65 tsunami victims hospitalized after eating grain in Sri Lanka

Associated Press, Mon April 4, 2005 06:39 EDT . - - COLOMBO, Sri Lanka - (AP) At least 65 tsunami victims, including 25 children, were hospitalized in Sri Lanka - after eating uncooked grain at a refugee camp, officials said Monday.

The tsunami survivors in eastern Muttur, 230 kilometers (140 miles) northeast of the capital, Colombo, complained of dizziness and vomiting, said M. Shukri, director of the Muttur hospital.

``The patients had eaten some type of raw grain that needed to be boiled before consumption,'' he said.

They were hospitalized on Saturday. Some were discharged Sunday, while the rest were released on Monday, Shukri said.

Tens of thousands of people displaced by the Dec. 26 tsunami still remain in overcrowded camps and temporary shelters around the island. They are largely dependent on government aid.

Sri Lankan Rains Flood Tent Camps for Tsunami Survivors in East

April 4 (Bloomberg) -- Rains in Sri Lanka's eastern region caused flooding in tent camps housing thousands of people made homeless by the Dec. 26 tsunami that killed about 39,000 in the South Asian island nation.

``The tent floors are wet or flooded,'' A.K. Thavarajah, a relief official for the Batticaloa/Amparai district, said yesterday, according to a report on the TamilNet Web site. ``Mats and sheets on which refugee children sleep have got soggy with the unexpected rains.''

Hundreds of people are sheltering in buildings in Batticaloa that were used to store rice and are now in a dilapidated state with leaking roofs, TamilNet said.

Sri Lanka was the worst-hit country after Indonesia by the tsunami disaster. About 17,000 people were killed in the mainly Tamil north and eastern region. The rebel Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam, which has been fighting for two decades for a separate homeland in the northeast, has accused the government of President Chandrika Kumaratunga of failing to provide enough aid to rebel-held areas of the island of 19.7 million people, a charge the administration denies.

About half a million people were left homeless by the tsunami that devastated coastal towns and villages.

Sri Lanka needs $.1.5 billion in aid to recover from the disaster, the Asian Development Bank, the World bank and the Japan Bank for International Cooperation said last month. About $900 million has been committed to help Sri Lanka, the ADB said last month.

Damage from the tsunami threatens economic expansion that has benefited from a cease-fire in February 2002 that halted the civil war. Sri Lanka needs to rebuild 100,000 houses, as well as ports, hotels and roads.

Peace talks between the Liberation Tigers and the government, under the Norway brokered cease-fire, have been stalled since April 2003. The civil war has killed about 60,000 people.

Khalid

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Happy at school.

Children happy in class at a small village school on the East Coast near Kalmunai

65 tsunami victims hospitalized after eating grain in Sri Lanka

At least 65 tsunami victims, including 25 children, were hospitalized in Sri Lanka - after eating uncooked grain at a refugee camp, officials said Monday.

The tsunami survivors in eastern Muttur, 230 kilometers (140 miles) northeast of the capital, Colombo, complained of dizziness and vomiting, said M. Shukri, director of the Muttur hospital.

``The patients had eaten some type of raw grain that needed to be boiled before consumption,'' he said.

They were hospitalized on Saturday. Some were discharged Sunday, while the rest were released on Monday, Shukri said.

Tens of thousands of people displaced by the Dec. 26 tsunami still remain in overcrowded camps and temporary shelters around the island. They are largely dependent on government aid.


Sri Lankan Rains Flood Tent Camps for Tsunami Survivors in East

April 4 (Bloomberg) -- Rains in Sri Lanka's eastern region caused flooding in tent camps housing thousands of people made homeless by the Dec. 26 tsunami that killed about 39,000 in the South Asian island nation.

``The tent floors are wet or flooded,'' A.K. Thavarajah, a relief official for the Batticaloa/Amparai district, said yesterday, according to a report on the TamilNet Web site. ``Mats and sheets on which refugee children sleep have got soggy with the unexpected rains.''

Hundreds of people are sheltering in buildings in Batticaloa that were used to store rice and are now in a dilapidated state with leaking roofs, TamilNet said.

Sri Lanka was the worst-hit country after Indonesia by the tsunami disaster. About 17,000 people were killed in the mainly Tamil north and eastern region. The rebel Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam, which has been fighting for two decades for a separate homeland in the northeast, has accused the government of President Chandrika Kumaratunga of failing to provide enough aid to rebel-held areas of the island of 19.7 million people, a charge the administration denies.

About half a million people were left homeless by the tsunami that devastated coastal towns and villages.

Sri Lanka needs $.1.5 billion in aid to recover from the disaster, the Asian Development Bank, the World bank and the Japan Bank for International Cooperation said last month. About $900 million has been committed to help Sri Lanka, the ADB said last month.

Damage from the tsunami threatens economic expansion that has benefited from a cease-fire in February 2002 that halted the civil war. Sri Lanka needs to rebuild 100,000 houses, as well as ports, hotels and roads.

Peace talks between the Liberation Tigers and the government, under the Norway brokered cease-fire, have been stalled since April 2003. The civil war has killed about 60,000 people.

Khalid

Tsunami affected Indigenous orthopaedic hospital seeks assistance

THE Pallewela Veda Medura abutting the Galle Road at Katukurunda, Moratuwa, an orthopaedic nursing institute of indigenous medicine treating indoor and outdoor patients of all ethnic denominations was hit by the ruthless tsunami on December 26 last year.

Pallewela Veda Medura, Katukurunda, Moratuwa, in addition to treating orthopaedic patients was also the laboratory for the production of local medicine, ointments, and medicinal herbal plasters used in its outlets in Sirimavo Bandaranaike Mawatha, Colombo and at Hospital Road, Kalubowila, Dehiwala.

It also housed the special X'ray equipment to investigate orthopaedic ailments. Not only locals but even foreigners sought treatment at this nursing home under emergency circumstances such as road accidents.

The sudden tsunami invasion of December 26 which submerged over 3 and half feet high within the nursing home premises swept away not only the medical equipment and indigenous medicinal accessaries but even large stocks of herbal logs stored in the laboratory by private traders.

The items swept away included patients' beds, furniture, doors and windows, bed-spreads, television sets, brass cauldrons etc.

The owner of the indigenous nursing home, Dr.R.K.Vaidyaratna, who takes great pains to preserve the ancient medical system lamented that in spite of several representations made to numerous institutions for rehabilitation assistance in respect of this devastated medical institute, nothing positive has emerged so far.

He urges benefactors to come forward to assist him as he is rendering this social service very often free of charge and devoid of any motives to earn profit.

Khalid