Tsunami News - today

To the aid of tsunami orphans of Hambantota

The public of Ikeda Town and other donors in the Prefecture of Gifu in Japan have committed a sum of Sri Lanka Rs. 650,000 to be spent for the welfare of tsunami affected orphans and their guardians in Hambantota.

This showering of generosity has been made possible due to the hard work put in by Zulfy Thajudeen and his friends of the NPO Organization - Hot Station Ikeda & Joho Station Ikeda, who left no stone unturned in their efforts to collect as much donations as possible from the residents of all parts of the Prefecture of Gifu.

Thajudeen who had been holidaying in Sri Lanka at the time of the tsunami was particularly struck by the pitiless plight of the children who had been caught up in the tsunami and had vowed to somehow do something to ameliorate their condition on his return to Japan. In his own words: "

..... Every time I look at my 1 1/2 year old son, I just can't help my heart bleeding for the thousands who lost their loved ones and children (our greatest treasure) whose lifelines for love and provision, their parents, were so unfairly yanked off their lives! As much as the lives of my family and I was spared, it dawned on me that it was my moral responsibility to contribute within my capacity in easing the misery of 'disaster affected children' and their parents struggling to make ends meet as a result of the disaster."

Actuated by this ambition, Thajudeen drummed up enough support amongst his Japanese friends to engage in a fund-raising campaign which resulted in this amount of money being collected.

15,468 temporary houses completed - TAP

The number of temporary housing units constructed to relocate tsunami affected families now staying in welfare centres in the eight districts has totalled 15,468 by April 15 according to the statistics gathered by the head office of the Transitional Accommodation Project (TAP) at Jawatte Road, Colombo.

Thus the project has achieved a progress of 75 percent of the targeted 30,000 temporary housing units expected to be completed by the end of May according to M. D. Mithraratne, Director of the Project.

Work on 7,856 more units are now in progress and is expected to be completed within the next few days. He said that some of the problems encountered in finding lands to construct these houses had been sorted out in many districts and the work on the balance houses is proceeding on target with the assistance of international agencies and non-governmental organisations.

The TAP has been launched on a directive of the President and implemented under the supervision and guidance of the Commissioner General of Essential Services, Tilak Ranaviraja to give much better temporary accommodation to the displaced families than at welfare centres until they are provided with permanent houses on which work has already been commenced by the Task Force for Reconstruction and Rehabilitation.

According to the statistics gathered the number of temporary housing units completed in the respective districts are as follows: Colombo 798, Kalutara 628, Galle 1968, Matara 1076, Hambantota 1229, Ampara 5442, Batticaloa 2892, Trincomalee 1436.

According to the specifications stipulated by the Government each such temporary housing unit should have two rooms with a minimum floor area of 200 square feet. The cost of each should not exceed Rs. 40,000.

Khalid