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| Over 1 Million People Displaced by Violent Floods in Sri Lanka |
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As the Disaster Management Centre of Sri Lanka states, the damage caused by floods are as follows: Ø Over 200,000 acres of paddy cultivation have been completely destroyed. Ø Over 200 small and medium tanks have been damaged. Ø Infrastructure such as roads and culverts have been severely effected. Ø A-11 route from Polonnaruwa to Valachchana was impassable at Manampitiya for about five days. Ø Most of the minor roads were inundated. Some are still impassable. Ø All wells have got polluted due to overflow of septic tanks. Ø There is a scarcity of drinking water. Ø Thousands of houses have been damaged/ destroyed. Ø Livelihood of people, specially low income families, have been severely effected. Ø All major tanks are overflowing and more than 200 small tanks are breached. Just as the people of the flood-hit areas were attempting to recover, a downpour of rainfall hit the country once more. According to the Meteorology department, showers could continue till May. Over the past two weeks, an area of low pressure emerged in the Bay of Bengal resulting in more rain in the North and East of Sri Lanka. Sri Lanka Tormented by Floods
         Floods and torrential rains have long been known to damage cities and homes. The dawn of the New Year wasn’t bright as it should have been for the one million odd people that were affected by floods. It has been reported that Sri Lanka received the highest rainfall of 1606.2 mm in 100 years!
The inclement weather has caused drastic problems and has swamped 400000 acres of paddy fields.90% of Batticaloa's crops have been destroyed. An estimated 43 people have lost their lives due to the harsh weather and the floods and earth slips have caused many people to lose their homes. These people were left with nothing with all their belongings being washed away.People are starving and thirsty from a lack of food and water and the rain water has submerged much of the lands and infrastructure in 14 districts, Batticaloa and Ampara being the worst hit of those affected. Two stories in particular caught my eye. The first one being a sad, moving story of a mother who had a basket with her while trying to escape the floods. It turns out that she had her baby in the basket and was trying to save the baby. The second being animals that were adversely affected. Natural disasters do not spare anyone or anything. It affects regardless of your race, age, economic status etc… The magnitude of these floods can be seen in the fact that many animals were also hard hit. A baby elephant was swept away in the floods and ended up being stuck on a tree top. The elephant was only three years old and was found dead on the tree, three days later. In addition to this tragic loss, a startling number of 48000 cows have been found dead, 5-6000 of them in Batticaloa alone and chickens and other livestock have been vastly affected.
The heavy rains have taken a serious toll on the country’s paddy fields and hence Sri Lanka’s food supply. Our staple food rice will be drastically affected in the months to come. The heavy loss of livelihood means that by the time of the Sinhala and Tamil New Year, vegetables will not be ready as it takes two months to harvest. Moreover, the farmers who cultivate these crops will face a fall in income. This will cause yet another detrimental impact on their lives. Not only do they have to rebuild all that has been lost, their jobs are also left scarred and affect all other areas of their lives. Many people, in Batticaloa earn their income from selling curd or cultivating animals for milk. The economic development minister, Basil Rajapakse has directed officials to provide free seed paddy to farmers and tractors to cultivate the land.
The floodwaters are said to have receded but the leftover stagnant pools of water pose a risk to health. There is a fear of an outbreak of diseases in the midst of all the chaos. What a way to start the New Year! The government has taken measures to improve the situation in the affected districts however, some citizens are angry that their needs have not been met and that their complaints are ignored. NGO'S such as UNICEF along with the government have been very helpful in collecting monetary funds as well as necessities such as milk, water, soap, sanitary packs and other dry rations. Despite all the help, there are still some areas- villages in particular, that do not have access to these commodities. The reason being, that the distribution of these items is centralized from the towns, hence those living in the villages and outskirts are unfortunately missed. Habitat for Humanity is taking an active role in offering assistance and being of service to the community. Habitat is assisting 1200 families in the Batticaloa district- it being the most profoundly affected. There are currently 165494 IDP’s in the area. The project involves the provision of 600 emergency shelter kits for the people who have lost their homes and 600 house cleaning kits for those whose homes have been flooded. The emergency kit includes tarpaulin, shovel, mosquito net, floor mat, rope, hammer, kerosene, kerosene lamp and a wooden peg. The cleaning kit consists of a bucket, harpic, broom, wiper, bath soap, mop, toilet hand brush and washing powder. Our team of local staff and volunteers are currently working on this project. The HRC East is very experienced with tackling disasters and is a resource centre that is excellent for multifaceted disaster response.
Sri Lanka's weather patterns are changing and this fact was made evident on the 13th of January when temperatures dropped dramatically island wide. Colombo's temperature went down to 18.8 degrees Celsius - that being the lowest temperature recorded in 61 years!! The floods have been catastrophic and are the worst the country has ever faced. It will take time to rebuild; with the help of relief efforts, families will hopefully move out of temporary shelters, gain access to food and clean water, and heal the wounds that this disaster has caused. “Hope is important because it can make the present moment less difficult to bear. If we believe that tomorrow will be better, we can bear a hardship today."
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