December 2024

Today, Boxing Day, 2024, marks 20 years since the Indian Ocean earthquake and tsunami which claimed the lives of more than 227,000. I travelled to India and the Andaman Islands shortly after to film a report on behalf of the Presbyterian Church in Ireland who in a very short space of time had raised £1.6 million to help victims, many of whom had lost their homes and belongings.

The main partners in the operation to aid victims were Tear Fund and the Church of North India. Rev Ken Newell was the moderator at the time and we first of all travelled to Tamil Nadu where he officially handed over new fishing boats to replace some of those that had been destroyed, thus saving the livelihoods of a number of fishermen.

I then flew to a group of islands in the Indian Ocean known as the Andaman Islands, where whole villages had been wiped out. There are around 200 islands in the group of Andaman Islands. There wasn’t any commercial transport between the islands at the time so we hitched a ten hour ride in a cargo boat. It was this same boat and this same captain that had been ferrying supplies to the smaller islands since the tsunami wreaked its damage.

On the island where I filmed, a whole village had been destroyed, with every building that had been standing, wiped out. But by the grace of God, all of the villagers escaped death. That was thanks to the animals in the village and some very wise village elders who noticed that the animals had mysteriously moved to high ground. They realised that the animals’ instincts had warned them of the ensuing danger. The elders in turn issued the warning, “A tsunami’s coming,” and they ordered that the village be evacuated and the whole population moved to high ground. Together, the animals and the elders saved hundreds of lives.
When we arrived, the residents of the destroyed village were rebuilding.

These villagers were mostly Christian and members of the Church of North India. The first building to be rebuilt even before their homes, was a new place of worship. Although they had suffered much loss, they were grateful to God for guiding them to high ground and thereby sparing their lives. They were grateful to their friends from the Church of North India who arranged supplies for new buildings so they had materials t build with. And they were very grateful for members of the Presbyterians Church in Ireland who came alongside them and made the rebuilding possible.

Below are links to two pieces I filmed twenty years ago. Bear in mind we didn’t have access to the digital film cameras that we take for granted today, and because of the nature of the filming it meant operating as a one man band. Nevertheless, it was an amazing story and an experience I’ll never forget.

https://lnkd.in/eUhhEv4f

https://lnkd.in/eU669Kc7