Sri Lanka wrestles with tsunami's aftermath

Photos and article By Paul Jeffrey, ACT International

Colombo, January 3, 2005 - Homeless and hungry, survivors of the tsunami that struck Sri Lanka on December 26 are struggling to carry on with life in almost a thousand temporary shelters around the island nation, accompanied by faith communities providing food, clothing, shelter, and other emergency support.

Among those providing critical care for the 900,000 people who lost their homes to the huge waves is the National Christian Council of Sri Lanka (NCCSL), a member of Action by Churches Together International (ACT), a global alliance of churches and church-based agencies.

Within hours of the disaster, the NCCSL began purchasing emergency supplies, and by the following day had dispatched a truck with food to the hard-hit eastern coastline, where local congregations of the Anglican, Methodist, and Church of South India churches took charge of distribution to affected families.

Assisted by an initial emergency grant of $50,000 from ACT International, the NCCSL sent out 11 trucks with emergency supplies in the first week, all to communities on the eastern and southern coasts. The supplies were sorted and packed by scores of volunteers in a distribution center established in Colombo's City Mission. In addition to food and clothing, the trucks carried
water, water tanks, medicines, and cooking pots. The NCCSL sent an additional truck to the east coast carrying medicine donated by an ACT member, where a team of five NCCSL-sponsored physicians spent several days attending the sick in refugee shelters.

Because of logistical difficulties in reaching the far north of the country, the NCCSL sent funds to the Christian Union in Jaffna, enabling that regional church coalition to provide emergency assistance to shelters in the remote lagoon area. The NCCSL also provided funding to purchase baby bottles, rubber sandals, and food in an area of the country controlled by the separatist Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam.

According to S.K. Xavier, coordinator of NCCSL's relief and rehabilitation efforts, the agency spent $130,000 on relief supplies during the first six days.

Xavier said the organization's staff has been increased to meet the challenge, and they are currently assessing needs throughout the country so that the agency can identify under-served areas and respond appropriately with supplies.

At the same time, the NCCSL is beginning to organize training in post-trauma counseling. The executive secretary of the organization's women's commission, the Rev. Sumithra Fernando, spent most of the first week after the tsunami providing pastoral support for caregivers on the country's eastern coast.

Fernando said the experience that the NCCSL and other organizations have in responding to the country's civil war isn't easily transferable to the tsunami.

"When refugees run away from armed conflict, they usually do so with something in their hands. But this is an unexpected disaster, and they've escaped only with their lives. In war, people can go back home in a few days, but this is different. They don't have houses to go home to," said Fernando, a Methodist pastor.

Xavier praised the local churches that have opened their sanctuaries as shelters, as well as the rapid response of the international community.

"We weren't ready for this big a calamity, but we're getting organized and things are falling into place, thanks to the help of our partners both here and outside the country. We've had good cooperation from all," he said.

Xavier said the first week of emergency work was taking a toll. "We're all exhausted, but it's a pleasurable exhaustion because it comes from serving our people. And there's so much more we can do. [But,] we're organizing ourselves rapidly," he said.

The NCCSL has brought together a core committee of church leaders to help plan the response, and that group designated a liaison to work with government agencies to better coordinate efforts.

"The government is still getting organized and we're hoping its response accelerates in order to better meet the demands of the people," he said.

According to the Rev. Lokendra Abhayaratne, the Anglican archdeacon of Galle in the devastated south of Sri Lanka, the government's slow response is due in part to the death and displacement of so many government officials in that hard-hit region. He said he expects the government to improve its response in the coming week.

Abhayaratne said that most assistance to victims in the south has been provided by faith communities, and that a good spirit of cooperation exists. "I sent two trucks of food from the Christian Council over to a Buddhist temple," he said.

"The temples are doing a wonderful job of responding to this crisis, and we're working well together."

Abhayaratne praised the NCCSL. "They've been fantastic. I only have to call and they respond right away. Whatever I ask for they send," he said.

Sri Lanka faces tremendous challenges in the wake of the tsunami's giant waves. The death toll is officially just under 30,000, but many observers expect it to rise to around 46,000 as more complete information arrives from isolated areas. Another 5,000 people are officially missing, and more than 12,000 are injured. Seventy thousand houses are gone.

Thousands of land mines have reportedly washed loose. With over 1000 kilometers of coastline laid waste, employment in the tourist and fishing sectors will take years to recover. The country's economy and morale were already debilitated by a lengthy civil war, despite a cease-fire that began in 2003. Fear of the future compounds the anguished memory of the giant waves for many of the victims.

Yet the Rev. Jayasiri Peiris, who took over as general secretary of the NCCSL on January 1, says the tragedy may bring some positive changes.

"There is a silver lining to this disaster. This is a good opportunity to bring the different religions in Sri Lanka closer together, to bring the different communities - Sinhalese, Tamil, Muslim, Buddhist, Hindu, Christian - together to concentrate on the entire Sri Lanka, not just the lack
of peace, not just the problem of self determination for the Tamils, but rather all the issues that confront us. It's a great opportunity for all Sri Lankans to come together, to mobilize around rebuilding our nation and our people. We've got to do more than just rebuild buildings. We've got to rebuild a people that have been left traumatized by this disaster. But, that's a process that's going to take years and years," Peiris said.