WHEN the vicar of Hampton Hill set off with his wife for Sri Lanka on the first leg of a three-month trip around the world, he was expecting rest and spiritual renewal.

But Rev Brian Leathard's sabbatical turned out very differently when the tsunami struck on Boxing Day, just days after he and his wife Ramani arrived in Sri Lanka.

Writing in the parish magazine, he describes the contrast between the "blissful" times they spent in the village of Kisgoda before Christmas, and the scenes there after the disaster.

"Where previously scattered houses, palms, coconut trees and gardens prevailed, now there is an open view to the sea, for almost all the vegetation, as well as every house, is gone."

A month after the tsunami, the vicar was still hard at work distributing food and other essentials to villagers who had lost everything.

Rations had been made up according to the numbers, ages and conditions of each household.

An advertising agency in Colombo was helping the villagers rebuild all their houses.

Rev Leathard said the Buddhist villagers have accepted the destruction as part of the shifting sands of fortune without asking "the very western 21st century question why me?'".

He warned of the danger of seeing biblical parallels in modern events. He said: "Take the story of Noah and the flood.

"Many have used that story to describe the scope and scale of the disaster.

"But read the Noah story more carefully and it has a clear agenda about good and evil.

"Are we suggesting that this vast tidal wave crossed 2,500km of ocean and aimed itself, as if by divine magnetism, to destroy particular families and villages? Do we really subscribe to a God of vengeful manipulation? I trust not."