Summary of LankaRealAid Activities in the first four weeks following the Tsunami

A very big thank you is owed to all of you who have so generously contributed either to LankaRealAid (LRA) or one of the other many relief organizations that are working actively to help victims of the tsunami. We would also like to thank those of you who have made employees and services available (eg, the teams of Ghurkas, trucks, vans and drivers).

So far, LRA has received £28,000, with pledges of approximately £10,000 more. We have spent £4,500. A few of you have indicated that you are collecting money into funds that you will forward in the future for longer term relief operations with specific aims (such a helping schools, children, sanitation, etc)

As you know we have decided to focus our attention on Pottuvil and the Arugam Bay area on the East coast. Our colleagues in the South are also working closely with Project Galle 2005 and focusing mainly on the badly affected Bay of Unawatuna. There are still no large scale relief efforts mobilized to service these parts of the country, which were particularly badly hit. However there are a number of smaller organizations doing some very effective work, among them are Sewalanka and Mercy Corps. In addition, there are those who either live or have some connection to the area who, though not organized into particular entities, are doing a lot of very helpful work. The UNHCR (United Nations High Commission for Refugees) and the International Red Cross are also present, but at this point their focus is more likely on the assessment of needs rather than providing assistance

LRA has also forged links with other friends who have formed spontaneously into groups to help in areas they are either living in or are familiar with. Examples are Friends of the South, Project Galle 2005 and Adopt Sri Lanka. Some or all of them have helped us out by giving us goods they have in excess supply or offering to source goods we are in need of (at the moment, tents).

In the South we have been concentrating primarily on the Unawatuna and immediate areas of Galle for direct and immediate needs by gathering on-site data and supplying food, mosquito nets, repellent, candles, matches, bedding, etc together with medical help by means of two young German doctors who have visited over 48 camps with an approximate population of 20,000 people.

There is still a lot that remains to be done. The immediate challenges of providing food and shelter, attending to the injured and preventing the outbreak of disease have all been addressed for the moment. Now the more difficult phase of moving people out of the camps and back into their homes and enabling survivors to get back to earning a living (while trying to ensure a hand-out culture is not inadvertently propagated) is what lies ahead. We anticipate our efforts to rebuild homes for those who lost theirs will not be without challenge as there is a lot of discussion (and confusion) as to who will be allowed to build what and where. And perhaps the biggest and least definable challenge is the task of addressing the psychological needs of survivors.

What Has Been Accomplished Thus Far

The following is a list of what has been done so far, all of which has been funded out of donations collected by LRA, except where noted.
• Dec 27, 2004 - USD 1000.00 in cash made available to contacts in Pottuvil to begin organizing immediate relief and for the transporting of survivors to hospitals and to Colombo.
• December 28, 2004 - A truck load of dry rations collected from Ulpotha and the villages around Ulpotha was sent out to Trincomalee on the East Coast.
• January 4, 2005 A truck load of goods, including cooking and eating utensils, mats and bedding, kerosene stoves, lamps, and clearing and cleaning implements and tools was sent from Ulpotha to Pottuvil/Arugam Bay on the East Coast. These goods were bought using donations made by guests staying in Ulpotha.
• January 5 - A team of six ex-Indian Army soldiers, donated by Securewest International, arrived in Sri Lanka and was sent to Galle on the South-West coast to help with logistics, food distribution and security.
• January 5 A van load of 30 cooking sets, comprising of stoves, pots and pans, plates and mugs, gas canisters, etc. was sent to Galle.
• January 6 Another team of six ex-British Army Gurkhas was sent to Pottuvil/Arugam Bay to help clear away the debris of destroyed homes in Pottuvil village and to clean wells. They are still on site and are now building toilets.
• January 7 A second van load of 30 cooking sets was sent to Galle.
• January 10 A van load of sheets, towels, sanitary towels and medicines and medical kits was sent out from Galle (courtesy of Project Galle 2005) to Pottuvil.
• January 11 A second van load of the above was sent out from Galle to Pottuvil.
• January 11 Another team of six ex-Indian Army soldiers was sent to Unawatuna, just south of Galle on the South coast, to join the initial team in cleaning out homes that have been affected by the 5ft high mud bath in that area.
• January 12 A van load carrying sanitary ware to build 57 toilets was sent out from Colombo to Pottuvil. These toilets are being constructed in refugee camps in Pottuvil, Arugam Bay and Lahugala (a village 10 km inland from Pottuvil).
• January 12 Four 100 x 40 tarpaulins donated by Mercy Corps. These are being used to erect temporary refugee shelters in Pottuvil to house refugees being moved from schools in order to allow the school year to begin.
• January 12 - A van load of 100 cooking sets, comprising of stoves, pots and pans, plates and mugs, gas canisters, etc. was sent to Galle, and more specifically to Unawatuna Bay where most of the homes have been totally destroyed..
• January 13 Two truck loads of construction wood sent from Nuwara Eliya and Bandarawela in the hill-country to Pottuvil. The wood will be used to build the toilets listed above and to re-build homes as below.
• January 14 - A truck load of goods for school children including shoes, books, water bottles, school bags, pens and pencils, etc. bought by donations made by current guests in Ulpotha will be sent to Pottuvil on January 17.
• January 19 A truck load of cadjan (woven palm fronds used for roofing material) made by villagers in Ulpotha and its surrounding villages will be sent from Ulpotha to Pottuvil. This will be used to build the toilets referred to above and to rebuild homes as below.
• January 19 Work will begin using an earth mover/ lifter and four tractors with trailers hired to clear debris from Pottuvil village. The rubble will be used to reconstruct a washed-out road to Kotugal village.

What is being planned in the Immediate and Medium-term Future

• To construct a base to house our growing team of helpers. This is a priority because at the moment everyone is staying with families in Pottuvil an imposition we wish to relieve without delay. A fourth team of ex-British Army Gurkhas is due to arrive on Monday, January 17th to carry out this task with the help of a team of local villagers who have already been employed and who are currently building a well to supply water to the base.
• To send four teams, each consisting of a mason and carpenter, from Ulpotha to Pottuvil. Between 8 to 10 workers hired from the Pottuvil area will be added to each of these teams and they will then be deployed to build additional toilets and rebuild homes.
• To finish the construction of toilets in refugee camps.
• To re-build 30 homes for villagers in the villages of Pottuvil, Kotugaland Panama. These homes will be built using cement, wood and cadjan and will follow traditional designs. Our intention is to construct these quickly to demonstrate the appropriateness of using traditional materials and designs and to act as a counterpoint to the potential move towards building concrete, multi-unit housing to replace houses that have been destroyed. Our home rebuilding program will continue based on needs, our funds permitting.
• To provide basic household goods for the families whose homes we have rebuilt this will include bedding, basic kitchen outfitting, cutlery and crockery, lamps, etc.
• To provide school uniforms, books, pencils and school bags to 255affected children from Mahinda College and The Sacred Heart Convent Girls school in Galle.
• A contribution to a scholarship fund that will be setup to cater for the needs of the orphaned children of the above mentioned schools.
• To help Mr. Malwena, a small Tea shop owner of Galle town, by financing a new door to his shop. Mr Malwena picked up 50 bodies the day of the Tsunami. He brought a 14 year old girl back to life by performing mouth to mouth resuscitation.
• To supply 1098 children from a school in the Dickwella area with exercise books, pencils, rulers school bags and water bottles as well as new complete uniforms. We intend to supply a small quantity of computers to this school as well as others that have been earmarked in the Galle area and establish an exchange program with some schools in Belgium and France.
• If funds permit, provide fishermen with boats and nets to allow them to go back to earning a living.


What is needed

• For the moment, more cash funds can be used, so please keep it coming.
•We would like to provide trauma counseling services and have available a psychologist who can train local volunteers. We would welcome more volunteer psychologists to expand our capacity to train volunteer counselors.