In January 2005, CBS News producer George Osterkamp traveled to Sri Lanka to cover the devastation following the Dec. 26, 2004, tsunami. Three years later, in February 2008, he returned to the island to see how far things have come.
A beach along Sri Lanka's hard hit West Coast, January 2005.
January 2005
One of the hard hit beach towns on the East Coast was Unawatuna, just south of the city of Galle.
Lacking its roof and most walls, the Happy Banana bar and restaurant looked particularly forlorn in the days after the Dec. 26, 2004, tsunami.
February 2008
A lush, green tea plantation in Sri Lanka's heartland, south of Kandy. Following the tsunami, the tea bushes around towns like Kandy and Nuwara Eliya were a heartening sign of normalcy, as women in the fields continued to pick tea leaves and harvest this great crop.
A new village near Matara, Sri Lanka, was built for Tsunami survivors who lost their homes. The government says the recovery effort is on track and that 100,000 new homes have been built for flood victims. But clearly, corruption and continuing hostilities between the government and Tamil Tigers have taken a toll on relief efforts.
A billboard with the names of funders sits at the front of a road leading to a village of new homes near Matara, Sri Lanka.
The beach today at Unawatuna, Sri Lanka. After the tsunami, the government told beach businesses they'd have to rebuild inland for safety - away from the water and back from the prime beach property they occupied. Officials backed down from that effort after it was pointed out that visitors looking for a great beach probably would not patronize businesses that moved inland.
Tourists walk along the Indian Ocean at Unawatuna Beach. Several governments, including the U.S., Canada and Australia, have issued warnings, cautioning citizens about the possibility of terror incidents in Sri Lanka. Military checkpoints are located at major crossroads, but the soldiers and police there seemed to be relaxed. Sri Lanka's home-grown problems rarely intrude on the lives of visitors.
Tourists on the beach outside The Happy Banana.
The Happy Banana is back in business. But for its hard-working owner, Janath Abeygunawardana, there remains a big problem here: not enough visitors.
Owner Janath Abeygunawardana, standing, talks to patrons of The Happy Banana. The bar was rebuilt without government help. Abeygunawardana says he reached deep into family savings and spent approximately $50,000 on repairs. Like most other business owners on Unawatuna, he says no Tsunami relief money flowed to him.
Visitors sun themselves outside The Happy Banana bar and restaurant. In Unawatuna these days, there's plenty of space at the bar or at the inn - and plenty of time to muse about what parts of the recovery could have been done better.
Up the beach, welcome to the Unawatuna Beach Resort. For someone traveling around the island today, the visible scars from the great tsunami are few. Sri Lanka with its lush scenery, rich history, wonderful foods and welcoming people is once again a great draw.