EDITOR’S NOTE: The following contains snapshots from the five countries hardest-hit by Sunday’s earthquake and tsunami waves, including a personal account by an Associated Press reporter in Sri Lanka

By GEMUNU AMARASINGHE

Associated Press Writer

AMBLANGODA, Sri Lanka (AP) – The twisted limbs of the frail-bodied girl were caught in a garden fence near the sea. She may have died, but no one stopped – there was already too much tragedy around her to check.

I had gone to the Amblamgoda to drop off my parents for a Buddhist ceremony, and was driving back to Colombo, the capital, when I got a message that flooding had been caused by a huge tidal wave.

Then I noticed people running, and the first waves hit the road. They were less powerful than the waves that were reported up north. The waves brought fish to the shore, and some young boys rushed to catch them.

But soon afterward, the devastating second series of waves came. Water started climbing. I scrambled to the roof of my Pajero 4X4, expecting to be safe. The water kept coming. In a few minutes my jeep was under water. The roof collapsed.

I joined masses of people in escaping to high land. Some carried their dead and injured loved ones. Some of the dead were eventually placed at roadside, and covered with sarongs. Others walked past dazed, asking if anyone had seen their family members.

Then, after 15 minutes, the water level started coming down and I walked out of the area.

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By OMER FAROOQ

Associated Press Writer

MANGINAPUDI BEACH, India (AP) – The women and children had ritual baths in the sea on the occasion of the Full Moon Day, an auspicious day for Hindus. Then, the tsunami struck, sweeping 35 of them out to sea and then throwing their lifeless bodies back on shore.

Residents rushed in vain to save the women and children, giving them mouth-to-mouth resuscitation, pumping sea water from their bellies.

“It is such a tragedy,” said Venkaratnam, a villager who uses only one name. He was clad only in a sarong and drenched in sea water. “We tried to our best to save these people, but could not do anything for them.”

Some rescuers even tried to run for medical help while carrying the victims before realizing they were dead.

There were similar scenes of devastation along the southeastern Indian coast. In Narsapuram, a small coastal town, tidal waves as high as coconut trees washed away hundreds of small fishing boats.

In Prakasam, a pleasant, sunny Sunday morning turned into the most frightening day of 45-year-old Giri Prasad’s life.

“The sea suddenly turned furious, and within no time it was upon us,” he said. Tidal waves several yards high “were heading toward the village like an army of wild elephants,” causing extensive damage and killing seven people.

And in the village of Mypadu, people were furious with the top administrator in their region when he came to visit a few hours after the disaster to check on their well-being and the fate of 200 fishermen still missing at sea.

The villagers had apparently told him by telephone as the waves struck that seawater was entering their village and the embankment had been breached.

“You must be joking,” he reportedly replied.

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By ALISA TANG

Associated Press Writer

PHUKET, Thailand (AP) – Cars, window panes and chairs littered the sea. Pickup trucks were on top of walls. People in shock, some blood-covered, were evacuated into the hills or packed the hospital wards of this popular southern Thai resort.

For Ann Sophie Spetz, a holiday dream of white, sandy beaches and turquoise waters had turned into a “nightmare.”

“It was horrible,” said Spetz, of Uppsala, Sweden, who was having breakfast on Kamala beach with her husband when one of her three children raced over, crying out before the waves touched down. “People had blood all over them and they screamed and screamed.”

The family followed other foreign tourists who were evacuated to the hills, staying for hours without food. Locals brought them water, and finally they returned to the seaside to eat, but their relief was short-lived.

“The Thai people came again and shouted, ‘The waves are coming, the waves are coming,’ and we threw down our food and ran into the hills again,” said Spetz.

Trond Schistad, 38, of Rognan, Norway, said he did not know that tidal waves were pounding Kamala beach while he and his relatives were swimming in the waters off Phi Phi island, where hundreds of boats sank and some 200 seriously injured people were evacuated.

Schistad said the waters were calm. The only giveaway was the window panes and chairs floating in the waters.

“We were wondering why there was so much trash in the sea,” he said.

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By CHRIS BRUMMITT

Associated Press Writer

JAKARTA, Indonesia (AP) – The most powerful earthquake in the last 40 years was felt first in Aceh on the northern tip of Sumatra island, the Indonesian province closest to the undersea epicenter.

The shaking lasted for about four minutes. But what felt like mild swaying in further-flung cities across Southeast Asia was violent in Banda Aceh, the provincial capital, collapsing buildings and toppling the minaret on the centuries-old mosque that dominates the skyline.

Soon after, rumors began spreading that water levels in the river that cuts through Banda Aceh’s heart were rising, an aid worker in the city told his colleague in Jakarta, the capital. Flooding and quake damage then cut all links to the city.

Twelve hours later, at least 1,400 people had died in and around the stricken city, the Health Ministry said, basing the figure on short-wave radio reports received from officials on the scene.

Banda Aceh, a city of about 400,000 people, was unusual in Sunday’s disaster in that the quake caused many of the deaths. Elsewhere, thousands died from flooding caused by huge tsunami waves.

“People are fleeing their houses in panic, and the talk is that the river is rising,” said Arista Idris, an official with the International Organization of Migration, quoting a colleague in Banda Aceh. By late Sunday, they hadn’t heard from the colleague again.

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By SEAN YOONG

Associated Press Writer

KUALA LUMPUR, Malaysia (AP) – Tidal waves that struck villages on Malaysia’s northwestern coast were a terrifying experience for many people, even hardy fishermen and other residents who are accustomed to tropical downpours and regular monsoon flooding.

A wedding ceremony turned into bedlam when the reception became the site of a flash flood. A government health inspector lost his wife and four siblings when they were swallowed up by the sea during a beach picnic. Residents who parked their cars near river banks returned to learn their vehicles were swept away. Preschool children enjoying an afternoon dip in usually placid waters ended up drowning.

“When I saw the waves that were even taller than a big man, I couldn’t believe my eyes,” said boat-maker Karim Aman, 45. “This is what you see on TV happening in other places, but it’s not supposed to happen in Malaysia.”

The scenes of destruction sparked by the tidal waves shocked a country that – because of its geographical location – has no experience with earthquakes, tsunamis, volcanoes or other natural disasters that plague its neighbors.

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