The World Helps Out

December 26, 2004, seemed like an ordinary morning on the coast of Sri Lanka. The sun was shining, the sky was blue, and the weather was pleasant. Then, without warning, the ocean waters rose rapidly. A 40-foot wave, known as a tsunami, crashed ashore. The wave leveled everything in its path. After the disaster, the entire world would come to the aid of the devastated country.

Sri Lanka is an island off the southeastern coast of India in the Indian Ocean. It is a complex country. Sri Lanka's recent history is a violent one. A civil war that began in the 1980s divided the island. Despite this conflict, the island's beautiful beaches and exotic plant and animal life attracted many tourists each year.

On that terrible December day, one of the strongest earthquakes ever recorded occurred near Sumatra, about 1,000 miles away from Sri Lanka. The earthquake set off a series of gigantic waves that bore down on the coastlines of several unsuspecting countries. Unaware of what had just happened across the ocean, Sri Lankans and the country's tourists went about their morning. People fished from catamarans, swimmers paddled in the sea, and vacationers strolled on the sandy beaches.

At about 9:00 A.M., the wave slammed into Sri Lanka's coast. As the water rushed inland, it carried everything in its path. Fishing boats were swept up. The water tossed cars as if they were toys. It dismantled buildings and uprooted trees. People who had been swimming in the ocean, walking on the beach, or sleeping in hotels found themselves being tossed in a torrent of water as if they were in a washing machine. Those caught in the surge had to try to stay afloat, avoiding dangerous debris and clinging to anything that might save their lives. Then, just as quickly as it had surged, the water receded. Many people caught in the waves were swept out to sea.

Thousands of people died. Thousands more were missing. Many needed medical attention. The wave destroyed buildings and leveled entire villages. Many Sri Lankans made their living by fishing. Now debris was polluting the surrounding ocean and killing the fish. Most of the catamarans were scattered in ruins. While survivors were grateful to be alive, they saw devastation everywhere they looked. Millions of people had nowhere to live and no way to make a living. There was little food to eat and there was no fresh water to drink. The situation appeared grim.

The Sri Lankan government declared a state of emergency and requested international assistance. The disaster was too big for them to handle alone.

The news of the disaster quickly reached the United States, Australia, Europe, and other Asian countries. People began to plan ways to help the countries hit by the tsunamis, which also included Indonesia, India, and Thailand. Many governments around the world pledged money. This allowed the United Nations to meet its $977-million goal for a tsunami aid fund within a month of the disaster. People donated money to organizations in record numbers. Just three days after the disaster, the Red Cross had received $18 million in pledges for the tsunami victims.

Across the United States, students sprang to action. They came up with creative ways to raise funds for tsunami relief. In Baltimore, Maryland, students at Parkville Middle School donated snack money and collected donations from family and neighbors. The school sent more than $2,000 to the International Red Cross. Cole Middle School in East Greenwich, Connecticut, raised more than $2,300 for relief and recovery efforts in the Hambantota district of Sri Lanka. Students at Audubon Elementary School in Foster City, California, made a quilt and raffled it off. The school donated the proceeds of the raffle to UNICEF, an organization that focuses on the welfare of children. Three friends, Jacob Rasch and twins Danielle and David Sackstein, sold wristbands printed with the words "Relief, Rebuild, Restore - Schools Building Schools" to help schools in Sri Lanka. They sold thousands of wristbands and raised more than $200,000.

The generosity of people and outpouring of help was tremendous. However, relief organizations faced another hurdle: How would they get aid to the people who needed it? Roads in Sri Lanka had been washed away. Airports were overwhelmed. Communication systems weren't working. Relief groups decided the best way to provide life-saving supplies was to team up with other organizations already in the tsunami-affected countries. Working together, these groups were able to deliver food and water. They set up temporary shelters. Medical volunteers vaccinated people against possible disease and tended to the sick and injured.

The tsunamis killed 181,000 people. Experts estimated the final death toll in Sri Lanka alone to be between 31,000 and 37,000 people. Two million people were left without homes.

Despite those tragic numbers, the situation has begun to improve. A year after the disaster, nearly all Sri Lankan children had returned to school. Many people who had lost their jobs were working again. Most of the damaged hotels had reopened and tourists were returning. The complete rebuilding of Sri Lanka will take a long time, but international aid has put the country on the road to recovery.

1.	VISUALIZE Picture the scene described here. How would someone react who saw this happen?
2.	DRAW CONCLUSIONS Why might Sri Lanka have needed the help of other countries after the tsunami?
3.	DRAW CONCLUSIONS Why do you think people in Sri Lanka did not know the tsunami was coming?
4.	RESPOND How would you have felt if you were caught in the water from the Tsunami?
5.	SYNTHESIZE How was the disaster too big for the Sri Lankan government to handle?
6.	MAIN IDEA What is the main idea of this article?
7.	RESPOND What do you think about the ways students raised money for the tsunami victims?
8.	DRAW CONCLUSIONS Why do you think airports were overwhelmed?
9.	PREDICT What are some ways in which the situation in Sri Lanka might have improved since the devastating tsunami?
10.	DRAW CONCLUSIONS What lessons might people have learned from the tsunami disaster?