Sri Lanka: 20 days after the tsunami
[January 17, 2004]

Twenty days have gone by since the deadly tsunami hit this island nation on December 26th 2004, and perhaps it is time to reflect. It has to be admitted Sri Lanka was not prepared, not for a catastrophe of this magnitude. We islanders lived with the notion that ours is a blessed land, not prone to disasters, we were complacent and imagined ourselves as Mother Nature’s favoured people. As for our tragedies, we preferred to do it ourselves.

Our well known civil conflict since 1983, had accounted for more than 60,000 lives. On the 26th of December nature proved to be a great leveler. More than half the numbers killed during the twenty-year conflict, perished in just twenty minutes before nature’s fury.

Since the 12/26 disaster there has been a unity rarely witnessed here in Sri Lanka, people of all walks of life galvanized into activity. Sri Lankans worked as one people to help their fellowmen who nature had so cruelly felled and denuded in a matter of minutes. For once Sri Lankans had shed all differences of cast, creed and religion. Nature indeed had taught Sri Lanka a lesson that ‘everyone in our society is equal before nature’s rage’.

Even before International assistance began pouring in, rapid relief measures were put in place, the country’s leaders were working together and their political doctrines were shelved.

On the day the killer waves hit, the nation as a whole was in a laidback mood, it was the day after Christmas, a Poya Day and a Sunday. Nonetheless by that afternoon the Government had got its act together in record time; The President who was in London on the 26th declared a state of national disaster, while on her way to Heathrow Airport to take the first available flight back home she spoke to the BBC and conceded the scale of this still unfolding disaster was immense and she appealed for International assistance.

By mid morning on the 26th the authorities in the capital Colombo were summoned and they prioritized the needs of the affected. By Sunday afternoon work began in earnest, rescue of stranded people and the provision of drinking water, ready to eat meals, medicine and temporary shelters were organized. Coordination, which was inadequate on the first and second day, improved with every passing hour and by Tuesday the 28th the relief machinery was in place and running effectively.

The President on her return invited political leaders of all hues to discuss relief operations. This All Party High Level Committee for Disaster Management has been meeting ever since twice every week to coordinate short and medium term relief and systematize lasting solutions to rebuild the lives of a shattered people.

The Secretary to the President wrote to the LTTE’s political Head S. P. Thamilselvan on December 28th offering the Government’s unstinted assistance to people affected in LTTE controlled areas, the response from the LTTE was positive and appreciative.

President Kumaratunga made an emotional address to the nation on 28th December she said “We have been incredibly humbled by Nature's great forces. An ineluctable truth has been laid bare before us all. The mighty forces of Nature have compelled us to learn a lesson that some of us refused for long to learn. We have to act together, if we are to emerge from the ashes of this destruction.

Sri Lanka being a multi ethnic and multi religious society, one of the priorities was the appropriate interment of the dead. Sri Lanka has not had to face the trauma of mass burials before. The Chief Justice himself visited the coastal areas to expedite the judicial pronouncements and issue Death Certificates. Laws are being reviewed to regularize the cases of the scores of people who are still missing.

The international community meanwhile began sending scores of men and resources to assist the devastated island. India was the first among them, a magnanimous gesture considering that India too suffered greatly due to the tsunami.

Today 17th January the Government presented its action plan for rebuilding the nation at the meeting of the High Level Committee for Disaster Management. The plan will be implemented after taking into consideration the valuable suggestions and inputs of all stakeholders such as religious and political leaders, members of the civil society and NGOs.

Some of the salient features in the action plan are given below:

• A start up allowance of Rs. 5000 per family on presenting the tsunami relief coupon to any People’s Bank branch.

• Partly damaged houses to be rebuilt if located in safe areas with government assistance.

• Free books, uniform material, shoes, for school children.

• Electricity, telephone, water bills to be written off for those affected by the tsunami.

• Construction 15 new townships along the south and east coast.

• State concessions for totally destroyed hotels.

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Last Updated Date: January 17, 2005 .