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DECEMBER 2004 TO JANUARY 2005
The
cataclysmic tsunami which struck without warning on December 26th 2004
left over 2,000,000 people homeless and over 35,000 dead in the coastal
areas of Sri Lanka. The death toll is based on the number of bodies
recovered; thousands are still classified as missing. The Eastern coast has
been the worst affected, with the highest number of deaths reported from the
Ampara District – over 10,000. The hardest hit is the fishing community; who
lost their homes and boats within minuets. Over 1/3rd of those
affected are children.
OUR
RESPONSE
Overall plan
1.
Emergency Relief
- Food (dry rations), medicines
- Shelter and mobile latrines
- Primary health care, sanitation, clean water
2.
Second stage.
Care teams will be sent out to affected areas to deal with psychological
needs and trauma counseling. There seems to be a great need in this area.
3.
Third stage.
This will be centered on rehabilitation, reconstruction and re-settlement
leading to holistic development. Livelihood projects for income generation
will also be implemented.
ON-GOING ACTIVITIES – 26th December 2004 onwards
Presently we are engaged in activities under the 1st phase
Emergency
Relief
1) Essential Supplies
A fleet of trucks have been carrying relief supplies including food,
medicines, cooking utensils, clothes, medical supplies, bedding / mats,
footwear and tents to affected areas in the following Districts -
Batticaloa
- 8 trucks
Ampara (Pottuvil, Kalmunai, Thirukkovil, Mandur areas) - 6
trucks
Matara
- 2 trucks
Galle
- 5 trucks
Jaffna (Pallai & Thenamarachchi areas)
- 3 trucks
Trincomalee (Thiriyayi)
- 3 trucks
Mullaitivu (uncleared areas)
- 6 trucks
TOTAL
- 33 trucks
The first
relief trucks were dispatched on the night of the 26th December
2004 (less than 24 hours after the Tsunami struck)
Supplies distributed include the following
Large
quantities of food (rice, dhal, flour, sugar, milk powder, tea etc)
Drinking
water (Over 25,000 Litres)
4,600
packs of infant milk food
40,000
packs of cooking utensils
Large
quantities of clothes
2,000
pairs of foot wear (slippers)
Medicines
(large quantity)
1,400
tents
2,000
special pack for children (which includes Milk Powder, sugar, biscuits, bed
sheet, and pot for boiling water).
2)
Search & recovery of body’s
Volunteer teams were sent to search and recover bodies from rubble and
waterways in Batticaloa District.
3)
Medical teams
Volunteer medical teams have been sent to Batticaloa, Galle/Matara, &
Jaffna, to serve in areas including un-cleared LTTE controlled areas.
4)
Trauma counseling
Volunteer teams of professional counselors are training local teams to carry
out counseling in the affected areas. I.e. / Colombo & Jaffna
PLANNED
ACTIVITIES
On
January 10th all national schools are due to re-open for the
first term. We believe that attending schools would be therapeutic for the
affected children and that it would help them to take at least 75% of the
trauma off their minds by attending school. We hope to help these children
by providing them with essential school stationery items. This will be
carried out in three phases where we will offer different packages to
children affected in different areas.
1)
Student’s packs
These packs would contain the following items:
School bags
Pencils
Erasers
Pens
Exercise Books (Specially printed books which include an encouraging and
hope giving story on the cover) The package would cost approximately US $
10/= per child, and we are hoping to distribute 100,000 packages.
2)
Recreational Activity Pack
Packages will be distributed to existing sports clubs and schools in the
affected areas. These packages would contain sports and recreational
equipment for boys and girls. The cost of each package would be
approximately US $55 and we are hoping to initially distribute 100 such
packages.
3)
Children’s packs
These packs with special food & nutrition for children will contain the
following items -
1.Milk Powder
2.Biscuits
3.Marmite
4.Multi-vitamins
5.Sweets
The cost of each package will be US $10.00. We hope to distribute around
10,000 packs.
4) Re –Entry
Packages
This is
to be given to each family as they go back to their villages. Each pack will
contain:
1.Kerosene stove
2.Hurricane Lantern
3.Cooking utensils
4.Spoons
5.Kitchen Knife
6.Towels
7.Bed sheets
8.Sleeping mats
9.Sanitary towels
Each pack
will cost US$ 21. We envisage providing 20,000 families with this pack.
5)
Water purification systems
For those affected in 7 Districts. The cost per unit is US$600.
6)
Temporary Shelters
(Galvanized sheets) it will cost approximately US$ 325 per temporary shelter
to house a family.
7) Re-construction, housing & Livelihood assistance
We will identify needy villages and invite churches / groups to adopt a
village. Each village consists of 75-100 families. This will be a holistic
program, supplying them with housing, water and sanitation as well as
livelihood assistance. The cost of construction of a house will be US$
2,500. Livelihood assistance for a micro-income generation project will be
US$ 250 per family. |
