After the match at the MCC Grounds we visited the Hikkaduwa coastline where the tsunami waves caused the devastation which destroyed 24 of the 28 villages in the Seenigama Community. The large Buddha statue was donated by the Japanese Government along with aid to help build the first stages of the coastal defences on the Galle Road.
The tsunami memorial is on the site of a mass grave where there are believed to be 800 bodies, This memorial also commemorates the 1800 people who died when the Galle to Colombo train was swept away by a 30 ft wave as it stopped to rescue people stranded in the first wave which had only been 4ft deep.
Standing on the shore on a beautiful sunny afternoon it is hard to imagine what the people suffered on that fateful morning in 2004.
From the beach we moved on to the Foundation of Goodness where Kushil Gunasekarra welcomed the Tour Party and showed us around. He outlined all the developments which have been completed since our last visit and his plans for building a model village in North Sri Lanka. We are all looking forward to visting the village and School on Monday.
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