A first small wave came in at 8:20am, about 2 feet into our resturant, whereafter the sea sucked out over 1km, exposing the seabed.  A second wave came. It was 35ft above normal sea level...

The bridge linking Arugam Bay and Pottuvil.  The Canadian army ferried people across for several months

The remains of our first six rooms. Height of waves is indicated by change from brown to green in the palmyrah tree (foreground right)

(to compare, this photo of the same spot was taken in 2002)

Resturant and bar, roof blown off

the remains of two rooms...

Room 5's remains:

The restaurant remains with the original road sign that survived

A new bar constructed at our sister hotel Roccos, completed three months before the tsunami

...and the effect of the tsunami upon it

Bus in the main road

This guy was inside that car, he's explaning how it rolled over:

Boats and debris were found as far as 750m from normal tide level

200m from tide level:

Police Landrover

The following three photos show the magnitude of destruction in the centre of the Arugam Bay, the worst hit...

Naleen, co-owner and manager of the hotel, shows how he and four of our staff survived.  They climbed into the water tower, which remained standing, despite seawater splashing two feet above its top.  Naleen had a broken arm in a cast at the time of the tsunami...

Where an object hit our tree, Naleen in foreground for scale

Many in Arugam Bay are still recovering from the effects of the tsunami - few, if any, recieved any substantial help from the $billions generously donated in the aftermath. Sri Lanka was then in a period of peace after a ceasefire agreement, but the resurgence of the conflict in 2005 destroyed the local tourism business for three years.  The best thing you can do to help the Bay now is pay a visit - its wonderful here, and the surf is up !