Fear Factor

By Robert Marquand, Christian Science Monitor. Posted January 3, 2005.

Hikkaduwa Village, Sri Lanka - Pawadamasari fished for 35 years from a harbor where a sign reads, "Welcome to Tourist Paradise." He rarely mixed with the mostly German tourists other than to sell his catch.

He lived quietly with wife and daughters in a straw hut that is now gone. A son-in-law is missing and presumed dead. Now a refugee in a crowded Buddhist temple, Pawadamasari seems unaccustomed to speaking with strangers. But he wants to anyway.

"I am here. I am waking up. But I can't think," he says, pointing to his white bristled hair. "I can't think through anything. I can't think what will happen next."

Despite what officials are describing as a new "post-emergency phase" of the tsunami that laid waste to 700 miles of Sri Lankan coastline, locals here say the central issue is still a paralyzing mentality of fear. On the street, rumors of another tsunami are rife, and there is little official information broadcast to counter it. Speculation swirls about outbreaks of disease, and mixes with newly confirmed reports of scattered riots and banditry. There is no community spirit yet of picking up the pieces and getting on with life. Instead, some 1.5 million displaced persons are heading inland in a coastal exodus that is creating new logistical problems.

"If you talk about the real crisis now, it is the rumors and fears running in the people's minds," says Atula Hewawitharana, the harbor master in Galle. "People are still scared, and will not show up to help."

Three days ago a radio station in Tamil Nadu, India, broadcast a report that an aftershock had created another tsunami. Some 200 villagers employed by Mr. Hewawitharana, who were helping with salvage operations, ran away and did not come back. On Saturday, a similar rumor caused a panic for several hours on the east coast.

Fish is a staple for most Sri Lankans, but Sunday seafood prices plunged as many people feared that the fish had fed on human flesh and would be contaminated. But health officials said that was untrue. "Scientifically, there's nothing to prove that fish caught after the tsunami cannot be consumed," Health Minister Nimal Siripala de Silva told the Associated Press. "It's only a psychological myth that I'm sure will pass with time."

Galle's local health ministry chief, Plyasena Samarakoon, says, "We need people to go home. That is a prerequisite for any return to normalcy. A lot of people still have livable houses or relatives they can stay with. But people aren't ready for that. They are staying away."

Aid to Sri Lanka is now flooding into the national airport 24 hours a day on wide-bodied jets; the number of volunteer doctors from around the globe are so numerous that the Sri Lankan government has asked that no more be sent.

Yet here in Galle – Sri Lanka's second city, with its stucco resorts, Dutch colonial fortress, and famed cricket grounds (now destroyed) – people continue to stand all day outside homes, many experiencing what relief workers say is a profound disorientation. The fishing and tourist industry, 80 percent of the south coast economy, has been wiped out. Many people describe a fear of the ocean, as well as a fear of looting at night – two jails were washed out, and about 200 prisoners escaped.

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