Tourists help to turn the tide

Just over a week after the disaster that shocked the world, tourists are returning to the stricken areas of south Asia. But now they come on a mission - they are travellers turned aid workers.

Yesterday Pippa Farruuggia arrived at Katanayake Airport in Colombo. The 32-year-old doctor was touching down on this devastated land for the second time in eight days. The first time she found a land so shattered, she felt it best to leave.

Packing her bags, she continued her travels to Laos. But soon after reaching her new destination, she realised she had made a mistake. It gnawed at her. She had to go back.

It is far from a unique story. Asia's battered coastlines are, once again, filled with the voices of Europeans. And they don't belong just to professional aid workers.

Hundreds of holidaymakers have arrived since the world's most powerful earthquake in 40 years stunned the globe. But they're not lazing by the pool. They are so appalled by the loss of life that they have become the new relief squads.

Reports of similar mini-invasions of traveller volunteers are coming in from Thailand and parts of Indonesia. But nowhere is this trend more evident than in Sri Lanka, the second-worst-hit nation, which has lost at least 30,000 of its people.

From Colombo's hotel a steady stream of helpers make their way to the headquarters of aid organisations and emergency relief groups.

Laura Conrad of Save the Children has been running relief convoys from the capital to the battered town of Galle in the south, where at least 2000 locals are thought to have perished. Yesterday, as she handed out medical supplies, water and food at camps for refugees evacuated from the town, she paid tribute to the new recruits.

"Save the Children was being helped by people who had been heading here on holiday and decided that they should not abandon their plans," she said.

For some that has even meant staying on longer than planned. Eric Coleman was in the resort of Unawatuna, just along the coast from Galle, when the waves slammed in.

After struggling to safety, his ordeal had only just begun. His family was down the coast in Galle Fort and he had no idea of their fate.

Upon walking the 5km to the walled 17th-century, Dutch-fortified section of the town, he discovered that they were alive and well.

But immediately they set about doing their best to alleviate the suffering of the injured, the bereaved and the hungry. Project Galle 2005 was born.

Originally Coleman, from Sussex, and his girlfriend had planned on staying in Sri Lanka for just a month or two before returning home. But now he is looking at an extended visit. And even if, as expected, he returns to England in February, he will remain involved in the operation there.

"This has had a massive impact on my life," Coleman said.

"On a personal level, it was a shocking, frightening experience. But it has become much more. I've never been involved in a relief operation before."

He explained many travellers had come into Project Galle 2005 and told him their priorities in life were changing as a result of what they had seen first-hand - or even on television before they came out.

Project Galle 2005 started last week collecting and distributing aid donated locally. Soon it had hooked up with Colombo-based group Impact, which has been collecting in the capital and routing vital materials to the worst-hit areas.

Impact is also seeing an "incredible" response from overseas visitors so affected by what they saw on television they felt they had to help.

One organiser said: "We have people coming in daily and telling us that for 24 hours or so they thought they would forget about the holiday.

"But then they realise that, far from getting in the way, they can actually be vitally important players in this fight to save and rebuild shattered lives."

Australians, Russians, Irish, Swedes, Americans and many others are all finding roles for themselves.

Alex Marden arrived in Sri Lanka's interior for a family break this week. And, while the wave did not physically wreak havoc on the inland areas, there had been fears that a tourism downturn could shatter a vital source of income.

"We wondered if we should cancel," said Marden, a 24-year-old film designer who lives in Whitechapel, east London. "But my father insisted that we should still travel and he was right.

"People are so pleased to see that we have not given up on Sri Lanka. I would encourage anyone to come here now. This country needs a boost."

In certain areas, though, hotels have been surprised by the determination of some to have their holiday.

The Lighthouse in Galle survived the worst of the tsunami and carried on operating with the help of temporary generators. It has now become the headquarters for the international journalists who descended on Sri Lanka after the disaster.

So much so that when one English couple turned up over the weekend they were told all rooms had gone. But when they produced their reservation certificate, the startled staff managed to accommodate them elsewhere in the hotel.

- INDEPENDENT