International help for Jaffna flood relief

by Ananth PALAKIDNAR

The Chinese and the Netherlands governments along with several other institutions of the United Nations Organisation have pledged their support to assist in the flood relief operations in the Jaffna Peninsula, according to Minister of Social Services and Social Welfare and the Head of the Northern Province Special Task Force for Development, Douglas Devananda.

Minister Devananda told the Sunday Observer that the plight of the Jaffna civilians was now somewhat like having falling from frying pan to the fire "The Jaffna civilians are already hit by war and the recent cyclone `Nisha' followed by heavy showers have made their lives more miserable than ever before. Over a thousand houses have been damaged with two hundred thousand civilians becoming helpless due to adverse weather conditions that had prevailed for nearly a week, Devananda said.

Realising the gravity of the situation the Dutch and the Chinese envoys have met Minister Douglas Devananda and pledged their support to help in the flood relief activities.

Minister Devananda said that Dutch Deputy Head of Mission in Colombo, Ferdinand Lahnstein pledged his Government's support in the flood relief activities. Apart from attending to the immediate needs of the flood victims in the North the Dutch Government has also expressed its willingness to revamp the agricultural and the fishing sectors that have been terribly hit by war and now devastated by floods and cyclones.

The China Ambassador to Sri Lanka, Ye Dabo who met him on Thursday handed over US $ 10,000 to begin relief activities immediately and pledged his Government's support in the relief works to be carried out in the future.

Minister Devananda in his capacity as the Chairman of the Northern Development Task Force had also held discussions with the representatives of several UN institutions, UNICEF, UNDP, FAO, USAID and IOM.

A complete data on the flood devastation was also handed over to them.