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Many Sri Lankan citiznes are still displaced. Photo by Amantha Perera, IRIN
During the early part of 2009, more than 300,000 people were displaced from their homes in the north of Sri Lanka and trapped between warring government security forces and the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE), or Tamil Tiger rebels. As fighting intensified and pressure grew for a temporary humanitarian ceasefire, tens of thousands of civilians escaped to government-held areas in April.
On May 19, 2009, Sri Lankan President Mahinda Rajapaksa declared victory over the LTTE, ending a 26-year war that has left thousands dead and many thousands more displaced.
Although the war is over, hunger, lack of water, and an increase in health problems persist for approximately 265,000 people still displaced, including 80,000 children. The internally displaced persons (IDPs) are in transit or accommodated in 38 IDP camps.
Government and aid agencies struggle to provide food, water and other necessities to the displaced. Camps are terribly overcrowded, with tents intended to house 10 people holding 40 or more.
Children and women are the most vulnerable in camps. Many children have been separated from their families and have no one to care for them. Camp conditions can be unsafe for women, who report they are afraid to change their clothes or use bathrooms because of overcrowding and incidences of assault. Aid agencies are doing all they can to increase protection for women and children.
Response
Presbyterian Disaster Assistance is responding to the ongoing needs in Sri Lanka as a member of the Action by Churches Together (ACT) international network. ACT is a global alliance of churches and other agencies. ACT and its members worked in the internally displaced persons (IDP) camps during the war.
PDA-supported partners have responded to the needs of vulnerable people in the following ways:
- Worked with 108 volunteers to carry out health education and awareness
- Prepares three meals a day for 29,000 individuals in 24 community kitchens
- Distributed a total of 242,000 prepared food packets to IDPs
- Provides supplementary food to nearly 1,800 hospitalized IDPs each day
- Provides 9,000 liters of water a day to eight community kitchens, a total of 72,000 liters a day.
- Installed 1,177 temporary latrines in IDP camps
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