Source: CBS News
http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2005/01/01/world/main664238.shtml
On January 1, 2005 CBS News reported, "Legs folded, smiling serenely, several Buddha statues of cement and plaster sit unscathed amid collapsed brick walls and other tsunami debris. To many residents, the survival of the 10-foot-high figures is a divine sign. 'The Lord Buddha is a blessed person, so the statues were protected,' said U.M. Husain, a Muslim municipal worker who survived the floods by climbing onto a table, and then clinging to a grill in a wall when the table floated away. Another perspective was offered by a Buddhist monk. 'The people are not living according to religious virtues,' said Sumana, a monk in an orange robe who sheltered from the sun under a black umbrella. 'Nature has given them some punishment because they are not following the path of the Lord Buddha. The people have to learn their lesson.' He said unseen powers protected a nearby statue of Buddha, which sat near a bridge at the edge of this southern Sri Lankan town's bus terminal, where massive tidal waves swallowed up bystanders and shoppers, and swept cars and buses into buildings."