Tsunami Victims in Sri Lanka Enter Rebuilding Phase

As the post-Tsunami rehabilitation phase begins Northern Sri Lanka, there are plans both small and massive by aid organizations, which include Christian groups, to rebuild the war torn and hardest hit district of Mullaittivu.

As the post-Tsunami rehabilitation phase begins Northern Sri Lanka, there are plans both small and massive by aid organizations, which include Christian groups, to rebuild the war torn and hardest hit district of Mullaittivu.

One of the most urgent needs is psycho-social assistance to help children overcome the shock they have experienced. Many students died and some of those in Mullaittivu don't even have a school building to attend due destruction caused by a years-long war that ended in 2002, according to Action by Churches Together (ACT) International.

A teacher, who gives lessons under trees and canvases, has enlisted the help of a local pastor to work with the children, talking to and helping them express their thoughts by painting. The pictures they make are sometimes gruesome. Headless corpses are strewn about in one picture. Another student writes four pages on end about things he lost. One sentence says, "I lost my mum, I lost my dad."

The local pastor now working with the children arrived in Mullaitivu the day after the tsunami strike, on December 27. Rev. Jr. A.L. Lakshendrakumar remarks that aid to the devastated people was given out at once, in an organized way, due to ongoing war rebuilding efforts by Non-governmental organizations (NGOs) already in place there in the past few years.

"It's not a surprise," said Rev. Lakshendrakumar. "Since the international NGOs have been working in this part of the country for many years, supplying the refugee camps of the war and reconstructing the districts of Killinochchi and Mullaittivu. So, we could react quickly and effectively.”

The destruction was catastrophic. More than 3,000 people died on the day of the tsunami, and an additional 23,000 people are either in refuge camps or a relative's home. Many residents are even hosting people who were once strangers to them. The 6,000 families there are surviving on government aid of $3.73 dollars per person in addition NGO aid.

Rev. Lakshendrakumar is a local coordinator for the National Christian Council of Sri Lanka (NCCSL). He is working jointly with many large humanitarian aid organizations to get areas back on their feet.

There are currently plans for a major reconstruction effort in Mullaitivu. Another aid organization, the Jaffna Diocese of the Church of South India has made an appeal for $75.3 million. $17.5 million of that is earmarked to build 1,000 houses in Mullaitivu.

Both the Jaffna Diocese and the NCCSL are working together with ACT International, which is a global alliance of churches and related agencies.

Since the civil war's end in 2002, the northern region of Sri Lanka has been controlled by the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE). The LTTE, which has established a non-official state, governs four million people and has established police, courts, laws even its own borders.

All humanitarian activities in the LTTE-controlled areas are coordinated by the Tamil Rehabilitation Organisation.

Until now the NCCSL, with support by ACT members around the world, has been able to send 3 vans full of clothes, drinking water, pots, hygienic kits, and tents for the displaced. ACT reports that there is still need for school uniforms and bicycles for children's transportation.