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FEATURE: Japanese experts assist Sri Lanka's aspiring lifesavers

Japanese Red Cross lifesaving instructor Naoto Tsuda, left, looks on as Sri Lankan volunteers rehearse techniques on a beach at Negombo, some 35km north of Colombo, on June 23. The Japanese Red Cross is helping train a beach patrol to combat drowning deaths which have overtaken the islan's other two main killers -- the Tamil separatist conflict and road accidents. PHOTO: AP

Two Japanese men are neck deep in water at Sharks' Cove opening a new front in Sri Lanka's battle against one of its biggest killers -- water.

The two lifesaving experts have been teaching 16 men how to save people from drowning, one of the island's top causes of death, aside from traffic accidents and the 35-year-old separatist conflict.

Sharks' Cove, or Morawala, in Negombo, 40km north of Colombo, features a deceptively powerful surf. According to legend, sharks once came to Morawala to give birth, but there are no sightings now.

The sea claimed five lives here in May alone -- swimming is not a widely taught skill on the island -- and the lifesavers are just getting ready to wade into the water for their training session.

Unlike the Baywatch television series, the lifeguards do not use high-tech flotation devices, beach buggies, helicopters or power boats.

Instead, they deploy plastic shopping bags, beach buckets and empty cola bottles as flotation aides. Their amber-painted surf boards are locally made.

Satoshi Funahashi, who is the Japanese Red Cross country coordinator for Sri Lanka, said they are spending a modest US$200,000 over three years to build an army of lifesavers.

Members of the small Life Saving Association have saved 3,200 lives since 1947, but say the number could have been higher if they'd had more help.

"Official figures show about 1,500 people drown annually," the association's vice president Piyadasa Silva said. "Lots of cases are not reported and we think the actual number is much higher."

That figure excludes the estimated 31,000 people who perished in the December 2004 tsunami which devastated the coastline.

But it is close to the average 1,715 people killed annually in the island's 35-year-old Tamil separatist conflict and just below the death toll on Sri Lanka's perilous roads that averages around 2,000 fatalities annually.

Many drown on Sri Lanka's golden sandy beaches and in lakes lagoons, and white water rapids. But they also drown in hydro-electricity reservoirs, irrigation tanks, and even drinking water wells.

The high number of tsunami fatalities made authorities focus on coming up with a water-safety program.

COMMUNITY TRAINING

"We'll train trainers who will go back and train their communities and create awareness," Funahashi said as men displayed their new life-saving skills on a sunny morning at Sharks' Cove.

"The idea is to develop a beach patrol eventually," he said as the men jumped into the choppy waters and dragged out colleagues acting as "victims."

Red Cross official Rajeew Gamage said they plan to offer basic training to another 2,500 people while nearly 300 will undergo a more advanced course.

FEW SWIMMERS

"We initiated this work because there was no lifesaving in this area," Gamage said. "What's strange is that although Sri Lanka is an island, only a few people can swim. Very few know the basics of first aid or lifesaving."

Swimming is not taught in most schools.

The popularity of Sharks' Cove and a few other beach spots along the west coast inspired the local Red Cross to ask for help from their Japanese counterparts in Chiba who are renowned for their lifesaving skills.

"There's a strong and a complicated current here and those who go sea bathing can get into trouble," says Mashio Kanjo, 55, the chief instructor.

Kanjo's co-trainer, Naoto Tsuda, 40, said their basic training for locals should help them in case there is another tsunami. People are taught to simply float. Learning to swim takes longer.

Kanjo says language has not been a barrier. "Most of the teaching is through demonstration and gestures," he said. "It has been easy to communicate. Sri Lankans pick up very fast."

Fisherman Shantha Basnayake, 41, said he had saved about 25 people from drowning along Wattala and Negombo, but believes he could have done more if he had the Japanese training before.

He and fellow lifesaver, Ruban Bosco, 22, saved two girls and two boys from drowning last month.

"While playing cricket on the beach, we saw them getting dragged out and the boys were not able to help the girls," Basnayake said. "They were lucky we happened to be there."

Another couple who were boating were not so lucky. After their inflatable dingy capsized, only the body of the woman was found. A Sri Lankan navy sailor who went to their rescue also drowned.
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