SriLanka: WIDESPREAD DISCONTENT AMONG TSUNAMI SURVIVORS


Every day in Sri Lanka, the United Peoples Freedom Alliance (UPFA) government announces through the television and other media a long list of assistance it is providing for the survivors of the December 26 tsunami. But the reality is completely different. Increasingly, the disaster's victims are holding protests, demanding adequate food, water, shelter and sanitary facilities. Read more

Thailand: TSUNAMI SURVIVORS NEED GENDER SENSITIVE CARE-GROUPS


Against the backdrop of International Women's Day, rights activists are calling for more gender-sensitive programmes to help women and girls who survived the Indian Ocean tsunami. This appeal stems from a growing list of problems female survivors have had to endure in the weeks after rampaging waves, on Dec. 26, devastated coastal communities from Indonesia and Thailand on one end to Sri Lanka and the Maldive Islands on the other. Read more

SriLanka: DISSATISFACTION IN EASTERN SRILANKA OVER LACK OF AID


This is the first in a two-part report by World Socialist Web Site correspondents who visited Ampara district in the east of the Sri Lanka and spoke to the victims of the December 26 tsunami. Even before the tsunami hit Sri Lanka, the Eastern Province was one of the poorest and most economically backward regions of the island. Like the Northern Province, the area has been ravaged by two decades of civil war and many people live below the poverty line. Read more

SriLanka: HARTAL PARALYSES EASTERN PROVINCE


Several eastern towns came to a standstill today after tsunami victims launched a hartal campaign against the non-distribution of tsunami aid and demanded immediate action. Police said all shops, government schools and other government institutions were closed during the day. People gathered and blocked roads and some were seen cooking in the middle of the road. According to the protestors, though two and half months have passed since the December 26 tsunamis, they still live in temporary tents and are not receiving enough food or other essential items. Read more

FAO: NGOs CALL FOR PEOPLE CENTERED REHAB STRATERGIES


The NGO statement to the 26th Session of the Committee on Fisheries (COFI) of the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) on 8 March 2005 has urged that all rehabilitation strategies following the quake-induced tsunami of 26 December 2004 should employ people-centred and participatory approaches, taking cognizance of the work that has already been taken up by NGOs and fishworker organizations. Read more

SriLanka: PEOPLE STORM THE DIVISIONAL SECRETARIAT


The police found dry food rations including sugar buried in the Secretariat building premises. Residents of Ariyampathi alleging that the officials at the Ariyampathi Divisional Secretariat have kept the food and other items meant for distribution among the tsunami victims for themselves, stormed the office premises
creating a chaotic situation. Read more

SriLanka: POLICE ATTACK TSUNAMI PROTEST IN EAST


Police fired tear gas at tsunami victims on a protest in Arayampathy in the Batticaloa district. Tsunami victims were demonstrating in front of the Arayampathy District Secretariat on Sunday protesting the dumping of relief stocks by officials. Protestors who had excavated the buried goods showed them to the police and the media. Read more


SriLanka: GOVERNMENT UNABLE TO PROVIDE HOUSES OR LAND


The UNP firebrand Dr. Rajitha Senarathne, MP today castigated the ruling coalition Freedom Alliance for its failure to provide alternate shelter or land to construct temporary houses for the Tsunami victims. Read more


SriLanka: INDIA , SRI LANKA SHARE NOTES ON TSUNAMI


Two visiting Indian officials today shared with their Sri Lankan counterparts their experiences of post-tsunami relief and rehabilitation work. Emphasising the importance of empowering district administrations, Ms. Nair, Tamil Nadu's Secretary for Rural Development, who was in-charge of the overall supervision of relief operations in Nagapattinam, said that "enhanced powers and responsibility" to the district administrator was a crucial element in speedy redress. Read more


India: KOVALAM PICKS UP THE PIECES


Jamaludeen is repairing and building catamarans at top speed. A village social security system is taking care of orphans and widows. Although devastated by the tsunami, the fisher folk of Kovalam in Tamil Nadu are busy rebuilding their lives. Read more


India: INDIA TSUNAMI RESPONSE TESTS INTERNATIONAL NGOs


Anna Jefferys of Save the Children UK says the challenge for international non-governmental organisations responding to the tsunami in India is figuring out how to fit themselves into the bigger aid puzzle. The most critical immediate challenge facing international NGOs (INGOs) responding to the effects of the tsunami in India is coordinating their activities with other relief players. Read more


India: NEW HOMES FOR TSUNAMI VICTIMS


Ameenama has come back to her seaside village, Sillari, in the south-eastern state of Tamil Nadu, where she lost five sons and a daughter-in-law, for the first time since the tsunami struck. Sillari no longer exists and, with the smell of smoke heavy in the air, Ameenama shows me where her various friends and neighbours in this close-knit community lived. Read more


India: RECOMMENDATIONS FOR INTERIM SHELTER POLICY


This is meant primarily for the Donor Agencies, NGOs, Community Groups, and Business Groups Wishing to Assist in the Interim Rehabilitation Phase in Tamilnadu and is based on feedback from village communities in the south, north and central Nagappatinam, and discussions with local NGOs, and Donor partners. It is going to be presented formally at the NGO/Govt. Coordination Meeting. Read more


India: RESILIENT COMMUNITIES IN INDIA REBUILD


When disaster struck in India on December 26th, over 36,000 fishing households in six districts of the southern Indian state of Andhra Pradesh - Nellore, Prakasam, Guntur, Krishna, East Godavari, and West Godavari - saw their livelihoods wiped out in less than one hour by the devastating tsunami.

However, in the face of the disaster, a story is emerging of local resilience and unprecedented cooperation between communities, government, NGOs, financial institutions, and donors. Read more


Post Tsunami: REBUILDING STARTS


Five weeks after the waves killed some 300,000 people, and left millions more without food, homes or livelihoods, the global outpouring of money and sympathy is only just beginning to ebb. Governments, firms and individuals have given more than many aid agencies can spend, perhaps $6 billion in all. But the results of this generosity have not always lived up to expectations-and there are more pitfalls ahead. Read more

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