Why I wrote this book In 2003 and again in 2004 I spent several months working as a volunteer in Sri Lanka with two charities that work with some of the most disadvantaged people in the country. The contrasts between the kind and thoughtful individuals I met and the inhumanity of the country’s institutions, both within and outside of government, made a lasting impression on me – an impression that has resulted in my writing Power Failures. A real village... And a real tsunami The places and some of the events that appear in this book are based on fact. The tsunami that happened on the 26th of December in 2004 is the best known. It killed 700 people in Tangalla, which is a real village on the south coast of Sri Lanka. Some less well known events, including the disappearance of a shipment of arms on its way to Sri Lanka, are also real. However, the characters and the interrelationships of these events in Power Failures are entirely fictional.