I was in lanka from the 23rd and just came back yesterday.
For those that know Lanka I was heading to Gaul, which is on the south coast of Lanka on the same day the tidal wave hit but luckly we managed to escape it all as we left 1 hour late and we got stopped half way there as there was water coming onto the coastal road. This was before the 2 main waves hit. We then knew something was weird was going on so we managed to find a inland road out of the coastal area about 30 mins before the 2 waves wiped out the areas we were driving through. We didnt know how bad it was until we got home and watched the news on tv.
So many people in Lanka died as when the water and sea started rising before the 2 waves hit everyone was running to the beach to see what was happening as they had not seen anything like that before. There were people standing and watching the canals and bridges near the coast also filling up before the waves hit, and they would all not have had a chance once the waves came.
It was a scary thing to witness first hand as everyone was running around on the roads and cars buses etc we also driving around everywhere.