What we've seen and heard.
It's pretty odd — other than losing power for a few hours and cancelling visits to the beach, we have been unaffected here. On Sunday morning the 26th we found out that a tidal wave had hit a few hours before and that 150 had died on the west coast. Then a second major wave came around noon, each new report delivered an increasingly unbelievable body count from a larger area, and we began to understand that it was something big. While Colombo had a few dozen deaths (as with all these numbers, this is only the last I heard), they were probably all from the shantytowns right on the beach; the only visible sign here is the debris on the beach and the train tracks that run next to it.
The front page of the local newspaper the day after the disaster. The large photo was taken right where we are, although the damage was light compared to most parts of Sri Lanka.
The cricket grounds at the southern city of Galle before the tsunami hit.
The cricket grounds after the tsunami stripped everything, leaving only dirt and rubble.
Watching the news in Colombo. The newspeople have been reading long lists of names of the missing and phone numbers to contact if you know where they are.