Photo Essay

South & south east Asia/Sri Lanka - 06/05

Survivors in Sri Lanka begin to rebuild their lives

Text and photos by Daniel Fekete, Hungarian Interchurch Aid/ACT International

West Coast of Sri Lanka, February 18, 2005

Roads have been cleared along most of Sri Lanka's western coast and large equipment is now being used for other tasks. The lower areas that were flooded by the tsunami will be drained by the digging of a canal in Moratowa.

Many families that survived the tsunami decided to build some sort of transitional shelter on the site of their destroyed house instead of moving to refugee camps. However, life for families choosing to live on their own is harder.

This is what Sajantha Peiris, 33, and his wife and two children chose. Their house was 100 meters from the beach in Katakurunda. More than 50 families' houses along 300 meters of beach were destroyed. Sanjantha says he knows three or four other families living in similar circumstances, but that many of his neighbors were killed by the tsunami. Sanjantha says his family lived in a refugee camp during the first week after the disaster hit, but he did not like the defenseless situation it put him in, so he returned to the ruins of his house and built a wooden cottage. When he can find employment, he works as a fish seller.

People who leave refugee camps rarely benefit from the everyday relief items that humanitarian agencies distribute - food, clothing and hygienic aids. These families will also not be registered as beneficiaries to receive assistance in the rebuilding of their houses.

Kunil Canut Fernando lives in his damaged house with his wife and his brother's three children in Tayagatha Pura Modra. Kunil climbed the palm tree beside his house when the tsunami crushed his village, and he witnessed the death of many of his neighbors.

The water almost reached the ceiling. He still does not know how he survived. His family is receiving help from the local pastor who is supported by Action by Churches Together through the National Christian Council of Sri Lanka.

The tsunami caused serious damage to the transportation network. The authorities' first task was to repair public roads and the railway network. Trains are now running smoothly on the south-west lines, but the sight along the tracks in Katakurunda is still horrible.

Transitional shelters are being built for 900 families in Tayagatha Pura Modra, a settlement 30 km south of Colombo. They are for families who lived on the coast and whose houses were completely destroyed.