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Tsunami in a Forgotten Paradise

Ditribution of canoes

Ditribution of canoes

© Markéta Kutilová

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The destructive waves of the Tsunami which struck several countries on the Indian Ocean, also hit a number of areas in Sri Lanka. Over thirty thousand people lost their lives and over one-half million people lost their homes.
 
Immediately in the first days after the catastrophe, PIN witnessed the enormous solidarity of the citizens of the Czech Republic with the victims of the tragedy, when the amount of donations designated for assistance to the affected countries began to quickly increase. By the beginning of January, when PIN employees began their activities in Sri Lanka, it became obvious that it would be possible to provide assistance to thousands of affected individuals just from the funds accumulated in this collection. The overall amount donated to the collection fund reached over 130 million Czech crowns, and was the largest amount of money in a collection fund for foreign intervention in PIN history.
 
A majority of the financial resources for assistance after the Tsunami from the government of Sri Lanka and from overseas was directed to the Southern part of the island, which is a sought after tourist paradise. PIN assessed that the region of Trincomalee was the area that was most in need of assistance, which had already been scarred by dozens of years of civil war. The extensive natural catastrophe was multiplied here by the unfavorable environment which the local people lived in.
 
The entire Eastern coast where Trincomalee is located is militarily closed off and cut off from the rest of the country. The main access road is in disrepair and partitioned off by several barriers, the number of tourists in minimal, the schools lack teachers, and after ten o’clock at night only soldiers walk the streets. In the part of the territory under the control of the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam it is not possible to bring in a number of basic commodities without their approval. On journeys to the capital of Colombo local people often asked PIN employees how Trincomalee looked at all. Older people know of the one-time famous beaches here, yet for the last twenty years few people dared to go there. The security and social situation in Trincomalee is difficult, yet people here need help more than in areas where capital flows in from tourism and investment from the government of Sri Lanka.
 
The PIN program of assistance in Sri Lanka has two mutually interconnected goals – to help people affected by the catastrophe to begin normal life again and to permanently improve the living conditions in the entire targeted area.
 
During the period of immediate humanitarian assistance directly after the catastrophe, PIN participated in the fast building of provision shelters, construction of provisional classrooms for schools filled with refugees and distributed canoes and fishing nets and other specific equipment to small businessmen and tradesmen.
 
After this first phase the assistance naturally moved in a direction of more long-term intervention: the building of permanent homes and supporting the ability those affected by the Tsunami to make a living, the development of the school system and education and support for youth employment.
 
 
SRI LANKA
 
  • Location: South Asia
  • Neighboring countries: (island country)
  • Capital: Colombo
  • Area: 65,610 km2
  • Population: 20,222,240 (2006)
  • Main Ethnic Groups: Sinhalese 74 %, Tamils 18 %, Moors 7 %
  • Religion: Buddhism 69 %, Hindu 15 %, Muslim 8 %, Roman Catholic 7 %
  • Median age: 29.8 (2006)
  • Birth rate: 15.51 (2006)
  • Infant mortality rate: 13.97 (2006)
  • Median life expectancy at birth: 73.41 (2006)
  • Literacy rate: 92.3 % (2003) ♂ 94.8 % ♀ 90 %
  • GDP in spending strength: 87.15 billion USD (2005)
  • GDP per capita in spending strength: 4,300 USD(2005)
  • GDP growth rate: 5 % (2005)
  • Unemployment rate: 8.4 % (2005)
  • Percentage of the population living below the poverty level: 22 % (1997)
 
 

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