🌊“A family memory i’m unaware of”😣

                                                                       .............Tsunami🌊

The tsunami is shadow in my life a shocking event that I don't actually remember. but one that I am deeply a part of. To me, it feels like a dark bedtime story. but when I see the look in my family members eyes. I know it was a nightmare they lived through. 🖤🤍

It was December 2004. I was just a baby in my mother's arms. we had traveled to my uncle's house in Ambalangoda to attend a religious almsgiving ☸️ at the Kande Vihara Temple. my uncles house sat right across the road from the beach. even today, that house still stands, and every time I see it, I think above how close we came to losing everything. 😥

As my relatives say, while the relatives were busy cooking the meal but, my father, grandfather and brother took me across the road to the beach. it was beautiful morning. my brother was playing in the sand when, suddenly, the ocean did something strange. 🌊📢💥

The water didn't just move, it pulled back far away from the shore, leaving the sand empty and fish flopping on the ground. my rother wanted to stay and play, but my grandfather remembered something he had heard on a tv program (attapattama). he knew that when the sea disappears like that, it returns with a fury. 🏃‍♂️🏃‍♀️

💬Dad said." your grandfather didn't wait for a moment. his face went white with fear as he grabbed us😲 and shouted to run for the house. we moved as fast just as we reached the front porch, we turned around to look, omg! my breath caught in my throat. right there, a giant, dark wall of water rose up🌊, even higher than the trees. in a spit second, the people who were just standing on the beach were gone. the water just pulled them away. I watched as they were tossed against the rocks, unable to fight back, until they were lost in the thick, white bubbles of the waves. it is sight that stays in my mind every single day😖."

Then my family had that panic, my family had managed to find a three-wheeler to safty. but they said there wasn't enough for everyone. my mother, grandfather, aunty, cousins, brother and I pushed inside to safety, but my father had to stay behind on the road. as we were speeding away, a second wave even bigger than the first one had roared in. they told me it was a miracle that my father survived💝. just in time, my uncle, who was a police officer, had arrived on his motorcycle. he had grabbed my father and raced away just second before the water hit. by the time they tried to follow us, the Madu river had overflowed ⚠ and they said the roads were completely blocked by the water, making it impossible to travel. 

 

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