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| Sunday, 6 February 2005 |
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Features |  |
| News Business Features Editorial
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The inhabitants of Mullaitivu and Kilinochchi : Ready to start over by Rohan Mathes reporting from Mullaitivu and Kilinochchi The coastal sea stretch of over 45 km from Kilinochchi to Mullaitivu was a ghastly sight. Any mortal visiting this area is bound to feel the heart rendering reverberations of the tsunami and the destruction caused by the two-decades long ethnic conflict as well. All around are scenes of collapsed buildings, broken-down structures and wrecked fishing boats.
The various NGOs who had indulged in this exercise in coordination with the government, had almost completed their arduous tasks. Infrastructural development had just resumed at grassroot level. With the ceasefire in operation and peace in the horizon they were just awakening and picking up the pieces when nature decided to the contrary. These hapless Mullaitivuians were destined to undergo a double destruction in the form of a natural calamity of the highest proportions. All their hopes and aspirations were shattered by the monstrous waves of the tsunami, which washed away the entire sea shore in certain areas, destroying settlements and wrecking fishing boats which had been their life-blood. Houses, schools, churches, temples, offices and almost each and every building once known and inhabited by mankind was totally, if not partially, destroyed. Mullaitivu, meaning 'white flowers island' had once again been transformed into a land of horror, destitution and devastation. The ghostly sights and the aura of doom still remain along the Mullaitivu coastline, one month after the devastation. The guerilla cadres in their military fatigues and relief workers from many organisations are the only signs of life amidst the dilapidated buildings, the rubble and the clearing of debris. A Catholic church at Thalaiyady in Maruthankerny had suffered heavy damage. The statue of 'Our Lady' at the junction nearby was totally uprooted. The city and the shops had survived the watery onslaught, but remain vacated and closed in haunted silence. Where are the shoppers?, we ask ourselves.
According to statistics of the National Disaster Management Centre, over 22500 people of Mullaitivu have been displaced, over 3000 are reported to be dead, and 550 missing. Some of the shoppers who patronised the shops, are trapped in refugee camps, others had disappeared from the face of the earth. Some have been buried in make-shift mass graves without any last rites or rituals performed by the bereaved families. We witness a long overdue burial of a tsunami victim, at Vatharaya cemetery in Maruthankerny, where a human carcass wrapped in polythene is just dumped into a graveyard by some relief workers. This apparently is in stark contrast to the burial given with much pomp and pageantry, to the revered 'brave heroes' of the Tigers on 'Maha Viru Thinam' (Heroes Day). We happen to see this well-maintained grave site as well, in Mullaitivu itself, just a few miles away from the Vatharyan cemetery. The dwellings, have been reduced to piles of rubble and abandoned. The householders have been rendered destitute, some without even an item of clothing to call their own. The impact of the tsunami on Mullaitivu had been far more devastating than in any other areas of the country. Disaster and devastation are no strangers to the people of Mullaitivu. Displacement and refugee camps have been the norm for them. Men, women and children in their numbers have flocked into refugee camps. They have enjoyed the scantiest sanitary facilities. Women and children- especially girls, have been the most vulnerable, due to lack of privacy, and vulnerable to sexual abuse by other refugees and those who weild power and authority within the camps per se. The man-made ethnic conflict in the North East drove them to these experiences earlier. Now it is the tsunami, the vagaries of nature and a natural disaster which has plunged them into the same fate. However, when we visit a refugee camp at the Mulliyavallai Vidyananda College in Mullaitivu, the refugees appear to be resilient. K. Siva an official from the Tamil Rehabilitation Organisation (TRO), a pro LTTE, humanitarian-based, government registered NGO, says they have around 367 displaced families, comprising 90 per cent of Kalliappadu fishing village. All of them he says were doing well. "We have no problem with provisions of food for the refugees. The only problem at present is the scarcity of tents, which we expect to get soon from an NGO. We have not got large-scale relief from the government yet. NGOs such as UNHCR, UNICEF, CARE, ICRC, FORUT and the SCF are providing much relief aid to us at the moment", he adds. Suriyakumar, a fisherman who is seeking refuge in the camp with his wife and five children, says that his house was swept away by the tsunami. He is anxiously awaiting to resume his livelihood when he is supplied with a boat and fishing gear. An A/L student who had lost her father, reiterates that she is determined to sit the exam and excel in it, despite the tsunami which had destroyed her home and carried away her books. She is optimistic of the prospects of A/L classes resuming soon. The re-building and re-construction process of the devastated Vanni stronghold of the LTTE is now underway. T. Rajendram, a representative of the Asian Development Bank (ADB) funded NGO NECORD, tells us that they are engaged in re-construction and the re-settlement efforts in Mullaitivu. On our last lap of the tour of Mullaitivu, we meet Sea Tiger leader Colonel Soosai, a stout figure, at a refurbished house in the coast. Soosai is optimistic of the outcome of the discussions between the Peace Secretariats of the government and the LTTE, and believed that both parties would enter into a consensus to work in unison to re-build the devastated territory of Mullaitivu. He fervently appeals to the government to cooperate and coordinate in the overall relief efforts now underway. Soosai briefly outlines his proposed re-construction plans for the 13 villages within the Mullaitivu district. He recommends a 300 metres buffer zone from the coast, which he says was agreed upon by their people, for safety reasons. He also points out the importance of building a 'bund' from Valayamadam to Silavatura, to facilitate the fishing industry and as a safety precaution against such natural disasters in the future. |
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| Produced by Lake House |
The inhabitants of Mullaitivu who are predominantly fishermen, had
great expectations of re-building their battered homes and regaining their
lost prestige, in a land which was being cleared of mines laid-out by the
warring factions during the past two decades of conflict.
The answer is in the facial expressions and the utterances of the
grief-stricken victims we converse with. They had faced the ordeal and
were still reeling from the impact. Many had lost all they possessed,
their family, home, community and livelihood.
