This photo was taken for a post-tsunami recovery project based in Madampagama on the south west coast of Sri Lanka. The project is a joint effort between The Sustainable Trust in the UK and The Centre for Environment and Development in Sri Lanka. For more details on this project click here.

On the day I took this image we had decided, despite an impending storm brewing, to take bicycles and brave the mad Sri Lankan traffic along the main coastal road. From this road you get a very clear idea of exactly how much damage the tsumani did. Those buildings not in the process of being rebuilt are just left, sometimes with the occupants living in tented shacks alongside. I stopped at this house firstly because it was such an old, elaborate and sturdy looking building. Basically only half of it remained. Looking through the remains of the window out to sea seemed an appropriate composition to tell the story of this house. The cloud line out to sea also, quite chillingly, reminded me of a wave.

 

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