SRI LANKA TSUNAMI RECONNAISSANCE MISSION
In the spring of 2005, Jim Schwab was one of eight American professionals (including architects, another planner, a landscape architect, and a civil engineer) invited to Sri Lanka by the Sri Lankan Institute of Architects to help develop ideas for long-term reconstruction of the nation’s battered coasts after the December, 26, 2004, Indian Ocean tsunami. A link to the final report appears under News, but below are some photos recording highlights of that trip.
 Reconnaissance
team is hosted for dinner by the leadership of the Sri Lankan
Institute of Architects in Colombo, May 1. |
A reasonably typical scene of coastal destruction from the
tsunami, in this case along the southwestern coast of Sri
Lanka. |
 In
many fishing communities, residents lost everything, including
their livelihoods, when the waves smashed boats against buildings,
and bicycles and cars were washed away with 35,000 human beings
who died. |
 This
is the infamous coastal train that was overtaken by the second
tsunami wave hitting Periyali, south of Colombo. More than
1,500 people perished, many having sought refuge on the train
after the first wave, only to lose their lives on board. Only
about 150 survived. In both categories were the wife and daughter
of a friend, Rev. Eardley Mendis, a Sri Lankan native and
Lutheran pastor in Chicago. They were visiting over the holidays;
Tamara, his wife, died, but daughter Eranthie survived and
is now working at the University of Chicago. |
 This
scene of devastation is what remains of a beachfront hotel
at Yala National Park, a large wildlife refuge in which the
only other development allowed was the park compound, which
survived. The hotel, built low and close to the ground, lost
250 guests and staff to the angry sea. |
 After
touring devastated areas, we stopped on our return to Colombo
(from which we departed May 8) at the Golden Temple in Dambulla.
This gold-covered statue of the Buddha is just as dramatic
up close and personal as it looks in the photo. |
 Four
members of the American reconnaissance team that traveled
to Sri Lanka are shown at Sigiriya, an ancient castle in the
central highlands. Also shown, second from left, is architect
Surindu Basnayake, the tour host provided by the Sri Lankan
Institute of Architects. Others, from right to left: David
Downey, AIA, Washington, D.C.; Terry Brown, AIA, Albuquerque,
N.M.; myself, from Chicago; and Thomas Schmidt, AIA, Hong
Kong. Not shown: Kathrin Moore, APA, San Francisco; Janice
Olshesky, AIA, Alexandria, Va.; Steve McCutcheon, ASCE, Georgia;
and Alan Fujimori, ASLA, Honolulu. |
 Here
I am standing at the foot of steps leading into an upward
portion of Sigiriya, a castle built in the sixth century to
create a highland fortress. The “feet” are those of a lion
at the base of the stairs. Sigiriya is now a tourist destination
and national monument in Sri Lanka. |