Chapter 19 is about the displacement of a fishing community from the beaches of Sri Lanka to make room for hotel development following the tsunami on December 26th, 2004. Klein traveled to Arugum Bay, a fishing cove popular with surfers, following the tsunami to do on-the-ground reporting. Tourist development in the bay had been slow due to the ongoing civil war in Sri Lanka between the Tamil Tigers in the North and the Sinhalese in the South. 

However, in 2002, a ceasefire was brokered between the factions and the government wanted to pursue more aggressive development in the bay. The tsunami wiped out the fishing shacks. The government then forced the fishing community inland and refused to allow them to rebuild their villages, citing new zoning rules about not building in possible flood zones. Meanwhile, the government allowed beachfront hotels to rebuild on that territory. 

The government developed an Arugam Bay Resource Development Plan, which they financed in part using the money that had been raised internationally as relief for the fishing community that had been impacted by the tsunami. This provoked outrage and protests. Meanwhile, the fishing people were forced to remain in shantytowns inland.

Before the Wave: Foiled Plans

In 2002, USAID, the World Bank, and the Asian Development Bank had encouraged Sri Lanka to invest heavily in tourism, particularly luxury tourism.