The Heavy Toll of War and the Tsunami

By Daniel Fekete, Hungarian Interchurch Aid/ACT International

Northern Sri Lanka, February 28, 2005 - Travel to the northern areas of Sri Lanka, even over relatively short distances, is difficult because of poor road conditions. In addition, among the pastures and farmland lining the roads, there are mine fields. "Danger! Mines!" read red signs that stand as reminders of the country's civil war, which began in the 1980s.

Since the war ended in 2002, the northern region, which is controlled by the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) - better known as the Tamil Tigers - has been a non-official state with a population of four million people, and police, courts, laws and even borders of its own.

Years ago, many residents of this area left their homes behind because of the war, and now their shelters have been destroyed by the tsunami.

The National Christian Council of Sri Lanka (NCCSL), a member of Action by Churches Together (ACT) International, a global alliance of churches and related agencies, is one of many major international humanitarian aid organizations working in the area between the border and Killinochchi.

Farther into Tamil territory, Mullaittivu is considered to be the town in the northern region that was most affected by the tsunami. According to the Consortium of Humanitarian Agencies, more than 3,000 people died there on December 26. Currently, almost 23,000 people are taking refuge in camps or in relatives' homes in the Mullaittivu district. There are also many residents in the area who are hosting people they did not know before. The government provides 370 rupias (about $3.73) weekly for the survivors. Together with support they receive from NGOs, this is all the 6,000 families in the Mullaittivu district have to survive on.

The Rev. Jr. A.L. Lakshendrakumar, the local coordinator of NCCSL, arrived in Mullaittivu on December 27, the day after the tsunami struck. He still shivers when recalling the memories. Today, the town is still flooded because there is a lagoon three kilometers from the city that has not let the water flow back into the ocean. The tops of palm trees were burnt by the salt from the waves of ocean water washing over them. In this place, which resembles a wasteland, the clatter of machines can be heard over the roar of the waves as the cleanup of the ruins goes on.

The rebuilding activities in the Tamil-controlled region seem quite organized. "It is not a surprise," says 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."

In the LTTE-controlled area, all humanitarian activities are coordinated by the Tamil Rehabilitation Organisation. Since the tsunami, three vans of relief supplies have been sent to the region through NCCSL with the support of ACT members around the world. They carried clothes, drinking water, pots, hygienic kits and tents for the displaced people. However, there is still a need for school uniforms and kits and bicycles for the transportation of children.

School children in this area are also without a building. They receive their lessons among the trees, under canvases. The school building was destroyed during the war and has not been reconstructed. The teacher says that many students died in the tsunami. She agrees with the local pastor and Lakshendrakumar that there is an urgent need for psycho-social assistance to help the children work through their shock. The pastor spends a lot of time talking with them and encouraging them to express their thoughts by painting.

Some of the children's paintings are gruesome. One of the children painted the whole paper in black, with a small, white square in the middle with headless corpses in it. That is his memory of the ruins and debris left behind by the waves. Another child has written four full pages. All of the sentences start with the same phrase: "I lost…" The first two are the most horrible: "I lost my mum. I lost my dad."

Another ACT member in Sri Lanka, the Jaffna Diocese of the Church of South India, plans to reconstruct 1,000 houses in the Mullaitivu district as part of the massive plans by ACT members in the tsunami-affected countries of south and southeast Asia to continue their response, now entering the rehabilitation phase. The plans are encompassed in a recently revised appeal that asks for US$75.3 million in funding from ACT members, $17.5 of which is for Sri Lanka.

Having been through years of war and the country's biggest natural calamity, those who have survived are tempered, much like the process used to strengthen steel. But there is hope in the country that people have the strength to not only rebuild their own lives but also their lives together as a nation.