Tsunami, a sign from God, claim Sri Lankan Church leaders

Colombo, Sri Lanka – In the wake of the Asian disaster that struck on December 26, 2004, the Christian community in Sri Lanka are beginning to believe that it is a clarion call from God to the island nation, embroiled in a 20–year ethnic conflict, asking them set aside their religious and communal differences and unite.

“I see this calamity that commonly affected Sinhalese, Tamils and Muslims as God's plan to make all these communities realize the dire need for unity, setting aside all their racial and religious barriers,” said Fr. Sritharan Sylvester, director of the Eastern Human and Economic Development Center, the social–service organization of Trincomalee–Batticaloa diocese.

Noting that “Sinhalese from various parts of the country are donating food and cooked meals and distributing them among the Tamils in our diocese,” Fr. Sylvester felt that this goodwill and sensitivity toward those in need regardless of race or creed could be utilized to unite and rebuild a nation divided along ethnic lines.

“The Sunday disaster is a divine intervention for our people to cast off their racial and other prejudices and begin to think seriously in terms of national unity,” said Fr. George Dissanayake, parish priest in Trincomalee. The diocese's St Mary's Cathedral is in Trincomalee, but the bishop's residence and a co–cathedral are in Batticaloa, which is based in Batticaloa, about 110 kilometers south.

The priest, who is secretary, interpreter and coordinator of the Sri Lanka monitoring team in Eastern Province said that “for a year or so, we have to forget about war, peace talks or Interim Self–Government Authority, giving priority instead to the 'affected people' and 'rehabilitation.'“

The interim authority, demanded by the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE), is a main sticking point in the stalled peace talks between the government and the LTTE, which broke down in April 2003. They began the previous year after a cease–fire ended almost 20 years of ethnic conflict that has claimed up to 80,000 lives. The LTTE had been fighting since 1983 for a separate Tamil state in the north and east of Sri Lanka.

Sinhalese Buddhists form about 69 percent of Sri Lanka's more than 19 million people and Tamil Hindus almost 16 percent. Christians, who come from the Sinhalese and Tamil communities, and Muslims each form about 7.5 percent.

According to Fr. Dissanayake, the disaster is an excellent opportunity for the government and rebels to ignore their differences, at least temporarily, and work toward building a “new nation” out of the debris, following the example of other countries ravaged by war and other calamities.

Fr. Herman Fernando, director of “SEDGalle,” the social–service unit of Galle diocese in southernmost Sri Lanka, agreed, admiring the involvement of people from unaffected areas in helping victims.

“Despite the destruction and untold suffering, we should not lose courage but see the sign of God in this hour of need,” he said.

This tragedy could be seen not just as a sign of God's supreme presence compared to the inability of science and technology to avert natural disasters, but also as God's call for unity among all communities, religions, political affiliations, the poor and the rich, the weak and the powerful.

Clement Jayasinghe, a retired government servant from Kalutara believed that the rage of the sea is a clear indication of God's wrath due to moral deterioration and discord in the country, but also “a divine call to shun religious bigotry and violence.”

Soma Thotagama, a Buddhist housewife from Panadura, also south of the capital, said a powerful entity existed in the universe and the disaster is an indication of this entity's vengeance on erring humankind going against his laws and plans. She hoped that Sri Lankans would return to their religious tenets and avoid religious strife.

Powerful tidal waves, unleashed by an undersea earthquake that figured 9.0 in the Richter Scale, swamped the coastal areas of the island nation and inundated them, killing over 30,000 people and leaving nearly half a million people homeless.

Loreta Ranasinghe, secretary of the Christian Workers' Movement (CWM) cell in Matara, said that waves 30–50 feet high walls of waves swept into Our Lady of Matara Shrine as people were receiving Communion in the southernmost town. They took away about 20 people, including Ranasinghe and a nun. “Shrine administrator Father Charles Hewawasam managed to escape in the nick of time and Providence preserved me for some reason or other,” she said, adding, “but my unmarried sister was engulfed by the fast–receding waves. Her body was found and buried.”

Br. Daniel Sandanam, a deacon stationed at St. Mary's Cathedral in Galle, is engaged in relief operations. According to him, the venerated Marian statue of the shrine was at first washed out to sea, but later brought back by waves. “The shrine, however, is partly damaged,” he said.

The deacon further said that Galle, 116 kilometers from Colombo, is completely devastated, and that the stench from decaying corpses is unbearable. The corpses have been buried as quickly as possible to avoid water contamination that can spread disease. More than 800 bodies of nearly 1,000 passengers trapped in the wreckage of the Colombo–Matara train that was struck by the tsunamis have now been buried, he reported.

According to Fr. Sritharan, every refugee in the 98 camps in Batticaloa district has lost a family member. Seven churches and one convent of Franciscan Missionary nuns in this district were destroyed, he said.

Fr. Dissanayake said they have set up a 'cathedral relief service' in Trincomalee to which people come with their material donations. “The Church in this area is a powerful body, much involved in relief work,” he explained.