araprakasam Anesteen, a Sri Lankan fisherman, survived the Indian Ocean tsunami but lost his one-year-old son in the waves that engulfed a beach on the northern tip of the island. Five months later, after an outpouring of global aid, the 27-year-old from Sri Lanka's Tamil ethnic minority is convinced victims in the predominantly ethnic Sinhalese south are getting a better deal. "They say they have started building permanent houses in the south. Here they have not even laid a foundation stone," he said near a beach in Manalkadu village -- his home until the Dec. 26. tsunami struck, triggered by a powerful earthquake off Indonesia. "The Sinhalas are getting aid faster than us. I am not angry but we should also be helped, we are also humans, we are also poor. We should all be treated equally." "We've heard it on the radio and read it in the papers," said Anesteen, whose wife was badly injured by the tsunami. In truth, aid is trickling into both areas but the pace is slowing and the poor quality of the projects is breeding frustration. Although Sinhalese areas in the south received faster and better aid in the immediate aftermath of the disaster -- partly because they were closest to the capital Colombo -- the north and the east eventually caught up, aid workers said. But in a country as volatile as Sri Lanka, the perception that minority Tamils are losing out to the south in aid has dangerous implications. It's a perception of bias held by thousands of Tamils in the north and east of a country torn by decades of ethnic unrest in which tens of thousands have been killed. As reconstruction begins, any sign -- real or rumoured -- of an uneven distribution of aid could worsen ethnic rivalries just as the government is struggling to maintain a three-year-old ceasefire between government forces and Tamil Tiger rebels. HOPES BELIED The tsunami killed nearly 40,000 people in Sri Lanka. Another 500,000 lost their homes and are either living in tents and shacks or with relatives and friends. Aid agencies and donors pledged $2 billion for relief and reconstruction, although about $500 million has yet to be signed and sealed. The tragedy raised hopes that the government and the Tamil Tiger rebels -- who fought a brutal war for two decades seeking a separate homeland for minority Tamils until a 2002 ceasefire -- would work together to reconstruct the coast including vast swathes under rebel control in the north and east. The two sides agreed to draft a deal to share aid. But the pact, called the joint mechanism, has failed to materialise and the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) accuse President Chandrika Kumaratunga of not being serious about it. "There was a hope after the tsunami that there would be a national consensus over tackling the tragedy," said a western diplomat who has closely tracked the aid effort. "But, unfortunately, it hasn't turned out that way and things have gone back to their old ways. People are getting impatient while leaders are playing politics with a disaster," the diplomat said. The delay also reflects strong opposition to the Tamil Tigers from within the coalition government, where a junior partner, the anti-LTTE People's Liberation Front (JVP), has rejected the plan and threatened to leave the coalition -- a move that would lead to the collapse of the government. TOUGH CONDITIONS While politicians squabble, the flow of aid has slowed in the devastated regions. Only $130 million, or a little over 5 percent of the pledged $2 billion, has been channeled into projects. New homes have not been built -- in the north and south. The key parties -- the government, Tiger rebels, the JVP and other groups -- have all launched propaganda drives, only adding to the confusion and sparking charges of bias by the minority Tamils, according to volunteers and political analysts. Today, most tsunami survivors are living in temporary shelters built from palm trees, tarpaulins and tin sheets, which bake in the summer heat. Floors are cracked and rainwater flows inside. Water shortages are frequent. Some survivors complain about the poor quality of rations. All want permanent homes built soon but construction has not begun anywhere, although the government said in March houses would be built in 6-to-9 months. "We recognise that there are great difficulties in undertaking a reconstruction process of this magnitude," said Sanaka Samarasinha, a senior United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) official involved in rehabilitation. "Having said that, several months after the tsunami we think that at a minimum the people ought to know what they are entitled to and when they are entitled to it," he said. Ravi Anthony Fernando, a fisherman who lost his wife and three children, said he was fed up. "I wish I had died too," said the villager from Kallapadu in Mullaittivu district on the LTTE-controlled northern coast. "We don't know how long we have to live in these shacks. We are like slaves, depending on others for everything."
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