Tsunami Aid in Sri Lanka Hindered by Political Struggle

The coastline of Sri Lanka, which was badly hit by the tsunami at the end of last year leaving 35,000 dead and about 500,000 people homeless, has been the focus of around 15 Christian Aid partner organisations. The groups are completing work on 1,000 permanent shelters, running comprehensive social and counselling programs for the badly affected groups of women and children.

Despite humanitarian and aid works reaching tsunami victims in Sri Lanka, the political situation is making it very difficult in some areas of the country, and many aid workers in the region have asked the international community to seriously look at what is happening. There have been problems reported in the northern and eastern areas of the country, but British people have been reassured that they should not feel that the money they have donated was not being used effectively.

After people were made homeless by the tsunami, they were relocated to all kinds of community buildings, churches and temples, and later on they were transported to temporary shelters to free up these buildings. However, in some areas, moving to permanent shelters has been a problem due to a lack of clarity over the allocation of land.

The former US President, Bill Clinton, who is the UN envoy for tsunami relief, visited the island last week, holding a meeting with the Sri Lankan President, Chandrika Kumaratunga. He ensured that aid was being fairly distributed and stated his commission to keep the world’s attention fixed on tsunami recovery.

Aid leaders have expressed that the longer the situation of uncertainty continues in these areas, the longer there would be a culture of dependency, and restarting work full-scale is a major part of the psychological healing after such a disaster.