Sri Lanka Tsunami 2004 - One year later

These are images of people and places in Sri Lanka that were badly affected by the 26 December 2004 tsunami, triggered by the 9.2 magnitude Indian Ocean earthquake. One year after this tragedy I travelled to Sri Lanka together with my wife in order to document in pictures and interviews, places and people that were affected by the tsunami. This was an attempt to gain some perspective and closure for us, as we had ourselves been caught in the middle of it while travelling on train #50 "The Queen of The Sea", a train that would make history as the largest single rail disaster in world history by death toll, with probably 1, 700 fatalities or more. Our train was travelling south from Colombo towards Galle, 200 meters parallel to the ocean, when it was caught and destroyed by a wall of water and debris. The train was hit as it passed through the villages of Peraliya and Telwatte. It is estimated that some 2,500 people died (villagers and train passangers) while only 8 walls of 498 houses remained standing. Out of the 1,700 passengers on board the train, it has been estimated that there were only between 20-40 survivors, including my wife and myself.