Rising from the remains.......
***
National Safety Day
26th December will be Sri Lanka's National
Safety Day, remembering the 2004 December 26 Tsunami devastation, since
it is the worst disaster we faced in the recent history.
This year the day will be focused in the
Ratnapura district where several indoor and outdoor activities and
awareness programmes are arranged, Disaster Management Centre (DMC)
informed.26th December starts with remembering the men, women and
children - young and old - who lost their lives in those tidal waves.
Throughout the day there will be many
programmes remembering the tragedy and awareness programmes islandwide
as well under Divisional Secretariats, DMC officials stated.
***
by Dhaneshi Yatawara
In another three days from today, it will be exactly three years
since Sri Lanka was hit by one of the deadliest tidal waves, causing
families to lose their loved ones, children without their parents,
searching for their children - a major devastation throughout the
country.
Literally speaking it was an earthquake that shook the whole world.
This 26th December 2004 tsunami, triggered by a massive earthquake of a
moment magnitude 9.0 - was recorded as one of the worst ten deadliest
disasters on this earth.
Hardest hit countries were Sumatra, Sri Lanka, Thailand and India.
These five to ten feet tall tidal waves hit the coastal line of our land
and shook the whole country.
Overall this tsunami generated by the earthquake off the coast of
northern Sumatra was recorded worldwide and killed more people than any
other tsunami in recorded history.
More than 297,248 people were either killed or listed missing and
presumed dead and a further 1,126,900 were displaced by the earthquake
and subsequent tsunami. The estimated economic losses exceeded $10
billion.
The shock and the loss
In Sri Lanka, we lost almost 35,000 women, men and children, more
lives were shattered and displaced. The 'Samudra Devi' (Queen of the
Sea) train was hit on its way to its southern destination at a place
close to Galle city, killing its commuters leaving just a handful of
survivors.
We all gathered around radios and televisions, silently absorbing the
news blank faced, unable to comprehend what we were seeing and hearing.
The devastation might be limited to coastal regions, but the sense of
shock and loss is universal. This is a small country, one in which
almost everyone knows, or is related to someone who was caught up in the
mayhem.
Across the island collections are being taken for those who have lost
everything, vans with PA systems driving around calling on people to
give what ever they can.
Even in the poorest, most remote areas people flock to the roadside
to hand over money, clothes, bottles of water and bags of rice and
lentils. On buildings everywhere, from factories to schools,army bases
to roadside shacks, people hung white flags and banners - the
traditional Buddhist way of mourning and condolence.
Each citizen was doing the best whatever they can to help the lost,
helpless and depressed fellow citizens.
The recovery
The worst hit were the eastern and the deep southern coastal line.
Government institutes, Non Governmental Organizations, community
groups individuals donated their efforts - financially or non
financially - for the overall regaining programme.
The tsunami wave heights varied from location to location and the
damage and deaths were directly proportional to elevation.
Education and combination of warning systems and evacuation routes to
higher grounds that will make a profound difference in the future was
focused in this process. Prioritizing disaster risk management on the
list of national priorities for Sri Lanka happened aftermath this 2004
tsunami destruction.
The Select Committee on Natural Disasters, enactment of the
legislation on disaster management, establishment of the Ministry of
Disaster Management and Human Rights, creation of the Disaster
Management Centre and establishment of the National Council for Disaster
Management are some of the significant steps taken by the Government of
Sri Lanka.
The Department of Meteorology was also gazetted under the Ministry of
Disaster Management and Human Rights. The Department of Meteorology has
also been designated as the lead agency for Tsunami Early Warning.
More recently the formulation and launch of the Road Map for Disaster
Risk Management in Sri Lanka has been a big step forward. This Road Map
is a ten year framework to be addressed in a systematic and prioritized
manner with the involvement of all relevant stakeholders.
These priorities for action are consistent with the Sri Lanka
Disaster Management Act No. 13 of 2005,working towards implementing in
the next decade.
The Road Map covers the areas of, Policy, Institutional Mandates and
Institutional Development, Hazard, Vulnerability and risk assessment,
Tsunami and Multi-hazard Early Warning Systems, Disaster Preparedness
Planning and Response, Disaster Mitigation and Integration in to
Development Planning, Integration of Disaster Risk Reduction into
Development Planning, Community based Disaster Management, Public
Awareness, Education and Training.
Friendship Villages
A large number of houses along the coast in Sri Lanka were destroyed
by the tsunami and the homeless had to seek refuge in transit camps.
Since housing a basic and an essential need for restoring the
livelihood of the affected people bringing back normalcy the Government
of Japan in consultation with the Government of Sri Lanka had allocated
funds for the construction of two Friendship Villages in Trincomalee
district and one Friendship Village in Ampara district.
The reconstruction of Japan-Sri Lanka Friendship Villages, located in
Iqbal Nagar in Trincomalee district and Hijra Nagar in Ampara district
have been completed and handed over last August to those affected
people.
Japan-Sri Lanka village in Konesapuri in Trincomalee district has
been completed and will be handed over soon after the end of partner
INGO's construction work.
The Government of Japan has provided Rs. 1.1 billion for the
construction of these villages. The Iqbal Nagar village in Trincomalee
and the Hijra Nagar village in Ampara were entirely funded by Japan.
They include not only houses, but also in-site roads, access roads,
landscaping, water supply & drainage, electricity, pre-schools,
community centers, public bus stand, public bathing place and other
necessary infrastructure for the livelihood of Tsunami affected people.
Furthermore, the Government of Japan in collaboration with INGOs,
which are providing houses, supplied necessary public infrastructure
such as in-site roads, water supply & drainage, electricity,
pre-schools, community centers etc. to the Konesapuri village in
Trincomalee.
In Hijra Nagar, 90% of total families are Muslims and 10% of them are
Tamils. The total number of families in Hijra Nagar is 200. Among the
246 families in Iqbal Nagar, 55% of them are Tamils and the rest of them
are Muslims. The beneficiaries of Konesapuri are totally Tamils.
Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA) assisted in carrying
out the surveys, preparation of plans and designing of the houses and
amenities. At the same time, Japan International Cooperation System (JICS)
supervised the project.
The funds for the construction of the friendship villages is part of
the US$ 80 million Non-Project Grant Aid made available by the
Government of Japan towards tsunami rehabilitation and reconstruction
work in Sri Lanka.
A major part of these funds was utilized for a wide range of
rehabilitation and reconstruction activities including fisheries,
electricity, health, water & sanitation, construction of bridges,
schools, police stations.
Housing projects
National Housing Development Authority (NHDA) works as the overseeing
and quality assuring body of the all housing projects in the tsunami
affected areas.
In addition to the Japanese grants for the Japan - Sri Lanka
friendship villages, KFW Bank of the German Government, Italian
Government (Padova City Council) and many International NGOs are
supporting repairing as well as constructing houses of the affected
families, NHDA officials said.
The Authority undertakes and supervises the technical factor of the
project. Owner participatory construction as a methodology to lower the
expenses has become very effective, NHDA officials highlighted. In these
constructions where the community participation, the Government
involvement becomes minimum.
The NHDA officials stated that on average almost 85 - 90 % of the
construction works are completed and repairing partly damaged houses is
completed.
Reconstruction of bridges
The Japanese Non-Project Grant Aid was targeted towards the neediest
areas throughout the country according to priority by selecting the
Reconstruction of four (04) Bridges and one Culvert in the South, and
three causeways in the East, all badly damaged due to the Tsunami.
The four Bridges and the one (01) Culvert in the South, namely
Akurala Bridge, Seeinigama Bridge, Magalle Bridge, Ahangama Bridge and
Weligama Culvert on the A2 highway in the Galle District, have also been
successfully completed.
This project commenced in August 2005, and was completed in December
2006. The total length of construction is 86 metres.
This scheme, on completion, has not only enabled the transport in the
south to get back to normalcy, but also increased road safety and the
load of traffic. The total cost of the project has been around 594
million Yen. This project mainly benefits approximately 8.0 million
population living in the Western and Southern Provinces.
The three causeways in the East, namely Komari causeway in the Ampara
District, Periya Kallar causeway and Koddaiakallar causeway in the
Batticaloa District, commenced reconstruction in August 2005, and was
completed in June 2007, bringing the total length of construction to
1,627 metres in all. These causeways have facilitated mobility to the
populations living in the East, especially in Batticaloa and Ampara,
resulting in speedy restoration of livelihoods leading to normalcy.
The total cost of the project has been 791 million Yen, making it one
of the largest projects implemented under the Non-Project Grant Aid.
This reconstruction mainly benefits approximately 1.5 million residents
living in the Eastern Province.
It is also significant that in implementing these construction works,
almost all labour force were drawn from the local people.
Totally over 150,000 man-days local Sinhala, Tamil and Muslim people
are engaged in this task. This has had a positive effect on the already
disrupted livelihoods of the people by way of supplementing their family
incomes as well as provided an opportunity for the communities to be
actively engaged in the Tsunami reconstruction process.
Education
Apart from houses, roads and many buildings schools were affected -
either partially or fully damaged.
Ministry of Education has identified 183 tsunami affected schools in
those particular areas and 98 out of the total were totally destructed.
Currently 100 schools are repaired and reconstructed; majority of
these schools are functioning as they used to be before the D day,
except for the schools in the areas under terrorists' stronghold where
data is unknown. Ministry of Education has set up TARM - Tsunami
Affected Rehabilitation Monitor - for the better performance of the
reconstruction and rehabilitation work.
The Government contributes the basic infrastructure facilities,
therefore Water supply, land and electricity etc, and the reconstruction
works are processed based on funds donated by our friendly nations. TARM
officials explained that Governments of Japan, Italy, Switzerland,
Norway and Germany, many International NGOs and well-wishers are
donating different sectors of school reconstruction and rehabilitation
programmes.
According to TARM officials Singapore has agreed to assist in this
school reconstruction programmes and hoping to start early next year.
The total disbursement of the foreign aids is approximately around
7000 million rupees, TARM officials said. We are stepping in to the
third remembrance of that mass destruction we, as a country faced. Let
us forbid the memories to be submerged in the sea of time.
Let us do our best to regain the brilliance our brethren had before
their lives shattered under those sturdy waves.
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