OCHA Situation Report
Sri Lanka
10 - 16 June 2005


Source: UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs

Overall Situation

The British Minister for Development Cooperation, Gareth Thomas, paid a 
two-day visit to Sri Lanka, 15 and 16 June, in which he met in Colombo 
with Ministry officials including the Minister if Finance, and with 
representatives of the World Bank and WFP.  His trip included a visits 
to Ampara and Galle districts where he visited transitional shelter 
sites. In Ampara, he met with the Government Agent, representatives of 
UNHCR, OCHA and UN HABITAT and in Galle, as well as meeting with UN 
agency and NGO representatives, he met with the Divisional Secretary in 
Hikkaduwa and Representatives of the Transitional Accommodation Project 
(TAP) and of the Urban Development Authority (UDA). The British Minister 
for Development Cooperation was scheduled to hold a press conference at 
the conclusion of his trip.

The UNICEF Executive Director, Ms. Ann Veneman, arrived in Colombo on 16 
June for a three-day visit. She will meet with the Sri Lankan President, 
UN officials, Ambassadors and Development Partners, and is also 
scheduled to visit Kilinochchi and Batticaloa. Ms. Veneman will be 
accompanied by the UNICEF Deputy Executive Director, Mr. Toshiyuki Niwa, 
who will also visit Galle. Ms. Veneman will hold a press briefing prior 
to her departure.

The Government of Japan has donated 100 ten-kilowatt ampere diesel 
generators to be used by displaced people living in camps in eight 
districts under its Non-Project Grant Aid scheme. In order to ensure the 
effective use of the generators, grant funds will also be provided for 
wiring of the camps and transport of the generators to the districts 
concerned. The total cost associated with the provision of the 100 
generators is approximately Rs.36 million (US$ 367,000). Displaced 
persons in the districts of Jaffna, Mullativu, Kilinochchi, Trincomalee, 
Batticaloa, Ampara, Hambantota and Matara are to benefit from the 
generator donations.

Coordination and common services

Recommendations on the design of sanitation, most appropriate technology 
and environmental strategies were developed by the Sanitation Working 
group in Colombo which includes the Ministry of Health, UNICEF, WHO, 
OXFAM, World Vision, IFRC and CCF. The guidelines have been sent to 
field offices of all partners.

Education

Some 280 different textbooks across all subjects, covering children in 
grades 1-13, have been reprinted in English, Tamil and Sinhalese by 
UNICEF to replace books that were washed away during the 26 December 
tsunami. Sixteen publishing houses in Colombo are filling orders 
compiled by the Department of Publications, Ministry of Education for a 
total of over 480,000 textbooks. UNICEF is covering the cost of printing 
and distributing the textbooks to zonal education offices, the cost of 
which is nearly US $900,000. Some 60 titles have already been 
distribute, and the rest will be in time for the start of the new school 
term in July.

One-hundred and ninety-five semi-permanent modular-type classrooms are 
being fabricated by UNICEF in 15 schools in Akkaraipattu and 18 schools 
in Kalmunai to benefit close to 5,000 students in Ampara district. These 
children are currently accommodated in temporary classrooms.

Health

Work is currently on-going in Trincomalee and Ampara district by UNICEF 
to ensure that all temporary school structures, including a total of 84 
class rooms, are upgraded to semi permanent buildings with half cement 
walls, color wash and cement partitions.  Seven other structures, with 
28 class rooms, are already completed in Trincomalee. In Galle, UNICEF 
agreed to provide five more schools, with 24 class rooms, in addition to 
the ten school buildings, with 38 class rooms, it has already provided. 
About 1,800 students will benefit from these new class rooms.

Forut conducted its first psychosocial workshop in Batticaloa district 
for 180 pre-school teachers in tsunami-affected areas between 6 and 9 
June. The main objective of the workshop was to provide practical tools 
to pre-school teachers for dealing with tsunami-affected children. The 
workshop is funded in collaboration with People in Need and is 
implemented by TRO.

Eleven WHO-sponsored staff, currently recruited through the Deputy 
Provincial Director of Health Services, will be deployed into 11 
Divisional Secretariats to provided psychosocial coordination support. 
The Batticaloa Mental Health Unit will guide their work.

Responding to the outbreak of suspected hepatitis A cases in two IDP 
camps in Vaharai, Batticaloa district, Oxfam GB has distributed 900 
water filters. This is in support of ongoing efforts of chlorinating 
water sources and conducting hygiene promotion through various health 
actors and Public Health Inspectors.

The Family Health Bureau (FHB) has analyzed the coverage of the vitamin 
"A" mega dose campaign launched on 30 April in 10 Tsunami affected 
districts. The main reason for the additional vitamin "A" mega dose for 
Tsunami affected districts was the likely risk faced by the people of 
districts due to displacement, loss of resources for food and shelter 
and other negative effects created on environmental health and 
nutrition. Out of 389,922 registered numbers of children at MCH level 
between 6-months to 5-years of age, 384,885 children have received 
vitamin "A" mega dose supplementation reaching an average of 98.7 per 
cent coverage in all 10 districts.

Water and sanitation

In Batticaloa district, organisations active in the Water/Sanitation 
sectors are reporting that some of their scheduled well-cleaning 
activities have been interrupted by recent hartals in the area..

UNICEF reports that various districts have raised concerns that water 
and sanitation (WES) activities lag behind the planning and construction 
of transitional shelters, and that actual monitoring of how well WES 
systems are working within this particular areas needs to be much more 
systematic and rigorous. In Trincomalee, where UNICEF and UNHCR have 
developed a joint reporting format and meet on a monthly basis to report 
and plan, organizers have stressed the priority of setting up water and 
sanitation systems before building shelters.

Non-food items and shelter

A total of 55 per cent of required temporary shelters in Batticaloa 
district had been completed by 8 June. Most beneficiaries of these 
shelters have expressed the wish for additions to their shelters, such 
as a separate kitchen or veranda. In follow-up, Oxfam Australia is 
discussing with beneficiaries their individual needs and has indicated 
sufficient funding is available to respond to such individual requests.

Livelihoods

FAO has repaired over 3,400 boats in Sri Lanka, allowing nearly 12,000 
fishers to resume their livelihoods after last December's tsunami 
destruction. According to government and FAO estimates, 54 percent of 
the total fishing fleet was either made un-seaworthy or was totally 
destroyed by the tsunami.  FAO works through the government-owned boat 
building and fishery supply company Cey-Nor Foundation Ltd, and supplies 
75 per cent of its funds and raw materials. FAO supports Cey-Nor through 
the provision of tools, boat repair materials and payment of labour 
charges with the objective of ensuring that fishers in all affected 
districts can resume their livelihoods as quickly as possible. FAO is 
also funding the repair of inboard engines and outboard motors. To date, 
212 inboard engines and 658 outboard motors have already been repaired 
by Cey-Nor using FAO funds. Close to 5,000 fishers were killed by the 
tsunami waves in Sri Lanka whilst tens of thousands of others saw their 
houses destroyed and their means of earning a living -- their boats, 
nets and other equipment -- washed away.

CARE is currently involved in a number of cash-for-work activities in 
tsunami affected areas of the country. In Ampara, CARE is supporting a 
livelihoods project in which tsunami-survivors are employed in clearing 
garbage, repairing schools and rehabilitating roads. Some 103 kilometres 
of road have already been rehabilitated out of a total of 250; the first 
eight out of 50 schools have been repaired; and workers are routinely 
collecting the garbage from 64 camps. In Jaffna, approximately 450 
people each day participate in a CARE cash-for-work programme involving 
the clearing of channels and beaches and of shoreline so boats can land 
safely. In Trincomalee, Care has given cash grants of Rs. 532,000 as 
livelihood support to 131 families in Eachchalampattu and Muthoor 
divisions. One-hundred-and-seventy-three families in all will receive 
such support. CARE Cash-for-Work activities is also continuing in 12 
villages of nine GS divisions of four DS divisions in which 582 families 
participated for 58 days.

Protection

Investigations by the Batticaloa Protection Task Force, which consists 
of government, UN agency and NGO representatives have concluded that 
foster rights over orphaned children do not give foster parents the 
automatic right to the land title of the children they are looking 
after. UNICEF and probation officers are currently carrying out an 
assessment on the number of orphaned children and their land rights.

UNICEF has provided transportation for the Children and Women's Police 
Desk Officers to regularly visit all the IDP camps in Ampara District 
and has supplied tents for the establishment of 24 hour police posts in 
36 IDP camps. UNICEF is in the process of procuring supplies such as 
furniture and first aid boxes for the police posts in the IDP camps.

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