OCHA Situation Report
Sri Lanka
16 - 22 September 2005


Source: UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs

Overall Situation

The United States Trade and Development Agency (USTDA) recently signed 
an agreement with the Sri Lankan government to provide grants totaling 
US$ 2.5 million for six development projects. Over US$ 2 million of the 
funding is for five tsunami rehabilitation projects, while over US$ 
400,000 is technical assistance to develop aviation industry capacity. 
According to the agreement all of the projects will be implemented by US 
companies which have been selected by the Sri Lankan government through 
a competitive bidding process. The projects include feasibility studies 
to set up piped sewerage and sanitation systems in coastal areas that 
currently do not have such facilities and a study to improve transport 
links between Colombo and southern and eastern parts of the island. A 
US$ 356,000 grant will partially fund a solar-powered water pump and 
purification system in Hambantota that will provide safe drinking water 
to over 3,000 households. The pilot project was awarded to the U.S. 
company, World Water and Power Corporation by the Ministry of Urban 
Development and Water Supply. A technical assistance grant of US$ 
375,000 will go to the Disaster Management Centre to improve the IT 
facilities of the department. Another US$ 398,000 will go to the local 
Meteorology Department to improve its technical capacity for data 
collection and decision-making. The USTDA also approved a US$ 422,800 
technical assistance grant to expand local aviation industry capacity.

Main challenges and response

The Sri Lankan Cabinet has approved US$ 310 million in donor funding to 
reconstruct 1,137 kilometers of road and 25 major bridges in the 
tsunami-affected coastal regions of Sri Lanka. US$ 221 million will be 
allocated for road development projects and US$ 89 million for bridges 
and causeways. The Cabinet has also approved the purchase of 100 new 
passenger train carriages for the Sri Lanka Railway Department. Most 
contracts for this reconstruction and upgrading will be awarded later 
this year or early next year while some already have been designated. 
Funds for the reconstruction effort are expected to come from the ADB, 
the World Bank, the European Commission, Japan and other donors as grant 
aid and soft loans. The Road Development Authority in a post-tsunami 
report said that that it has received pledges of US$ 152 million in 
loans and Rs. 165.94 million as grants from ten multilateral and 
bilateral donor agencies. Sri Lanka's coast stretches over 2,825 
kilometres. The RDA estimates that some 2,425 kilometres of coast was 
directly affected by the tsunami.

Coordination and common services

At least 55 transitional shelter settlement sites in Galle District have 
been wholly constructed by NGOs under the supervision and guidance of 
the local government and District TAP offices. In almost all of the 
settlement sites that have more than 10 shelters, residents have been 
encouraged by TAFOR and TAP to establish Camp Leaders/Community Leaders 
as camp managers or "Welfare Societies." The objective of the 'welfare 
societies' is to manage the day to-day maintenance of shelter sites, and 
raise issues of concern to the community living at such sites. TAP 
Coordinators and Technical Officers have been encouraged to inspect each 
site and to give advice when needed, regarding such concerns as 
cleanliness; the maintenance of water pipes, drainage, and roads; 
electricity and electrical works; the provision of day-care facilities; 
the maintenance of records regarding the distribution of food and other 
relief items and security concerns. Where there is no such 'camp 
management'

committee yet formed -- especially in sites of more than 100 shelters -- 
TAP suggests that a Site Officer be nominated from the communities to 
working alongside TAP.

The Norwegian Refugee Council (NRC) recently established a presence in 
Galle District and will work closely with the TAP office, partly for 
Site Management Training. Under the coordination of NRC, the Camp 
Management Project has engaged in developing a Camp Management Toolkit, 
which has been shared on a CD-ROM with District Governments in Sri 
Lanka, including the TAP office in Galle District. The toolkit addresses 
the technical and the administrative as well as the social aspects of 
camp management.

Non-food items and shelter

The Transitional Accommodation Project (TAP) reports that 5,456 
transitional shelters have now been constructed in Galle district, 53 
more than the target number of 5,403. The additional 53 shelters will be 
used to shift families from shelters that need upgrading or were built 
within the 100 meter buffer zone.

The Transitional Accommodation Project (TAP) in Galle was instructed to 
conduct an assessment of all the transitional shelters in the respective 
districts to identify those needing upgrading or improvements. In Galle 
District, TAP worked in cooperation with 28 volunteers from the Sri 
Lankan Red Cross Society who were trained to use a checklist and 
assessment form at all 55 of the settlement sites recognized by the 
district government. The assessment determined that the main shelter 
problems identified included poor electrical and water supply and 
inadequate kitchen space. Some shelters were deemed sub-standard and 
unsuitable for occupancy. Only a small number of the shelter sites had 
recreational facilities, community halls or playfields and games or 
sports equipment for children and adults to play games and exercise.

Education

Since Mullaitivu Technical College was established in May by the World 
University Service of Canada (WUSC-Sri Lanka), with support from the GA 
in Mullaitivu and funds provided by the Canadian International 
Development Agency (CIDA) and the Dutch NGO Hivos, its two workshop 
buildings have accommodated four vocational training courses. The 
courses are in electrical wiring, aluminum fabrication, out-board motor 
repair and commercial tailoring. Ninety-five trainees are enrolled, with 
98 per cent of them being from the tsunami and/or conflict affected 
target group of WUSC-Sri Lanka's Project for Rehabilitation through 
Education and Training (PRET) programme.  Thirty-one of the trainees are 
women. In addition, WUSC-Sri Lanka provides institutional support, in 
the form of equipment and salaries, for two staff members. Two 
additional vocational training buildings are under construction and 
shortly four more courses -- in masonry, plumbing, welding and carpentry 
-- will commence. WUSC-Sri Lanka has committed to provide Mullaitivu 
Technical College on-going support - some Rs. 10.8 million over two 
years --for teachers and trainees and to meet operational costs, 
equipment requirements and in-service training and technical support.

Livelihoods

FAO recently concluded a four-day workshop, funded by the Italian 
Cooperation, which built local capacity to conduct livelihoods studies. 
Thirty participants from national and international NGOs, FAO and the 
Departments of Agriculture and Fisheries were trained to perform 
livelihoods analysis activities with communities in the tsunami-affected 
districts. The training is part of FAO's "Integrated programme for the 
rehabilitation of the fisheries sector in the tsunami-affected districts 
of Hambantota, Ampara and Batticaloa, which is funded by the Italian 
Cooperation. Using livelihoods approaches and analysis ensures the 
participation of marginalized and vulnerable people and enable them to 
influence their lives in the reconstruction process. Following the 
workshop, participants will perform a detailed analysis of the 
livelihoods present in 18 villages in the districts of Batticaloa, 
Ampara and Hambantota. Based on the results of these livelihood studies, 
the project will fund activities for aquaculture development, 
construction of small infrastructure for the fisheries sector, micro 
enterprise development, agro-processing and establishment of integrated 
homestead gardens.

The Kuwait Government through the Kuwait Red Crescent Society has 
donated 100 fishing boats to the government of Sri Lanka to help 
rehabilitate the fishing industry.

On 15 September TAFREN and ILO in collaboration with OCHA and HIC 
organised a half-day workshop in Galle to discuss information systems on 
livelihood in the Galle, Hambantota and Matara districts. The objective 
of the workshop was to adapt and develop a compatible approach to 
database management. The workshop also enabled attendees to explore the 
most useful format; to review the current survey methodology used by ILO 
to collect the supply data; consider how it could be improved and 
simplified; to explore how the supply database could link to and/or be 
made compatible with existing INGO databases and to other data sets such 
as TAFREN's Development Assistance Database (DAD); to determine how 
frequently and by whom the supply data collected should be updated and 
how results could be most effectively disseminated (by distributing hard 
copies, flyers, by websites, etc.).

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