OCHA Situation Report
Sri Lanka
24 - 30 March 2006


Source: UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs

Overall Situation

The top mediator in Sri Lanka's peace process, Erik Solheim of Norway, 
met the LTTE's leading negotiator in London on Wednesday to discuss 
peace progress. The LTTE will participate at the second session of peace 
negotiations in Geneva during 19-21 April provided that the Government 
of Sri Lanka and the Norwegian facilitators guarantee the safety and 
safe passage of the LTTE negotiating team through Colombo Katunayake 
international airport.

Elections to 266 Local Authorities in Sri Lanka got underway today, 30 
March. Of the 330 Local Authorities in Sri Lanka, comprising of 18 
Municipal Councils, 42 Urban Councils and 270 Pradeshiya Sabhas, the 
poll in 45 local bodies in Jaffna, Kilinochchi, Mannar, Vavuniya and 
Mullativu and Batticaloa Districts will not poll today due to conditions 
prevailing in these Districts. Owing to decisions of the Court of Appeal 
in regard to applications made to the Court against rejections of 
nomination papers, 22 local bodies are also not polling today. Elections 
will not be held in Puthukudiyiruppu and Verugal Pradeshiya Sabhas in 
Mullativu and Trincomalee districts respectively as the members to these 
authorities were elected uncontested. For the first time in the history, 
a valid identity document has to be produced by voters before obtaining 
a ballot paper.

The Asian Human Rights Commission warned Tuesday that corruption will 
increase in Sri Lanka as state auditors stop investigating graft for 
fear of attracting government criticism. The Hong Kong-based rights 
group said corruption probes in Sri Lanka had already slowed after the 
country's auditor was publicly chastised this month. Auditor General 
Sarath Mayadunne has been exposing corruption as well as wasteful 
spending at state institutions, including the handling of millions of 
dollars in foreign aid for tsunami victims.

President Mahinda Rajapakse yesterday won a Supreme Court ruling that an 
investigation into the whereabouts of funds distributed following the 
December 2004 tsunami had breached his rights. The allegations, which 
surfaced in the media last year, were brought in the form of court 
action in November 2005 shortly after Rajapakse had announced his 
nomination for the presidencys. At the time, he denied all wrongdoing 
and asked for the case to be dropped, arguing that it would tarnish his 
reputation. The court, however, ruled that investigations could proceed, 
but two weeks later the Supreme Court intervened halting the case.

The Sri Lankan army aims to recruit 500 to 600 Muslim men into a new 
infantry battalion to be deployed in the tsunami-affected district of 
Ampara, which has the largest concentration of Muslims in Sri Lanka and 
whose residents have faced past attacks by rebels.

Sheba Crocker of the Office of the Special Envoy visited Sri Lanka on a 
five day mission to evaluate and assess the tsunami response.  She met 
key actors at Colombo level including the Reconstruction and Development 
Agency (RADA), NGOs and UN agencies. She also visited Ampara to examine 
progress in the livelihood, housing/shelter sectors.

Coordination and common services

An awareness workshop was carried out by Ernst & Young for the NGO 
community in Galle district to create awareness on the taxes, regulatory 
framework and control mechanisms, on 23 March at the District Chamber of 
Commerce. The tax is applicable for all NGOs other than those 
specifically excluded by the Commissioner General of Inland Revenue or 
the Minister of Finance and is effective from 1 April 2005 with a one 
year grace period.

Food security

A Mother and Child Care Centre and a Hall to provide daily free meals to 
children has been constructed by the All Ceylon Hindu Development 
Society (ACHDS) at a cost of 1.3 million rupees in Deva Nagar, a suburb 
in Trincomalee.

Health

In Trincomalee an Eye Screening Camp was held in Eachchilampattai on 17, 
18 & 19 March Over 400 people were screened and 81 cataract patients 
were identified and 391 people received spectacles.

Water and sanitation

Red Cross Red Crescent is identifying viable and sustainable 
alternatives to current emergency water purification and distribution 
activities that the Movement has been carrying out in tsunami-affected 
areas. Since early 2005 water production and purification plants run by 
the German, French and Italian Red Cross national societies in Ampara 
and Batticaloa districts, have been producing up to 3 million litres of 
potable water each week. Red Cross water tankers are making daily 
deliveries across 10 districts, taking water to sites where temporary 
camps are based as well as to road side storage points where drinking 
water supplies have been disrupted. In tandem with water distributions 
Red Cross teams have cleaned over 5000 wells. A two phased programme 
will evaluate current water needs and sources by district and identify 
appropriate alternatives to current water provision that will ensure 
safe water consumption and allow the Red Cross to scale down water 
production and purification activities without posing a risk to 
community health. The community plays a key role in the design of an 
exit strategy for current activities.

Previously OCHA Trincomalee reported on toilets in Sumethagamam. The 
soakage pits of these toilets need to be emptied before they could be 
used safely. OCHA took necessary steps through UNICEF on this hygiene 
issue and UNICEF will work with the Department of Health to send a gully 
sucker and clean the soakage pits.

Sri Lanka Red Cross and World Vision will discontinue the supply of 
water to transitional shelter sites along the main road in Galle 
district by June 2006. Hence the Water Board has been requested to take 
over by the WatSan working group. The Water Board in turn pointed out 
that they need to assess their capacity against the requirement.

OCHA Ampara reports that once again the issue of identifying a land to 
dump human waste was discussed at the last WatSan meeting in Ampara and 
the National Water Board and Drainage Board stated that a temporary 
stabilization pond could be constructed in two weeks from the day of 
identification of land.

Non-food items and shelter

The World Bank recently handed over 78 houses reconstructed in 
Trincomalee district under the first phase of the World Bank funded 
North East Housing Reconstruction Programme (NEHRP) to war-affected 
families and the second phase of the reconstruction programme was 
inaugurated in Awvainagar in Morawewa DS division.

According to a survey completed by the World Bank funded NEHRP, about 
300,000 houses were destroyed by the two-decade old war in the North 
East. In the first phase, the NEHRP has reconstructed about 31,000 
houses in all the eight districts of the North East. During the second 
phase which commenced this year, NEHRP has planned to reconstruct about 
22,000 destroyed houses. The NEHRP is paying a grant of 250,000 rupees 
to each beneficiary to reconstruct their own damaged houses.

OCHA Trincomalee reported progress in construction and permanent 
housing, although there have been delays in some areas due to labour 
problems and the need for demining activities. In Valaithodam, the 
location of land provided by the DS was not accepted by villagers. The 
DS provided alternative land at the temporary camp. Some beneficiaries 
want houses to be built on private land. A community survey in this 
regard is in process.

Fifty one new houses at Weliwathugoda, Balapitiya were handed over to 
beneficiaries on 18 March, constructed by the Kaluthara Bodhi Trust 
Fund.

Galle distrtict Sarvodaya Foundation handed over 41 permanent houses to 
tsunami affected beneficiaries living outside buffer zone in Malawenna 
Hikkaduwa on Sunday 19th of March.

Six tractors were handed over to the government by UNDP on 21 March in 
Hambantota. The tractors will be used for garbage collection, water and 
sanitations efforts and also to transport constructional materials.

OCHA Killinochchi is collecting information to update the Status of 
Construction Document, complied in January, to compare to government and 
LTTE statistics. UNOPS has written a document explaining issues they are 
facing in Uduthurai while building houses for the INGO Solidar. OCHA is 
keen to see other agencies doing the same to collectively document 
reasons for delays so that at the end of the year if deadlines are not 
met there are no disappointments.

Education

A UNICEF funded training programme is being conducted in Kantalai for 
Deputy Principals and Principals from Kantalai area. This one week 
training will conclude on 26th March 2006, Sunday.

A consultative meeting is being carried out by a Japanese organization 
based in Kobe ADRC (Asian Disaster Reduction Centre) with USAID funding 
on the development of a curriculum for disaster education in Galle 
district, which started on 22 March. The four-day meeting was attended 
by Disaster Management and education experts of Japan, US and officials 
of southern provincial Department of Education. Discussions are being 
carried out on concrete procedures for development of school curriculum 
for disaster education. A district workshop is to be held in future to 
train the trainers and the target audience is principals, teachers, 
school administrators and head prefects.

OCHA facilitated to coordinate with the Tsunami Education Rehabilitation 
Monitor (TERM) and Capacity Development for Recovery Programme (CADREP) 
for technical assessment of schools in Matara District. Kudagolla School 
and Udukawa School were assessed for a proposed school building, water 
system and boundary wall.

A new Children's Park at Kulakkotan in Trincomalee district opened on 24 
March and is the third of 85 play parks planned for 12 tsunami-affected 
districts under a partnership developed by the U.S. Agency for 
International Development (USAID).  It is the first park to be completed 
in the East. Upkeep of the grounds and maintenance of the equipment will 
be the responsibility of the Trincomalee Urban Council, with technical 
assistance provided by Sarvodaya.  Equipment for the play parks is 
imported, and complies with international standards for safety and 
durability.  The parks will all be designed to be family-friendly, and 
encourage multi-ethnic participation and community access, including 
access for the disabled.

As part of the US Department of Labour funded, ILO emergency response to 
the tsunami, ILO/IPEC (The International Programme on the Elimination of 
Child Labour)  is supporting daily remedial education classes in 
Mathematics, Tamil and basic English for children in three schools in 
Kinniya, Trincomalee District. At present there are over 300 children in 
grades 3-9 who regularly follow these classes. The school principals 
have identified children whose education has been severely disrupted and 
who risk dropping out of school due to their low levels of academic 
attainment. This programme is due to continue for 18 months.

Livelihoods

In Trincomalee People in Need (PIN) trained 20 young people in welding 
recently. The project was implemented by the School Development Society 
at Kinniya Central College.

OCHA Ampara reports that the implementation of CAPS in Ampara district 
is receiving poor participation from both INGOs and NGOs. "Form filling 
fatigue" was sited as one reason and the lack of communication between 
other information gathering activities by CIDA and others. Difficulties 
in using the program were sited as another reason for failure of INGOs 
to submit their details. The ILO Income Recovery Technical Assistance 
Programme (IRTAP) representative has confirmed her commitment to 
assisting all INGOs and NGOs in submitting their details and is willing 
to meet at people's offices to train staff and fill the submissions in 
for them.

The Reconstruction and Development Agency (RADA) Divisional Livelihood 
Development Planning is also underway and the first two divisions are 
meant to be completed by the end of the month. Again poor participation 
from INGOs and NGOs and also government is delaying the information 
collection. Complaints were made that the livelihood officers were not 
contacting the relevant actors in each division. Updated contact lists 
have been provided now to the district coordinator.

ILO/IPEC (The International Programme on the Elimination of Child 
Labour) funded by the US Department of Labour and together with the 
Centre for Women's Development and Rehabilitation in Eachlampattai, 
Trincomalee has completed a livelihood training programme for 45 women 
in agriculture, home gardening and animal husbandry. Meanwhile a six 
month programme to support the skills training of 150 school drop outs 
between the age of 14-18 with St Johns Vocational Training Center has 
commenced in Batticoloa, supported by ILO/IPEC and the US Department of 
Labour. An agreement has been signed between Mullai Economic Consultancy 
House and ILO/IPEC, funded by UNICEF to establish a model farm and 
training programme for 100 children and youth in Oddusudan, Mullaitivu.

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
Appropriate Donations for International Disaster/Humanitarian Needs
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
Center for International              web: www.cidi.org
    Disaster Information          listserv: www.cidi.org/listsub.htm
                                guidelines: www.cidi.org/donate.htm
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -