Ani Naqvi, in The Telegraph, 26 December 2022, where the title runs as “I was almost killed in the Boxing Day tsunami – and it gave me a reason to live” …. After being swept up in the tsunami of 2004, I battled survivor’s guilt and flashbacks to find new purpose”
In 2004, my world was literally turned upside down. I was working as a journalist, had left a job at the BBC several years earlier, and was struggling with depression. The end of the year was looming, England was cold and dark, and I felt more than ever that I needed to get away.
So I booked myself a flight and headed for Sri Lanka, touching down – in a summer dress and peacock-blue flip-flops – on Christmas Eve, the warm air of the island enveloping me as I stepped out into a cacophony of taxi drivers jostling for my attention. Hot, busy and full of life, Sri Lanka is a place that overwhelms your senses. It was just what I needed.