Galle had suffered heavily from drifting debris, which was scattered all over the flat parts of town and unforgettable remain those unreal looking TV pictures, that were showing these big lorries and buses looking like small driftwood between the Cricket stadium and Food City.
After the Tsunami Unawatuna and Galle were in a mess, as these videos with eyewitness interviews reveal.
Video
1 - Galle area
Video 2 - Matara Express
Video 3 - Galle and Unawatuna
Unawatuna and Hikkaduwa had been looking so very nice only a few days before the Tsunami.
After the Tsunami the Surfcity guest house owner had talked about the recovery.
Many car owners must have felt very sad after Christmas 2004.
Car owners could have evacuated their vehicles by driving up the hill. But at 9 in the morning most of them had been asleep on that Christmas day, so that the amount of wrecks had been large.
Lucky were those, who had been able to buy drinking water and other basic supply at food city, where it was even hard to get in at times.