Post-Tsunami Update November / December 2005
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November / December 2005 Post-Tsunami Update November / December 2005 United Nations Activities in Support of the Relief and Recovery Efforts of the Sri Lankan Government and Its People Exhibited at the National Tsunami Art Competition at BMICH One Year On Inside On this first anniversary of the tsunami we step back and take another look at where we stand. One year after the Tsunami: Mired in figures all year, measuring our success in hundreds and thousands of shelters Where we are? .......................2 constructed, houses built, boats and nets distributed and livelihoods restored, it is easy to loose “In Loving Memory”.................2 sight of the small achievements being accomplished daily on an individual basis. “Echoes of the Tsunami”.........3 In this Post-Tsunami Update we meet the communities of ordinary and extraordinary people who bore the brunt of this tragedy. They endured immeasurable losses but they are not victims. Men, Tsunami Education Project ....5 women and children, many already shattered through years of conflict and blighted a second time by another force are succeeding in turning their lives around and moving forward. UN World AIDS Day ...............6 Like the dedicated hardworking women lantern makers in the coastal villages who have bonded Combating Child Exploitation..7 together to bring light to all of us as a reminder of lives lost and lives regained. NRC trains Site Managers ......7 Or 15 year old T. Lavan who through his own images and words speaks of his feelings with courage beyond his years. And the school children influencing their homes and villages through drama. Or Residents clean environment ..8 the residents of temporary shelters eager and proud enough to plant trees and flowers to have better homes and gardens. Whether it is the lagoon cleaners in the south, the fearful fishermen along the What the People Think.............9 coast brave enough to go to sea, they all live out their daily lives with a conviction to survive. WFP School-Feeding provides These are the everyday small pictures of a reality so clearly captured by Sri Lankan children through incentive for children to go to the national art competition. Their message is simple. Their communities will be rebuilt as the school ..................................10 young artist has so vividly portrayed above. Over the Waves ................... 12 It is all of You we remember and celebrate on this the first anniversary of the tsunami. Better Homes and Gardens....13 Miguel Bermeo UN Humanitarian and Resident Coordinator for Sri Lanka Getting the Message Home.......13 Produced by the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) November / December 2005 One Year after the Tsunami: 'In Loving Memory' a nation wide Where we are? commemorative event ne year after the tsunami all parties involved in the Orecovery effort wonder how much progress has been achieved. In order to respond to that question, more than 60 institutions and 100 experts from the government, civil society and development partners undertook a joint assessment of the situation and identified the way forward for 2006. The result is a report titled “Post Tsunami Recovery and Reconstruction Progress, Challenges, Way Forward”. The report outlines numerous challenges and successes. Thanks to a quick combined and complex response by all national and international actors, the country recorded no additional deaths because of tsunami related diseases. The emergency response can be considered a success story. Immediate repairs of basic infrastructure were made. Emergency shelter was provided to those in need and food aid delivered to 910,000 people (until October). Numerous initiatives were undertaken to protect and prevent the vulnerable from being subject to abuse and violence. The recovery process is making progress, but more effort should be made to ensure that no-one is left behind. Progress today means firstly that funding has been secured and the international community has firmly committed US$ 2.1 billion, out of which US$ 0.6 billion has been disbursed. However, some gaps across sectors and districts remain. Second, 54,000 transitional shelters have been completed allowing internally-displaced persons (IDPs) to move out of tents. Simultaneously, two permanent housing programmes for around 100,000 families were also introduced. The main challenge is to ensure that as we move forward nobody is left behind. Third, families were assisted through a combination of cash grants (over 250,000 households), cash for work, microfinance programmes (more than 13,000 subsidized loans have been disbursed), training and asset replacement (e.g. about 90% of all boats destroyed have been repaired or replaced). The economy has started to recover and is poised to register 5.6 per cent in 2005 whilst the tourism and fisheries sectors are yet to B. Chamila Geevani of Ahangama in Galle adding the final touches to a commemorative lantern fully recover. However, restoring livelihoods requires a here is a light in all of us…we just need to share it. This is the belief of more sustained and an improved coordinated effort, in TSarvodaya and its Women's Movement; hence a nationwide project named order to match supply of assistance and remaining 'In Loving Memory' will commemorate the first year anniversary of the tsunami. needs. The project aims to create a ring of light around the entire coastline of Sri Fourth, over 95% of school-aged children in tsunami- Lanka at 7 pm on 26 December 2005 and so unite all citizens, NGO's and affected areas have returned to school. While in health overseas visitors in commemorating the loss of thirty five thousand lives in the and education, funds have been provided for the tsunami. It is an event conceived to embrace all religious and ethnic beliefs. rehabilitation of damaged infrastructure and social services have been largely restored, only a low A minimum of forty thousand luminary lanterns in respect of each life lost are percentage of facilities (around 10%) have been fully being handmade by the women survivors in the coastal villages supported by repaired or rebuilt. Progress on planning of physical Sarvodaya Women's Movement and distributed free of charge to the bereaved. infrastructure has certainly been made but limitations The project is compatible with the Movement's urgency to provide psycho- social support as well as empower tsunami-affected women through skills remain in terms of the national construction capacity as development and livelihood support. well as the cost of construction material. The lanterns are made of simple materials. A craft paper bag, silk screened Finally, progress on other qualitative aspects of the with the message 'In Loving Memory' in three languages with a space for the process, such as gender and environmental concerns, family to write the name of the departed loved one and a final sentiment of ' We consultation, transparency and accountability is remember and we care'. Sarvodaya requests individuals and families to light uneven, while equity and communication issues clearly their lanterns on the seashore at 7 pm in unison with others. They could also deserve particular attention. organize a community lantern lighting ceremony in their neighbourhood or spend a few minutes in meditation in the privacy of their homes. Every affected family should know what their future is as soon as possible. The report paves the way to resolve Sarvodaya hopes to sell at least eight thousand lanterns priced at one outstanding issues and follow up on the impact of the hundred rupees each to cover the cost of a minimum of thirty two thousand relief and recovery effort on the tsunami survivors. lanterns for free distribution to the bereaved. Sarvodaya invites all to share their own personal light on this day. Page 2 Post - Tsunami Update UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) November / December 2005 worked closely with selected communities in the ECHOES OF THE TSUNAMI Engines, nets and long lines East of Sri Lanka. distributed in Trincomalee - Resilience and Strength The exhibition of photographs were edited down from over 1,500 photos. The photographer then Sixty five men, women and children living in FAO and the Ministry of Fisheries went back to the participants to ask them why camps in Ampara and Batticaloa were given and Aquatic resources (MFAR) they took a particular photograph. Some disposable cameras. They were asked to distributed 85 engines, 2,952 nets participants chose to write poems or and 10,000 long lines to photograph five things in their communities: testimonials in reply. These words, written or approximately 344 fishers in where they live, their family, their favourite dictated by the survivors, were translated and Trincomalee on 10 November. This place, the one thing that represents the future are available to view alongside the pictures. distribution of fishing equipment was for them and a self portrait. made as part of two separate “Echoes of the Tsunami” was shown in London projects funded by the Governments The result is “Echoes of the Tsunami”, an in late November 2005. Showing at the British of Japan and Belgium. FAO exhibition to mark the first commemoration by Council, 49 Alfred House Gardens in Colombo distributed 100 bundles of 100 long celebrating the strength and resilience of from the 20 December 2005. Then in January it lines to tsunami-affected fishers. The survivors. Through pictures and words emerges will travel back to the communities in Ampara bundles, including pre-assembled unique, personal accounts of life, tragedy, hope and Batticaloa. lines composed of hooks, floats and repair. Participants had a great desire to swivels and lines, are valued at US$ ECHOES OF THE TSUNAMI – Rebuilding Lives - An share with others the impact the tsunami had 44,270. Long lines catch much fewer exhibition by Merlin in conjunction with the communities on their lives.