RIYADH, 10 January 2005 — Almost a week after the first deadly tsunami devastated coastlines along Southeast Asia and Africa, the search for the dead and missing continues. For some expatriate families living in Riyadh, the past few days have been some of the most heartbreaking.
“The body count has been endless,” said Rissaya Abdul Cader, a teacher from Sri Lanka who lost several members of her family. She has spent the past week collecting donations of clothes and other items for fellow Sri Lankans back home. Her family lived in Sainthamaruthu in eastern Sri Lanka, an area that was directly hit by tsunami. The whole area has been devastated, she said.
“My mother’s sister is dead and her son’s body has also been found. The body of her cousin was found on a rooftop several houses away,” Rissaya added sadly.
Another cousin was a doctor at a hospital, before the entire building with 100 patients was swept away by the colossal tides; his body has also been recovered. Rissaya told Arab News that she could not contact everyone and there were still many people missing. “Two large families that lived across the street from our house have vanished without a trace.”
Sri Lankan Ambassador Ibrahim Sahib Ansar told Arab News that he was deeply moved by the outpouring of support from people in the Kingdom.
“We were never ready for such a tragedy. More than 30,196 bodies have been found and over 3,486 people remain missing. Due to the scale of the tragedy, everyone in the Sri Lankan community here has been affected. We also had never expected to receive as much aid as we have, and we have exceeded our target. Everyone has been very generous and concerned, and we are very grateful to the people of Saudi Arabia and the Saudi government for their continued support.”
Shocked and grieved by her loss, Rissaya joined friends and neighbors in collecting donations for those that had been left behind. By week’s end, she had two truckloads of clothes, food, utensils and other items of need. A leading cargo company, Trico International, offered to deliver the donations to Sri Lanka free of charge.
“I cannot express my gratitude to all my friends and neighbors who generously and willingly contributed toward the tsunami victims of eastern Sri Lanka. My sincere thanks goes to my neighbor Shameem Rashid who so kindly organized the donations. My family would also like to thank Andrew Sinnen of Trico International for his support. No words can express my feelings at this moment. Suffering with the family is one thing, but suffering away from them not knowing if anyone in the family is alive or not is quite another,” she said.
Rissaya is also thankful to the strangers who have stepped forth to help her in her time of need, including a young Sri Lankan man in Buraidah who lost all but three members of his family. His employer, she said, had given him and others whose families had been affected by the tsunami SR1,000 each as well as a free ticket home.
