Architecture prof returns from Sri Lanka with his, others' stories

Ronald Lewcock, a professor in the College of Architecture, was in Colombo, Sri Lanka at the time of the tsunami. Luckily, Lewcock was staying in an area that was not severely affected. Nevertheless, he still had many stories to tell - some of which he shared with the Technique.

Technique: How did you happen to be in Sri Lanka at that time?

Lewcock: My wife is Sri Lankan, and we were having Christmas with our family.

How much of the crisis did you experience?

[The location] where we were staying has rather deep waters and was not that affected. We saw the damage on the roads and we saw the people running, very upset.

That was all we saw, really. The damage was done where there were surfing [or] fishing beaches, because they were long shallow beaches.

Was it easy for you to get back to the U.S.?

I did not find that the airports were seriously affected and there was no real problem with flying out.

Were any of your acquaintances, friends or family affected?

A cousin of mine and her husband were resting in their rooms on the beach when the door broke down and the water came in. They [were carried] up to the ceiling with half an inch of air left...they were going to drown.

At the last minute, the water went out...it went out very fast, [so] they fell onto the floor and hurt themselves quite badly.

What really shook her was that they were the only people in that row of buildings to survive. So she is very badly traumatized by this experience.

I heard a similar experience from another person who was in a room and the door broke down, but the wave brought people in with it. They all floated up to the ceiling, and they dropped down... when the wave had gone they went out to see who was left on the beach and there was nobody. It was absolutely deserted...and it had been a crowded beach before. I heard many stories like that.

How do you feel about the relief operations and the infrastructure supporting it?

The roads run along the coast for scenic reasons, and they were all damaged. There was actually no communication possible for a while between Colombo, the capital city of Sri Lanka, and the main city in the south, as the main road was damaged very badly and unusable for a long period of time.

They got the road open after...12 to 24 hours, and this was the main link between the two cities.

There is a serious concern about long-term aid. I think on the whole, people are finding it hard to cope with the enormity of the problem. People are worried that due to lack of central organization that there may be too many people [from relief organizations] going to some places and not enough to other places.

The scale of the disaster is hard to comprehend. In Sri Lanka, it means a half a million people have not only lost everything, but are also traumatized and actually mentally disturbed by all of it.

We know of the relief efforts going on around campus. How is the Architecture Department helping in particular?

I am hoping to put the Architectural department in touch with an architect in Sri Lanka who is in the process of organizing both emergency housing (lasting a few months) and temporary housing (lasting up to five years but no more).

What is your perspective on the entire crisis?

One concern is providing shelter to people living without any covering at all. Another concern is human waste; the ground is waterlogged and so the normal way of just digging a hole doesn't work any more. This might cause rampant spread of disease. Also, the lack of organization in the government is a real problem.If anyone out there is interested in volunteering to help the victims of this crisis, please visit www.volunteersrilanka.org.