OCHA Situation Report
Sri Lanka
26 November - 2 December 2005


Source: UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs

Overall Situation

The UN Special Envoy for Tsunami Recovery, former President Bill Clinton 
returned to Sri Lanka on 29 November. He met with key members of the 
government, the UN and civil society to assess the status of the 
recovery effort and how best to tackle ongoing challenges including the 
quick restoration of livelihoods and the equitable distribution of aid.

Main challenges and response

The UNICEF Kilinochchi zonal office reported major flooding affecting 
6,697 families in Kilinochchi, 2,300 families in Vadamarachchi East 
Transit Camps and an unknown number of families in Mullaitivu during 
their reporting period ending 26 November. Many schools in Kilinochchi 
and Mullaitivu have also been severely damaged by the heavy rain as only 
30 per cent of the schools were re-thatched. Forty per cent of students 
have also lost their learning materials in the flood. Many of the 
displaced families are being sheltered in schools and public places. In 
Trincomalee UNHCR and WFP are organising an HIV-AIDS workshop including 
four sessions (two in English and two in Tamil) for UN staff on 5 and 6 
December 2005.

Coordination and common services

UNICEF coordinated with TAP, National Water Sewerage and Drainage Board, 
UDA and other NGOs to conduct an assessment to avoid flooding at the 
largest resettlement at Thiraimadu in Batticaloa. Subsequently, the 
government has prepared a long term comprehensive plan for flood 
prevention. UNICEF provided financial support for cleaning, deepening 
and widening 1.2 km of drainage re-excavation work as an emergency 
improvement of the drainage in Manmunai North DS, amounting to Rs. 2.08 
million. The natural drainage has been cleaned by removing debris and 
garbage inside the drain, utilising the "cash for work" programme. 
Although some organisations have come forward to support drainage, gaps 
still remain.

At the national level, a national water and sanitation group 
coordination meeting was facilitated by UNICEF on 11 November. Partners 
from NGOs, World Bank and OCHA discussed issues pertaining to the care 
and maintenance of transitional shelters; water supply and water 
quality; sanitation and solid waste management; flood preparedness; 
hygiene promotion and other coordination matters. In addition, UNICEF 
met with the Corporate Planning Division of the National Water Supply 
and Drainage Board ('NWSDB') and discussed the future scope of potential 
collaboration between the Government of Sri Lanka and UNICEF to 
strengthen the national capacity of monitoring WASH activities at the 
national and district levels.

The Tamil Eelam Weather Forecasting Centre opened on 26 Nov in 
Paarathipuram, Kilinochchi. As long term precautions, OCHA is 
encouraging discussion among agencies and authorities for flood 
prevention in 2006. Projects could include improvements to permanent 
housing, canals, ditches, removal of military bunds, tank renovations 
etc.

In Trincomalee OCHA organised a meeting to decide how the shelter and 
care and maintenance sectors will be addressed in the district as UNHCR 
pulled out of the coordination of the shelter group. The proposition 
made by OCHA is to group the shelter, water and sanitation, and any 
relevant sector under the care and maintenance group to be created in 
Trincomalee.

A campaign of 16 days is taking place in Trincomalee against gender 
violence. Oxfam, Care, UNHCR and UNICEF are part of what is known as the 
Trincomalee Gender Network.

Some 140,000 tsunami-affected households will benefit from new UN 
agricultural development loans to help replace infrastructure and 
equipment for fishing communities, as well as restore coral reefs and 
replant vital coastal vegetation. One loan of 14.2 million US dollars 
from the UN International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD) will 
go towards a 33.5 million US dollar Post-Tsunami Coastal Rehabilitation 
and Resource Management Programme.

Food security

Of the planned 108,000 tonnes of food, WFP has dispatched over 75,000 
tonnes of food commodities to tsunami-affected communities. The 
procurement process for 7,000 metric tonnes of rice for the Northern 
districts is nearing completion and WFP is launching an additional 
tender for 1,346 metric tonnes of rice. WFP has extended its operations 
in Indonesia and Sri Lanka through 2007 for 1.5 million tsunami-affected 
people. In Sri Lanka such aid will be provided to approximately 347,000 
tsunami-affected persons.

Health

During the visit of OCHA to transitional shelter sites in Hambantota and 
Tangalle AGA divisions, it was observed that a potential health hazard 
in the form of over-flowing septic pits, required urgent attention 
(Darma Kabir, Pinwatte and Pinketiya transitional shelter sites)  All 
responsible agencies and health authorities were duly informed of the 
same. All Ministry of Health offices in the District have reported that 
there is an acute shortage of fly and mosquito repellents due to which 
they face a problem of clearing transitional shelter sites of this 
health hazard. The Netherlands Red Cross came forward to meet the 
requirements of the District.

Water and sanitation

In Ampara district, a workshop on ecological sanitation was held at a 
IOM transitional housing site. The participants learned about the 
benefits of the use of eco-toilets, or "dry-composting toilets", in 
areas where water is scarce. Additionally, the construction of four 
wells was completed and the construction of 16 toilets has started. 
WatSan engineers are coordinating with UNICEF on contingency 
assessments.

UNICEF continues to construct 300 household latrines for 
conflict-affected displaced people in 15 District Secretariat divisions 
in Jaffna. To date, 19 toilets have been completed; 81 toilets are being 
plastered; pits have been completed for 140 toilets, however 
construction has been suspended due to rain and 60 toilets are presently 
at the pit digging stage. In Ampara, a revised construction target of 
1,031 toilets has been established in order to cover the 2,400 UNHCR 
constructed transitional shelters. As of 20 November, 727 toilets had 
been constructed of which UNICEF constructed 531 toilets. The remaining 
196 toilets were constructed by Solidarite.  To date, a total of 7,603 
toilets have been constructed in Ampara by 14 different agencies. UNICEF 
has completed the construction of six toilets and four bathing places at 
the Weligama transitional camp in Matara.

Non-food items and shelter

In Galle, 370 household kits were distributed to tsunami-affected people 
in the Hambantota district, whilst in Trincomalee, 55 bicycles were 
provided to student public health midwives in the district through the 
Deputy Provincial Director of Health Services.

Education

The tsunami destroyed Randombe Junior School in Ambalangoda, Galle will 
reopen as a completely rebuilt model school at a ceremony next week. 
This is the first of 25 schools being rebuilt by the Rotary clubs of Sri 
Lanka.

The UNICEF zonal offices reported that in Ampara, nine of the 15 
semi-permanent schools have been completed in Akkaraipattu.  In 
Kilinochchi, four school building constructions have been completed in 
Mudkompan, Unionkulam, Kanakaipuram and Chelliativu.

In Kilinochchi, a mobile science laboratory service programme was 
conducted in Thunukkai Zone by UNICEF, which benefited more than 980 
Grade 9 and 11 students from 20 schools that do not have science 
laboratory facilities. In addition, 350 students from four divisions 
participated in leadership training in Kilinochchi.

Livelihoods

On 23 November 2005, CARE distributed two canoes among beneficiaries at 
Unaporuwa in Tangalle. CARE has started 16 Capacity Building programs 
for CBO's (community based organisations) in Tangalle, Ambalantota and 
Tissa in the south. For this task, beneficiaries were provided with 
tents, water tanks, plastic tables and chairs.

Sewalanka has started micro-finance projects in Hambantota AGA division, 
with loans given for small industries, of which 35% is in the form of a 
grant of Rs.35000.

Ninety women from three hard hit fishing villages in the Jaffna district 
continue to benefit from a project conducted by IOM in partnership with 
the Japanese NGO Pacific Asia Resource Centre (PARC). The project 
supports women with training and education about hygienic dry fish 
processing techniques. With the rainy season hindering the fishing and 
fish drying activities during the first half of November, PARC instead 
began to concentrate on promoting the sale of clean dried fish produced 
in the project and market research in Jaffna and Vavuniya districts. To 
help empower the participating women, they are also encouraged to manage 
administrative work by themselves.

Protection

In Kalutara a comprehensive child evaluation process began in each IOM 
supported pre-school. This evaluation was carried out in preschools and 
during after- schools activities. It involves teachers evaluating each 
child on a weekly basis in relation to his/her attendance and general 
performance in school. Presently seven preschools with between eight and 
12 children are involved and 30 to 40 children from after school 
activities are also included.

In Jaffna, 10 core groups (200 members including 120 women) in conflict 
affected areas were formed and trained on the identification of 
psycho-social issues and referral mechanisms by the Family 
Rehabilitation Centre, a local NGO partner of UNICEF. The core groups 
are expected to assist community members in coping with psycho-social 
issues.

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