Sri Lanka: Canadian Red Cross provides vital aid to tsunami survivors
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By Pamela Davie in Galle, Sri Lanka
Faroza Saidiya says that she and her family are moving forward, step by step, since the tsunami struck their home on the coast of Galle in southern Sri Lanka. The 44-year old, her husband and three children recently moved from a government run relief shelter to a tent on the grounds of her former home, now destroyed. The move allows them to function more independently as they focus on rebuilding.
The Canadian Red Cross is helping Faroza and her community to manage during the interim phase between relief and reconstruction by continuing to provide much needed assistance such as family hygiene kits to address the daily needs for a family of six. Each hygiene kit contains toothpaste, tooth brush, shampoo, toilet paper, soap, sanitary pads, razors, washing detergent and towels.
More than 15 Sri Lankan Red Cross volunteers travel to three separate distribution points located in different areas of Galle district to distribute relief to over 900 people a day. The relief items are donated from Canadian Red Cross, the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies, and other national Red Cross and Red Crescent societies.
The Canadian Red Cross has played a significant role in relief efforts with its one millionth ton of relief aid sent this week to Tsunami affected countries. For Sri Lanka, Canadian donors have supported the shipments of 800,000 water purification sachets (enough to purify over 15 million litres of water), 38,000 water containers, 40,000 roles of rope and 840 rolls of plastic sheeting for shelter. The 50,000 hygiene parcels were sent earlier this month.
In addition to aid shipments, the Canadian Red Cross has provided support to the International Federation’s appeal for tsunami-affected countries and the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC), which works in conflict affected areas in northern and eastern Sri Lanka.
For people like Faroza, whose family’s source of income was a three wheel tuk-tuk taxi that has been in the repair shop since the December 26, Red Cross assistance is helping to sustain them while her husband is taking odd jobs to provide an income. Her daughters, aged six, nine and twelve are frightened of running water and still stay close by their mother as much as possible. Faroza also has another child to care for—her niece whose parents were killed in the tsunami.
Similarly in Hambantota, further east along the coastline, the community is managing in for the immediate future thanks to Red Cross distributions. “The Red Cross has done a good job by covering our needs,” says Mohammed Zubair who lost his only two children in the disaster and suffered significant damage to his home. “We are okay for now but would soon like to rebuild.”
The government of Sri Lanka will restrict approximately 100 metres of coastline, more in some areas, in order to protect the population from future disaster. In Zubair’s case, this means waiting to rebuild until the government has determined whether they can use their former plot near the sea or identifies Crown land for them.
As relief transitions to rehabilitation, a team of Canadians is working with the International Red Cross and Red Crescent Movement to implement the reconstruction. “Canadian Red Cross is dedicated to working in the region for the long term—from five to ten years,” says Bogdan Dumitru, Head of Delegation for the Canadian Red Cross mission to Sri Lanka. “We have been working with the Sri Lankan Red Cross and ICRC in Sri Lanka since 1998 and will use our existing relationships and expertise to support the Sri Lankan people to recover from this humanitarian tragedy.”
The team is focusing on livelihood revival, health, community disaster response and preparedness, reconstruction and capacity development of the Sri Lanka Red Cross. As well, the Canadian Red Cross director of the national abuse prevention program, Judi Fairholm arrived last week to develop psycho social assistance that will be integrated in each of the programs, particularly in the area of health. Sri Lankan Red Cross and other Red Cross workers have identified psycho-social support as a critical need for the affected population. “We are ensuring that any assistance is culturally appropriate to the needs of the people,” says Fairholm. “We will be working with the Sri Lankan Red Cross society every step of the way.”