Finding a cause on the road to Gaul.(From the Field)

Traveling on the road to Gaul in Sri Lanka on Dec. 26, I was looking forward to visiting the beautiful town at the southern tip of this tiny nation and celebrating the upcoming wedding of a friend. Like the rest of Southeast Asia that early morning, I was totally unprepared for the natural devastation about to occur.

Fortunately for me and my traveling companion, we had been delayed that morning. As we approached the town, the police were just barricading the road from the first wave's mild flooding. We turned inland to higher ground, unaware of the tragedy about to occur from the tsunami wave about to unfurl. But we soon learned that the second torrential wave had swept away the city we were about to visit, as well as hundreds of thousands of people around that part of the globe. We witnessed panic and devastation unlike anything imaginable.

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