COLOMBO: When the tsunami hit Sri Lanka on Boxing Day 2004, not one animal in the Yala National Park in the south was known to have perished. Leopards, deer and birds had retreated inland, innately sensing the approaching danger.
The local population was not so fortunate. The retreating sea, always the first phase of a tsunami, attracted thousands of curious on-lookers to the beaches -- and ultimately to their deaths. More than 33,000 Sri Lankans were killed, and millions more suffered bereavement, homelessness and hardship.
The use of animals as an early-warning system for earthquakes may yet become a reality. Researchers at Durham University and their counterparts in Sri Lanka are looking at how this phenomenon in the animal kingdom can be harnessed for the greater human good.
The project is one of several academic and community schemes being carried out by the university in partnership with other agencies and organisations, including Durham Cathedral and Rotary International, to help rebuild the devastated country.
Joy Palmer-Cooper, Durham University's Project Sri Lanka director, says: "When the tsunami happened, a decision was taken to make a humanitarian response. Some of us had personal links with the country and had been there before, so it was an easy decision.
"Even eight months after the event, on my first visit back, the effects were devastating. Where we once saw homes and businesses on the sea-front there was now an open path to the ocean with piles of rubble and small trees planted in someone's memory. It was very sad and disorienting. People were traumatised."
Just over a year on and there is progress. Fundraising projects by students, schools, churches and charities in the north-east of England will help pay for new schools in the southern, devastated areas of Palana West, Rassandeniya and Maraketiara. Fishing boats and other equipment are being provided to revitalise shattered businesses and improve the local economy.
Last summer, 15 students from Durham spent nine weeks in the summer working with local communities on regeneration and education projects. Next year's cohort is about to be interviewed, and interest is high.
Laura Youngson, 21, who is on a four-year masters degree course in physics, spent last summer teaching English and organising sports and cultural activities in Palana West. She says: "I can't honestly say that the experience had any relevance to my university course. But as far as personal development was concerned it was invaluable. You could see some of the more shy and reserved members of the group growing in confidence by the day."
The Higher Education Funding Council for England (Hefce), which has recognised the project as a landmark operation for its fundraising, teaching and research, is supporting the project as a pilot study in internationalisation to the tune of £57,000 over three years.
The money will fund visits to Durham by academics from Ruhuna University in the southern city of Matara. The universities will cooperate on a range of long-term scientific and education research projects. Scholarships will also be offered to Sri Lankan students to study at Durham.
None of Durham University's departments are being allowed to shirk from the project. "It has relevance across all departments," Professor Palmer-Cooper says. "Everyone wants to be involved because they can see the benefits from a humanitarian and educational perspective.
“The students who take part in this do so as a considerable personal sacrifice to themselves. They give up their summer holiday and any earning potential that might provide.” —Dawn/Guardian News Service
