No I didn't see him carving it anywhere, but I saw his helicopter flying over me. In the middle of growing tensions between the government and the rebels, US Secretary of State Colin Powell visted worst hit areas by the tsunami disaster in Sri Lanka.

One of the prime areas of his visit was Galle, which happens to be the worst hit area closest to Colombo. He also paid a visit to a shelter camp in a school, where he met some of the victims.

It was more than just walls that have been knocked down or buildings that have been crushed, but lives that were crushed and snuffed out.

He skipped the northeast areas controlled by the Tamil Tiger rebels, where thousands were killed as US has placed the Tigers on a list of banned terror organizations. They will be explored by UN Secretary Kofi Annan who is expected here in a few hours from now.

Many Sri Lankans hope that his visit will bring some help, in an acceptable form, to the country. As Japan and China pledge to grant 80 and 20 million dollars respectively to our nation, everyone expects that the US would be the next in their thanking list.

The extent of the damdge caused cannot be just measured by lost lives or broken buildings. It also spreads among the affected people who are mostly from poor families and remote areas where no significant development has been taken place in the recent years. For an example this is how a woman from a rural village commented on Powell's visit.

We are glad the American president has come, we hope that he can help us.

They have been in the dark for a long time. But as everything they onced owned was taken away by the waves, it is only darkness that they have been left with. They are the ones who will find it extremenly difficult to recover from this trauma. With the little they know and the very little they have, they could only hope that someone would help them to at least make a living for the rest of their lives.