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| Sunday, 15 June 2003 |
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Features |  |
| News Business Features Editorial
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Aftermath of the floods : Saving the children by Jayanthi Liyanage
"Nature repairs its ravages - with sun shine and human labour...But, to the eyes which had dwelt in the past, there is no thorough repair.." These timeless words from Thomas Hardy's Mill on the Floss rushed to my mind, at the sight of him, lost in thought, hunching with his chin on hand, by the roadside to Palawela in Ratnapura. Clad only in muddy blue shorts, probably what he had on before the Hungama river turned traitor and roared away with his shelter and belongings. Sheepish once its fury was spent, the river now meekly meandered through the rushes a few feet below, reduced to a trickle. But, for the male child who sat on the top of the slope, staring with cloudy eyes into the future, the anguish of coming to terms with his savagely-interrupted life has just begun. Where could he find an alternative shelter, safe from nature's violent moods? What remained of his school? From where can he unearth his painstakingly copied school notes, text books and uniforms? In short, how to resume life and education?
A big question for children who are always the first casualty of any type of disaster, unless, we, who were spared of the terror of flash floods and landslides, discover exactly where to apply the healing touch. As always, the first reaction to crisis is relief work. Many organisations, government and non-government alike as well as individuals have rushed the basic necessities of living to the disaster-struck districts of Matara, Galle, Ratnapura, Hambantota and Kalutara. Of the NGOs engaged in this work, there are only two focusing wholly on affected children - Save the Children in Sri Lanka (SCSL) and UNICEF. As such, we asked A. G. S. Balasanthiran, Senior Programme Officer of SCSL which obtains the assistance of partners Forut and Sarvodaya for the distribution of relief, what he identified as gaps between current relief measures and the requirements of child victims. "What I see is a lack of co-ordination in the distribution process at the Divisional Level," was his instant reply. "When an NGO notifies an AGA office and distributes relief material in a certain division, other NGOs do not come there. If, by the application of that NGO's distribution criteria, some segments of affected children are left out, they will be deprived of relief." Let's say that the education material is given to affected families which has six children. Then, what about children in families of less than six children?
At Katuwana of Hambantota, where 2177 families were displaced from floods, SCSL's partner FORUT has a series of programmes to distribute two uniforms, two pairs of shoes, a school bag and a set of exercise books to 263 school-going children. Last week, ten children from Walasmulla AGA Division received their quota in the very first of these programmes, in a moving gathering of parents and children while the non-recipient children watched with longing and helpless eyes at the first ten being presented with their packs. "Our selection criteria disregarded income level of the recipient children as 85 per cent of the affected are from low incomed, agri-based homes," says Humal Fernando, Project Co-ordinator, Katuwana FORUT Project. "We are yet to collect the complete data of affected children. In Wattehengoda Grama Niladhari Wasama, where 14 houses were totally destroyed, the residents are Samurdhi recipients. So, it is very difficult for them to survive the damage and support the education of their children without external assistance." Our aim is to make it easy for these children to go to school again, Fernando points out. "More than food and clothing, please help our children to carry on their education," pleaded one father, with tears in his eyes while more parents crowded around in hope of getting their children too included in the recipient list. By June 18, all affected children in Katuwana and Walasmulla will receive their quota, assured FORUT. In Matara District, where 53,546 school children and 21,846 pre-school children were disaster-victims, SCSL's resources sufficed for 1,000 packs of student material which was handed over to the District Secretary. The massive balance of children is a glaring example of what more remains to be done.
M. K. T. Silva, Deputy Co-ordinator, Sarvodaya-Kahawatta, points out frequent instances when relief is distributed to those who gather at the roadside, thereby cutting off the innermost interior villages. "Those who watch by the roadside are often unaffected villagers from surrounding areas, so relief do not filter to the real victims." Both Silva and Balasanthiran emphasise the need for co-ordination between the District Level officials and the grass roots village leaders in order to make sure that no victim is left out. "The Government AGA system of distribution does not cater to children which makes it very important that we liaise with the Zonal Education Department for affected student data and that this information is laterally conveyed to the AGA Office," stresses Balasanthiran. "The overall co-ordination of the AGA, Zonal Education Department and the NGOs operating in the flood-affected areas are imperative if we are to fulfil the grass roots requirements leaving no section unassisted." "We had large piles of unusable, worn clothing donated to the affected and had to remove them," says Ven. Radelle Ratanasiri Thera, Parivenadhipathy, Kinihiriye Sidharthodaya Pirivena. "It's better if the donor first visits an affected school, meets the children from Years 1-13, finds out what they need and then corroborate that list with the Principal." In Ratnapura's most disaster-affected Division of Elepatha, Palawela had a double tragedy of landslides and floods. Now, at the foot of the ravaged hills, where many still lie buried with only 60 bodies being unearthed, Palawela Maha Vidyalaya is struggling to get back on its feet after some of its school buildings were submerged under flood waters. "We had an attendance of 790 which is now reduced to about 390," says its Principal, S.L. Dharmaratne. It is to be expected as nine students died in the landslide and a part of the school's mixed population still attend school from the camp, erected with NGO assistance in the school grounds. "We received exercise books, but didn't get school bags, bottles and shoes," some students voiced after much prompting. Children who lost all their possessions come to school in coloured clothing, a condition accepted by the Southern Provincial Council for the rest of the year. "We have many shortcomings after the floods, but no organisation has come to our school to ask about our requirements," regrets Ven. Athoya Mahinda Thera, Vice Principal. "All relief coming to Palawela went to families direct. After the loss of school furniture in the floods, 400 students do not have chairs and desks and what is left do not match." In illustration, a student crouched unnaturally over a desk which was on the same level with his high chair. Another issue raised by Balasanthiran is that in many disaster affected areas, sanitation facilities are grossly inadequate to meet the accepted Sphere Standard of a minimum of one toilet per 20 people, requiring the erecting of more temporary toilets for the affected. "Right now, one toilet for 50 people is a more likely guess," says Dharmaratne. Between the school and the ravaged hills is a broken limbed doll, flung up a tree when all hell broke loose, waiting for her tiny owner to pick her up and make her whole. Though her little owner, buried in the unyielding earth, will never come this side of Palawela again, she is powerless to extricate herself from the destruction around. Healing is an onus which falls on us adults and public authorities. Relief was the first step. Now rehabilitation needs to begin in earnest. |
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