OCHA Situation Report
Sri Lanka
6 - 12 May 2005


Source: UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs

Overall Situation

The Special Rapporteur on freedom of religion or belief of the United
Nations Commission on Human Rights, Asma Jahangir, who was on a ten-day
mission to Sri Lanka from 2 May concluded her visit here today. She was
invited by the Government of Sri Lanka to analyze the situation of
freedom of religion or belief in Sri Lanka and will submit a report to
the United Nations Commission on Human Rights which will include
conclusions and recommendations to the Government as well as to the
international community. During her stay in the country in addition to
Colombo she traveled to many parts of the country including Homagama,
Kandy, Batticaloa, Ampara, Jaffna and Killinochchi and also met with
Government officials including the Minister of Foreign Affairs, the
Justice Minister, the Minister of Constitutional Affairs and the
Ministers responsible for the different political parties as well as
with the leader of the opposition and civil society, concerned Sri
Lankans and members of NGOs. Meetings were also held with
representatives of the Buddhist, Hindu, Muslim and Christian
communities. In Killionochchi she met with representatives of the LTTE

Food security

The total number of WFP beneficiaries' stands at 915,000 persons. At the
request of Sri Lankan government, a new cycle of General Food
Distribution (GFD) will commence on 15 May up to 30 June 2005. A WFP
needs assessment mission is at work in the affected districts. The
mission is currently visiting Ampara and Batticaloa districts where they
are holding focus group interviews with WFP beneficiaries, interviewing
and collecting information from WFP Food Aid Monitors and assessing the
over all food needs in the area. This is the second needs assessment;
the first one was carried out in January immediately following the
tsunami disaster. WFP/UNICEF had a follow-up survey on the nutritional
status of children under 5 years in Jaffna from 9-12 May 2005. The
Medical Research Institute will collect data on nutrition surveillance
in Mullaitivu district; facilitated by WFP in Kilinochchi.

Water and sanitation

More focused discussions with Water Board and relevant organizations
involved with Water and Sanitation has taken place. Environmental issues
include unblocking and unclearing of small canals, streams which are
blocked. There is flooding in low lying transitional shelter sites and
it is potentially a health hazard. Furthermore waste management in
transitional shelter sites (compressing, recycling), re-greening of
coastal areas, and re-greening of decommissioned tent sites remain
pressing issues.

Agencies involved in water and sanitation activities have put forward a
proposal to give support to Water Board. Environmental issues and
dumping of waste is currently being discussed. It has been noticed that
there is still a need for the involvement of relevant government
departments such as the Central Environmental Authority (CEA) and
Coastal Conservation Department in water and sanitation activities.

Non-food items and shelter

Land availability and land assignment for permanent housing in the Galle
district still remains unclear. After more assessments on the land, many
NGOs and organizations are finding the land unsuitable for housing
construction. In one case, a former-dumping site had been identified by
the government as land for future permanent housing. In the Galle
district the process of decommissioning tents has not been addressed
properly. UN HABITAT has distributed a permanent housing form to all
NGOs engaging in housing constructions in Galle district and have also
been assigned a LAND POOL form.Discussions to cross-check transitional
shelter recipients with beneficiary data at Divisional Secretary
registration is to be sorted in order to conduct decommissioning of
tents particularly along the coastal belt where most tents remain empty.

Most agencies have ceased emergency NFRI distributions for the Matara
district.

Education

Finding land for the construction of schools in the Matara district has
not yet been resolved. The Government of Sri Lanka has not given any
real go ahead for the reconstruction of schools on beach road and not
yet found land for the schools which have to be relocated elsewhere.
Land issues have to be quickly resolved as many NGOs, Swiss Development
Corporation for instance are under pressure to begin building with funds
earmarked for schools in Matara.

Livelihoods

FAO has now repaired through its partnership with the state-owned
boatyard Cey-Nor Foundation 2,369 boats. It has supplied 75 percent of
the funds and raw materials made available to Cey-Nor worth a total of
$US520,000 plus an additional $US160,000 in labour costs. FAO is also
paying for Cey-Nor's repair of inboard and outboard marine engines. 57
inboard engines and 648 outboard engines have been repaired using FAO
funds.  FAO is awaiting VAT exemption certificates on a further marine
engine spare parts order of $US600,000 which would save $US120,000.
VAT exemption has now been granted for 125 new marine engines awaiting
distribution in Jaffna and a further 525 engines have been ordered and
are due to arrive later this month.

FAO is hiring a number of national technical staff who will be located
in the districts charged with re-enforcing government fisheries
departments there and establishing an accurate database on what boats
and nets have been delivered by the different humanitarian actors and to
whom. FAO experts have carried out a review for the government on the
rehabilitation requirements of 25 anchorages - protected areas where
fishermen leave their boats.

The distribution of rice seed and appropriate fertilizer to 1668 farmers
in Galle, Matara and Hambantota for the current "Yala" planting season
has now been completed.  Distribution is underway of 9 250 hoes to 9 250
families, 1500 in Galle, 1500 in Matara , 600 in Hambantota, 1500 in
Ampara , 1600 in Batticaloa , 700 in Trincomalee, 650 in Mullaitivu and
450 in Jaffna. FAO is distributing to the district authorities for the
Yala 2005 planting season 270 grammes of quality vegetable seeds that
should produce 400 kilos of vegetables for 2,000 returnees displaced by
the former conflict in the North and East. The seed was generated by FAO
on its own seed farms funded by the Government of Japan. Some of those
returnees are now also tsunami victims and the seeds will also be
distributed to people living in new camps where cultivation could be
carried out at a community level.

A total of $US93,158 worth of fishing nets and accompanying accessories
that arrived seven weeks ago are currently in FAO's warehouse in Colombo
awaiting government confirmation of beneficiaries. $US21,000 worth of
fishing nets are in Jaffna awaiting the arrival of the accompanying
fishing gear.  An additional US$1.84 million of fishing nets and
equipment has been ordered from the international markets to be
delivered between now and August.

Out of a total of 4,582 boats repaired, 387 repaired were multi-day
boats, 365 3 =BD ton boats, 1,870 were FRP (fiberglass reinforced plastic)
boats, 1,912 were traditional Craft, 48 were beach seine craft. Nine
hundred and forty-eight out board motors and 105 inboard engines have
been repaired. The most number of boats were damaged or destroyed in
Trincomalee. Out of a fishing fleet of 31,663 boats 4,041 were damaged
while 12,396 were destroyed. However boats initially classed as
destroyed were infact repairable.

It is assumed the generous support of various parties will lead to an
over-supply of traditional craft and FRP boats in some areas. The
aggregate plan of all agencies involved indicates that the number of
traditional craft will increase by about one thousand compared with the
pre-tsunami situation. In order to reduce imbalances in the
rehabilitation efforts between the districts and prevent an increased
fishing effort in the coastal area, all agencies have been requested to
keep the Assistant Directors of Fisheries in the districts and/or the
Department of Fisheries and Aquatic Resources (DFAR) in Colombo informed
about their plans. DFAR, with assistance from FAO, will attempt to
consolidate the information received and disseminate it periodically to
all agencies concerned so that they can adjust their plans according to
the needs.

Protection

A database of orphaned children and children with one-parent in the
Galle district has been completed and is in the possession of the
Department of Probation and Child Care. Strict requirements on access to
this database has been enforced. Sponsorship programmes from
organizations and affluent families / interested parties for these
children has commenced.

Security in camps in the Matara district is an issue. Since the navy has
withdrawn from camps, there is a need for a government body to provide
security in the camps. The police force has been requested to patrol
camps in a mobile, roving operation. However the police have constraints
regarding resources to be able to provide round-the-clock protection. A
logbook will be kept in camps to record any incidents, and will then be
reported and looked at by competent authorities to take action.

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