RAGEH OMAAR'S TSUNAMI JOURNEY
1x60'
ITV1
July 2005
During May and June 2005 Rageh re-visited countries devastated by the Boxing Day catastrophe. This is his report on the devastating effect on the lives and religious faiths of the millions who saw loved ones, livelihoods and homes washed away in an instant.
Rageh's journey is an intensely personal one. Along the way he meets survivors from all faiths and none. This is his quest to find answers to the moral and religious questions raised by the appalling suffering, beamed into homes around the globe resulting in mass outpourings of humanity and grief.
He says of the programme,
"Each time I have reported from conflicts around the world I've had some means of explaining what I had seen. However horrified, frightened or angry I felt,whether in Iraq or Kosovo, I have been able to understand what had happened and even who had been responsible for killing others. But the Tsunami tragedy left the world not just shocked, but confused and bewildered.In making this documentary I travelled to the regions most affected by the disaster and also to the homes of families affected here in the UK. I have spoken to survivors and eyewitnesses, and those who lost so much, to ask them how the experience has affected their faith. In hearing their testimonies I have uncovered previously unseen footage of those terrible moments. The film will ask those who lived through the disaster and lost loved ones, whether it has left them angry and disillusioned at a God or religion that could be so cruel or whether faith has been the one thing that has allowed them to begin to make sense of such grief and loss.And I have spoken with senior religious leaders to ask them whether a belief in God can be reconciled with such destruction."
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