Kosgoda, Sri Lanka - Dudely Perera's dream of seeing sea turtles struck off the list of endangered species was all but obliterated by the same tsunami that wrecked his beachside turtle haven in this south-western Sri Lankan town.

Seven tiny baby green turtles survived, however, and the never-say-die Perera, after being in a state of shock for two weeks, is ready to start all over again.

"I just need a one-off boost and I can restore all this," said the 46-year-old Perera, standing amid the twisted pipes, broken tanks and mangled concrete that was once his Kosgoda Sea Turtle Conservation Project.

For 16 years Perera has been rescuing captured or injured turtles, seeking out eggs stolen by youths for sale on the local markets and rearing babies at his reserve on the beach for release back into the sea.

'We get no government help, only government permission'

"We get no government help, only government permission," Perera said, explaining that the centre had been funded by donations and through ticket sales to his turtle sanctuary, which was popular with tourists.

However, the December 26 tsunami destroyed the project and most of the 215-odd turtles he had been raising or rehabilitating disappeared.

He himself narrowly escaped with his life, but was saved by his knowledge of the sea and its moods.

"When I saw the sea that morning it looked all stirred up. I sensed something was seriously wrong. I told all the visitors to my reserve, many of them tourists, to run - and we all ran."

He rushed to his house just across the main road from the conservation project, bundled his family into a car and raced off - just minutes before the first big tsunami struck.

"We were lucky, we all escaped. But I don't know what happened to my turtles," the stocky conservationist said.

Returning the next day he found his house still under water and a number of large turtles floundering on the land. He took a painful decision Nhe pushed them back to sea.

"I knew I no longer had the facilities to care for them and they stood a better chance in the wild," he explained.

However, days later he found seven baby green turtles separately floundering in various places near where his reserve once stood.

He rescued them and is now caring for them in his home, which is still awash with seawater in some rooms.

Neither he nor any other locals have seen turtles on the beach, although 13 clutches of eggs had been found in various parts of the coast, he said.

Normally at this time of year about 4 000 female turtles - green and loggerheads - turn up along the four kilometre beach at Kosgoda to lay their eggs.

"No-one has seen any since the tsunami - I am hoping they will come back. This is why I have to rebuild my conservation project as quickly as possible," he said, estimating it would take around 800 000 rupees (about R36 000) to get the project started again.

Sri Lanka's central bank has estimated the cost of restoring infrastructure lost in the tsunamis on the island at $3,1 to $3,5-billion.

Sri Lanka's Wildlife Conservation department says its own turtle hatcheries at Bundala and Kalametiyawa in the island's south were also washed away by the tsunamis.

"We lost everything at those hatcheries which released about 4 000 turtles a year," Wildlife department deputy director H. T. S. Fernando told AFP.

He said the private hatcheries had also contributed to conservation although they were run as tourist attractions and made good profits.

"They profited, but also helped conservation," Fernando said.

The department itself lost four trackers killed and one missing after the tsunamis. - Sapa-AFP