Matt Rainey

Photojournalism: Tsunami

The Tsunami that struck southeast Asia in December 2004 killed 250,000 people throughout the region. Among the most hardest hit were the inhabitants of Sri Lanka and Southeastern India.

On a Late Friday afternoon, a woman and child stands among the birds on the beach. Living conditions on the coastline of southern India are horrific following the Tsunami disaster which struck the region on December 26, 2004. Thousands live without any shelter in the Srinivasa Puram neighborhood on Chennai.
  
Villagers take to a small fishing boat and travel into the backwaters in search of bodies. The man in the center points to the area directing the boatsman to lead the party to a marshy bog. Upon finding two, they buried them in a single shallow grave. The village of Keechankuppam suffered huge losses in the Tsunami disaster which struck south Asia December 26, 2004. The village's industry, fishing, suffered and hundreds of residents lost their lives. The town is attempting to rebuild, removing boats from a bridge where the boats were thrown to removing the dead from outlying area. Still, the destruction is incomprehensible both in infrastructure and life.
  
Petale Valacheani prays over the grave of his 12 year old niece in a cemetery on the outskirts of the village of Kalkudah, Sri Lanka . Kalkudah and the neighboring village of Pasakudah lie on a small penisula on the eastern shore of Sri Lanka. The villages were wiped out during the Tsunami disaster that struck southeast Asia. A group of 60 doctors from Sri Lanka organized by Dr. Weerasena Lakshman travel more than 9 hours from Colombo, to towns and villages on the east coast torn apart by the recent Tsunami to hit South Asia. Along with Dr. Lakshman, Dr. Suraganee De Lanerolle and her team of physicians and social workers travelled to the affected areas. Over 1,200 refugees from the seaside villages of Pasakudah and Kalkudah are located at the Pentecostal Mission in Valachainai.
     
  
Villagers stand among the crushed boats as they work to clear the area surrounding a bridge that connects the mainland to the Island village of Keechankuppam, India. The marina area suffered great losses to fishing boats. The village of Keechankuppam suffered huge losses in the Tsunami disaster which struck south Asia December 26, 2004. The village's industry, fishing, suffered and hundreds of residents lost their lives. The town is attempting to rebuild, removing boats from a bridge where the boats were thrown to removing the dead from outlying area. Still, the destruction is incomprehensible both in infrastructure and life.
  
Ratnam Ala Gudra stands on the debris which was his home in the seaside village of Pasakudah following the Tsunami disaster to strike south Asia. Ala Gudra's daughter died in the disaster. Every structure except two in the village was completely destroyed. The village has yet to see any relief efforts. Villagers and soldiers are beginning the task of cleanup in this remote east coast village.
  
A woman dries family photographs on the ground behind the Pentacostal Mission in Valachainai, Sri Lanka where she is one of 1,200 refugees. The refugees from several seaside villages on the east coast of the country live in a two story open structure until permanent housing can be worked out.
     
  
K. Vijaykumar, who lives in a beachfront upper middle class neighborhood visits the slum dwellers behind his posh home in Chennai . He let 300 dwellers rush through a gate into his compound and stay there after the Tsunami hit Chennai. Now he returns to check on them and brings crackers. Within 30 seconds of arriving, he is swarmed by more than 50 people grabbing for the few handouts he has brought along. He says he is merely observing asian customs of bringing a small gift when visiting a friend's home with the crackers, but the mob-like behavior of the tsunami affected slum dwellers puts their observance of that custom into question
   
A woman stands in front of the ruins of her beachfront home.
  
The USS Daluth sits off the Sri Lankan coast near the southern city of Galle. Hundreds of residents made their way to the beach to watch a US Navy amphibious landing.
     
  
A dog limps out of Anatresama Madumala's way as she scavenges for items worthy of keeping in the rubble of homes on the beach in Chennai. In the background, her son Benjiman Esterani and grandson Jonathan do the same. Living conditions on the coastline of southern India are horrific following the recent Tsunami disaster which struck the region on December 26, 2004.
   
A young girl sleeps with her brother, sister and mother and father on the street that leads to the beach area in Chennai, India . The area which is about 500 yards from the ocean has hundreds of Tsunami victims sleeping along the sidewalk. No emergency shelter has been set up . Living conditions on the coastline of southern India are horrific following the Tsunami disaster which struck the region on December 26, 2004. Thousands live without any shelter in the Srinivasa Puram neighborhood in Chennai.
  
Muslims cleanse themselves before the morning prayer of Eid at Jamia Masjid Syed Palli in Nagapattinam, India
     
  
US Navy Seaman Brandon Marks of Kansas City, KS peeks his head through the top of an Amphibious vehicle to look out at the hundreds of Sri Lankans gathered on the beach in Galle to watch the landing of the soldiers.
   
Dr. Sardararaja Prabhu tries to get a hold of Nidashanie Ramachandran's arm (age 10) so he can continue tending to an abrasion on her wrist as he delivers medical aid to refugees .
  
Children reach out for aid at the refugee camp at AlamKulam, Sri Lanka . The refugee camp is in Tamil held territory and has no functioning bathroom facilities and the refugees are living in tents sent to Sri Lanka from China.
     
  
Men work on building 500 relief homes at a site in the southern town of Nagapattinam, India. The town of Nagapattinam suffered huge losses in the Tsunami disaster which struck south Asia December 26, 2004. The town's industry, fishing, suffered the loss of hundreds of large fishing boats in its marina and thousands of residents lost their lives. The town is attempting to rebuild, from NGOs constructing temporary shelters to cranes carefully removing boats from the town's shore. Still, the destruction is incomprehensible both in infrastructure and life.
   
A young girl carries a floor mat as she follows her mother back to their Government built relief shelter in Nagapattinam, India
  
A man walks along a dirt road with a child on their way to the food distribution hut at the Alamkulam refugee camp in LTTE held territory in Sri Lanka.
     
  
Keshankar (age 14) and his mother Ruku push a homemade merry-go-round along Marina Beach in Chennai, India as they get into position to try to sell rides for 5 rupees each (about 8 cents US). Before the Tsunami hit, they tell of selling 100 rides per evening, after the disaster they say about 10 rides are given per evening. Ratnam, their husband and father follows behind pushing a coconut cart. Residents of Chennai, India begin to put their lives back together following the recent Tsunami disaster which struck south Asia on December 26, 2004.
   
Fishermen guide the "Annai Exprass" into a line of other boats at the marina in Nagapattinam, India where hundreds of fishing vessels were thrown onto land. Huge cranes began lifting and placing the boats into organized positions in a cleanup effort.
   
As winds stir up the surf causing a rumor of another Tsunami, Mohan dares the sea with a gesture. The pilgrim town of Velanganni in southern India saw the loss of over 1,000 people due to the Tsunami disaster which struck December 26, 2004. The town is home to the world renowned Shrine Basilica which pilgrims believe is a place of miracles. People escaping the waves found refuge inside the large church on that day. With rumors of another Tsunami about to hit , hundreds of town folk run from the sea to higher ground. An approaching storm with high winds caused rough surf frightening the people.
     
  
Residents watch the sea from a berm in front of hundreds of saplings planted to protect the village from future Tsunamis.