INDONESIA: We arrived in this evening after a wonderful day of sightseeing in Kandy to our hotel and began packing for our trip to Colombo tomorrow morning. Within minutes all of our phones started buzzing, bringing the bad news about the earthquake near Indonesia.
Our stomachs sank and faces dropped as we let the news settle. Without TV or access to the internet, we were relying on the information that people at home were able to get through on the busy phone networks. Although the volunteers that came with me are safe in Kandy, we have left behind numerous other volunteers in Galle that we are concerned about, not to mention all the local people we have befriended in the last two weeks.
News began slowly trickling through about the situation while we waited around our phones. We have heard that the Sri Lankan government has issued a warning of an impending natural disaster and that the quake may cause a tsunami. All we can think about are the poor people down in Galle and other areas that were affected on December 26th. The children are tucked into their beds in the orphanages right now and we are wondering if the people there, and in the relief camps, are even aware of what may be coming their way.
I managed to get through to Cliff Sutherland from Canada who was working almost full-time in the Sambodi orphanage for the physically and mentally disabled. He was staying in the hotel Unawatuna Bay, which has been evacuated.
He said the situation is not as hectic as one would expect down there at the moment.
There are people running around the streets shouting "tsunami". But most people are simply walking around assessing the situation. There is movement in the relief camps too and some people are fleeing from their homes and tents.
Last Saturday, on the three- month anniversary of the St Stephens's Day tsunami, there were some predictions about a second one that was to hit that day.
Many people gathered what little belongings they had and headed for the hills. Most of them, however, came back down yesterday and today. We can only imagine what terror and fear they must be feeling right now.
There is currently no sign of a tsunami in nearby islands and if there was to be one, then it should have happened by now. As time goes by it's less and less likely that a one will occur. We won't be sleeping much tonight.
Fiona O'Connor (24) is from Dublin and opted out of her IT job to do voluntary tsunami relief work for a fortnight near Galle in Sri Lanka which came to an end at the weekend. She is currently travelling in the region.