From Dust

Despite generous aid from around the world, none of the survivors' homes had been rebuilt a full year after the tsunami in Sri Lanka. Until the tsunami hit on December 26, 2004, killing a million residents and leaving another million homeless, Sri Lanka had never enforced an obscure law prohibiting people from building their homes within 300 feet of the coast. But after the disaster, the authorities became so strict that many survivors had no choice but to relocate to the hills. For fishermen like Ravi and Siril, this policy meant a double heartbreak. Australian aid worker Cameron suspects that the government is planning to launch a massive real estate development initiative on the newly cleared coastline. The filmmaker's investigative journey reveals the horrible way the Sri Lankan government handled the tsunami crisis by showing how the government taxed humanitarian aid and forbid the American soldiers deployed to the island from rebuilding a single home. At the same time, the viewer is brought into close contact with three men who survived the tragedy and offers insight into how it changed their lives.