Sri Lankan housewife Viyarseeli Nadarajahlingam cries after visiting the place where her house stood before Asia's tsunami destroyed and killed her six children in Vatharayan, in rebel-held northern Sri Lanka, March 18, 2005. The December 26, 2004 tsunami killed around 40,000 people along Sri Lanka's southern eastern northern shores, tearing thousands of families apart. (Reuters)

tear : separate or cause to separate abruptly（撕破，使分裂）