The appeal made by HFHSL to help the flood victims saw generous donors like London Stock Exchange Group and Jersey Overseas Aid Commission come forward to help victims of the Eastern part of Sri Lanka.

Local donors like Millenium Information Technology and ODEL also provided support by giving us dry ration and clothes.

In the first phase Habitat was able to assist 100 families with House cleaning materials and 50 families with temporary shelters.

Each Cleaning material pack included:

Ekel broom                              01

Plastic broom                          01

Chlorine                                 100g

Washing powder                     250g

Sunlight                                 04 pieces

Pynol                                     01 ltr

Toilet brush                            01

Jug                                        01

Plastic bucket                         01

Temporary shelter kits saw the following being provided to the 50 families assisted in the first phase.

GI sheets (8 x2.25)                  14

Polythene (for floor 12x12)

Nail                                         01 kg

Lantern                                   01

Habitat’s response to the flood situation has been successful with its completion of the first phase and is well on its way to the second. 

One such family is the Chandrasekara family. Sami Chandrasekara is a 46 year old fisherman and his wife Pushparani is a janitor who has been working in the Middle East for the past 5 months. She has not sent any money to the family as yet.

They have five children (three girls and 2 boys) .The eldest is 16 years old and the youngest is 8 years old.

The heavy rains and flood had damaged their house and hence had to live in a camp for around ten days. At this camp, they received rice, bread and dhal and on some days, got parcels of good cooked food.

Their house was a temporary one, made out of cadjan. They returned to their land and tried to repair the house with some old cadjans. The floors are not cemented but are filled with sand and it is where the children sleep.

Sami is unable to go fishing as the fishing nets have been damaged by the harsh weather.

Now, they are happy for they can at least be protected from the rain.

Habitat also assisted Pannicahrry, which is a village situated in Vakarai about 15km from the town. Pannicahrry is surrounded by a canal and river. During the floods, the people were not able to go out of the village. These families were affected by the War and 17 of them live in absolute poverty.

As victims of the War, these people did not have proper housing. They were forced to live in conditions worse than those in squat settlements. When we visited the area, there was a sick girl lying on the wet ground outside her house and although the army has provided the people with paddy seeds, the seeds have been spoilt due to the rain.

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