As the reality of the tsunami began to unfold in the days immediately after the disaster, staff in Sewalanka Foundation’s Batticaloa Office responded quickly and as a team to pack and distribute dry rations to affected families.

Top Transitional shelter in Palmunai Batticaloa Staff distribute sanitary pads to camps Community planning meeting before shelter is built in Vaharai.

Working around the clock, all staff – our District Director, Project Coordinators, Field Officers and administrative staff ­– put in a collective effort to pack and distribute the essential food items such as rice, dahl, flour, sugar, tea, and tinned fish.

“At that time it was difficult to find labour for packing, so all staff helped by agreeing to do this service. Whilst the work was difficult and labour intensive, the staff felt they were providing an essential service. If the office had not worked cohesively, then the immediate packaging and distribution of the items would have been impossible,” explained District Director Mr. G. Nagarajan.

Responding to our beneficiaries’ needs

Before the tsunami Sewalanka Batticaloa had a close working relationship with both marine and lagoon Fisheries Cooperative Societies (FCS), as a result many of these societies turned to our office for support in its aftermath. As elsewhere, fishermen were the worst affected, many had either lost family members or friends, homes, and income as they were unable to catch fish due to the loss of fishing equipment.

“Even those with fishing equipment couldn’t sell the fish they caught as there was no market due to fear of disease. This lack of income meant they could only wait for some support from the NGOs and government; which was difficult to find immediately after the tsunami”, says Mr. Nagarajan. For three months, Sewalanka Foundation supported 1,200 FCS members and their families in twelve Divisional Secretary Divisions, through provision of dry rations once a month.

In addition, as a more coordinated approach began to take shape in Batticaloa District between NGOs and government, Sewalanka Foundation’s main partner, DanChurch Aid, came on board. Working together, dry ration/relief packs were provided to 2,250 families for a 6-month period in our target villages – Palamunai (Arayampathy DS), Kottaikallar (Kaluwanchikudy DS) and Poochankery (Vaharai DS). Kitchen packs were also provided to 2,250 families; including mosquito nets, bed mats, plastic buckets and tubs, water jugs, silver plates, halogen lamps, and saucepans.

Now, six months after the tsunami, Sewalanka Foundation Batticaloa is winding up the emergency relief phase.

Meeting housing needs after the tsunami

“For families, having a transitional shelter, their own home, is one more step towards normalcy” says Project Coordinator, Mr. Jathees Kumar.

Following the destruction of so many homes, shelter became a new priority area for Sewalanka Foundation Batticaloa – and an important component in our tsunami relief and rehabilitation efforts. Sewalanka Foundation Batticaloa is responsible for the provision of transitional shelters for families in four villages (see table), supported by our partner DanChurch Aid (DCA).

Similar to the national situation, in the initial stages people were living in TACs, such as schools and on mosque sites, some in shared living quarters, many others in tents with two to three families using each tent. What is different in Batticaloa (compared to say Ampara), is that many more people here lived beyond the government’s declared 200m Buffer Zone. Consequently land is more readily available for transitional shelters and Sewalanka Foundation has been able to build shelters on people’s own land.

“Before, in Palamunai a Muslim village 10 km south of Batticaloa town, it was not possible for the men and women to all live together in one tent; so men were separated from their families. Now they are very happy as families can be reunited, as each family is provided an individual shelter. They like the design of the shelter and now can cook privately for their families. Although there are still many problems, people are satisfied with the shelter solutions provided in the meantime”, says Mr. Kumar.

Sewalanka Foundation Batticaloa is complying with the guidelines for transitional shelters established by the National Housing Development Authority. Mr. Kumar explained that, “Many people were living in tents for a long time, which was not good for their health. During the day it was too hot to spend time inside the tents. For our shelter design we are using cadjan (woven coconut leaf) as opposed to tin sheet for roofing - tin sheets just gets too hot during the day. We are using tin sheet walls as to minimise the fire hazard”.

What now?

Like Sewalanka Foundation offices elsewhere in the country, the Batticaloa Office has started the initial planning and assessments necessary for the Livelihood Reconstruction and Long-term Development Phase. In some areas these programs have now started. Sewalanka Foundation Batticaloa is also working to address the psychosocial needs of affected communities.