Sri Lanka Reef Ball Projects
Scroll Down for Links
- Pahvima.org Project
Overview Tsunami Memorial (PDF)
- Video of Tsunami
Memorial Project (Very Good but large, 32 megs so expect a slight buffering
delay on broadband)
- Request
for Funding of Tsunami Memorial Project
- Renderings of
Reef Ball Tsunami Memorial and Sri Lanka Images
- Reef
Ball Tsunami Memorial Call For Funding
- Scuba diving project that may expand to Reef Balls
In May 2005, another opportunity arose. A different colleague
from the consumer technology industry contacted Kelly about taking part in a
scuba project in Sri Lanka.
A team of scuba dive masters, collectively known as ScubaPOP!, is already
there, donating its professional expertise to help the friendly coastal
village of Madiha, in the district of Polhena. Many of the people, homes and
jobs in this southwestern tip of the country succumbed to the tsunami. To
this day, many of the children are still so traumatized, that they become
physically ill just looking at the ocean.
The scuba project entails first surveying and documenting the damage to the
coral reefs in the area to begin understanding and, eventually,
re-propagating these precious eco-systems. The team of divers will then
train selected survivors to become dive masters and create a viable
dive-based tourism economy to replace economies lost during the tsunami.
The last aspect of this project, according to Kelly, is to engineer an
underwater memorial dedicated to the lives lost in the area during the
tragedy. “We feel the memorial will not only allow the local people and
our team to honor the victims, but also provide a destination for future
dive visitors to pay their own respects,” said Kelly.
“We hope this project will help the people in Madiha regain their trust in
the ocean, which has provided the primary means of sustenance for many
years,” he added.
Kelly’s role in the project will include photographing the reef underwater
as the divers survey the damage and writing about their activities. He plans
to send regular updates on an online blog as well as seek some freelancing
assignments for magazines such as SportDiver and Scuba Diving
Magazine.
“No one is being paid for it, we’re all just trying to get over there
and do what we can with whatever equipment we can get: fins, masks, training
manuals and larger equipment, such as air compressors,” said Kelly.
They have the support of Underwater Safaris, one of first dive organizations
in Sri Lanka, created by science fiction writer Arthur C. Clark, who helped
Stanley Kubrick write the screenplay for “2001: A Space Odyssey.”
The Indian Ocean Marine Affairs Cooperation, as well as private companies in
Denmark and Mexico, have also shown their support. The government of Sri
Lanka is aware of the project, but the foreign minister of Sri Lanka was
recently assassinated, and the area has in the past has been rife with civil
unrest due to religious differences.
- 6
th International Conference on Coastal and Port Engineering in Developing
Countries, Colombo, Sri Lanka, 2003
Design of low-crested (submerged) structures
– an overview – Krystian
W. Pilarczyk, Rijkswaterstaat, Road and Hydraulic Engineering Division
Other Information
Hasith W.
hasith@informatics.lk
(interested in being an authorized contractor, has erosion problems) 2/03
Koen Broker
ARCADIS Euroconsult
Associate expert
Coastal Resource Management Project
Component A: Coastal Environment and Resource Management
Madiha Memorial Contacts
Kirk@MailmanChina.com <Kirk@MailmanChina.com>
'vladimir soto' <vladimir.sotoh@gmail.com>
'Francesca Koe' <fkoe@earthlink.net>
'S Quiroz' <animanueva@hotmail.com>
<memorialsrilanka@gmail.com>
Authorized Contractors for the Area
Reefball Asia Sdn Bhd (524586-M)
10-1 Jalan SL 2/2, Bandar Sungai Long, 43000 Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia
reefball@reefballasia.com
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