SRI LANKA - EARTHQUAKE AND TSUNAMIS: USAID/DART

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 06 COLOMBO 000189

SIPDIS


STATE ALSO PASS TO USAID
STATE FOR TSUNAMI TASK FORCE 1
USAID/W FOR A/AID ANDREW NATSIOS, JBRAUSE
DCHA/OFDA KISAACS, GGOTTLIEB, MMARX, RTHAYER, BDEEMER
AID/W FOR DCHA/OFDA
TSUNAMI RESPONSE MANAGEMENT TEAM

SIPDIS
DCHA/FFP FOR LAUREN LANDIS
DCHA BUREAU FOR ASSISTANT ADMINISTRATOR ROGER WINTER
ANE DEPUTY ASSISTANT ADMINISTRATOR MARK WARD
BANGKOK FOR OFDA SENIOR REGIONAL ADVISOR TOM DOLAN
KATHMANDU FOR OFDA REGIONAL ADVISOR WILLIAM BERGER
GENEVA FOR USAID KYLOH
ROME PASS FODAG
NSC FOR MELINE
CDR USPACOM FOR J3/J4/POLAD
USEU PASS USEC

E.O. 12958: N/A
TAGS: EAID AEMR PREL PGOV CE
SUBJECT: SRI LANKA - EARTHQUAKE AND TSUNAMIS: USAID/DART
SITREP #10

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SUMMARY
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1. As of January 24, according to the Center for National
Operations (CNO),the earthquake and tsunamis had killed
30,957 people. The U.S. Military is starting to move
equipment and personnel from Galle to Colombo. The Galle
local government and the Galle Water Board are taking over
responsibility for water distributions from the U.S. and
Austrian militaries. The USAID/Disaster Assistance Response
Team (DART) has observed an improvement in the situation in
Ampara District with many relief and recovery activities and
visible progress to address community needs taking place.
As of January 21, USAID/Office of U.S. Foreign Disaster
Assistance (OFDA) implementing partner GOAL's programs in
Ampara District have assisted 52,096 beneficiaries.
USAID/OFDA implementing partners GOAL and Catholic Relief
Services (CRS) have both created prototype shelters to be
used in USAID/Office of U.S. Foreign Disaster Assistance's
(OFDA) transitional housing program. End summary.

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Death Tolls
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2. The CNO, which is responsible for the overall
coordination of the relief effort in Sri Lanka, reports that
as of January 24 at 1600 hours local time, the earthquake
and tsunamis had killed 30,957 people, injured 15,196
residents, displaced 396,170 persons, completely damaged
78,407 houses, and partially damaged 41,097 houses.
Currently there are 5,644 persons missing. According to the
CNO, there are 321 camps housing displaced persons.

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Situation in Galle
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3. The USAID/DART Logistics Officer (LO) located in Galle
stated that as of January 24, the U.S. Military is starting
to move equipment and personnel from Galle to Colombo. The
USAID/DART LO reported that the Galle local government and
the Galle Water Board will gradually take over
responsibility for water distributions from the U.S. and
Austrian Militaries starting on January 24 and will maintain
sole responsibility for water distributions starting on
January 28. The U.S. Military completed debris removal at
schools on January 24, and the U.S. Military plans to depart
Galle for Colombo on January 28.


4. USAID's Office of Transitional Issues (OTI) is engaged
in a USAID/OFDA-funded cash-for-work debris removal project
north of Galle. Between January 21 and January 23, this
project employed an average of 600 people daily to clear and
separate debris on private and public lands. As of January
21, there are 46 internally displaced person (IDP) centers
in Galle.
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USAID/DART Assessment in Ampara District - Aftermath of
the Tsunami and Recovery
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5. On January 13, the USAID/DART visited Sainthamaruthu in
Ampara District. At this time, there were four camps that
had been set up in schools to house the 900 people who were
displaced. Within the camps, food, fresh water, and shelter
were being provided in sufficient quantities. Psycho-social
needs were being addressed by USAID/OFDA implementing
partner Christian Children's Fund (CCF). This included
child-friendly spaces set aside where games and play
sessions were used to help with the emotional recovery.
According to the USAID/DART, at this time, very little
visible progress had been made to address many of the
community needs. For example, there was no visible activity
to clean up rubble and rubbish in the affected areas,
community water and sanitation systems had not been
established, the cleaning of wells had not commenced, and no
plan was in place to address recovery work in a systematic
manner.


6. However, on January 22, the USAID/DART revisited
Sainthamaruthu and noted a remarkable change in the
situation in the area. Traveling with representatives from
USAID/OFDA implementing partners GOAL and CRS, USAID/DART
team members observed that the affected communities had been
divided into focus areas and assigned to specific non-
governmental organizations (NGOs). In the locations covered
by USAID/OFDA implementing partners, wells were being
systematically cleaned, a 30,000 gallon water bladder was
set up to provide clean water to more than 250 families
daily, road clean up had been initiated to remove rubble and
rubbish in areas that had been marginally affected,
structures that were damaged and posed a hazard were knocked
down to avoid further injury, cash-for-work teams were
functioning to help clean up the most affected areas along
the coast, rubbish/rubble distribution sites had been
identified, and a transitional shelter model has been
developed. To address long-term rehabilitation, the
Government of Sri Lanka (GOSL) and NGO representatives are
drafting strategic plans to rebuild the beach-front in a
manner that would offer some protection from future
disasters.


7. One of the most innovative projects observed by the
USAID/DART is being undertaken by GOAL and uses rubble from
affected sites to create massive barriers that will encircle
an area of land that includes several hundred acres that are
not being used. The landfill will allow for a water
irrigation system to be put in place so that 1,000 farmers
can grow rice for the first time. In the past, there was
insufficient landfill to initiate this project.
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GOAL's Activities in Ampara District
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8. On January 22, the USAID/DART Program Officer (PO) and
USAID/DART Information Officer (IO) visited Ampara District
in northeastern Sri Lanka and viewed USAID/OFDA implementing
partner GOAL's activities in the area. As of January 21,
GOAL's programs in Ampara District (including programs in
the sectors of water and sanitation, emergency relief
supplies, cash-for-work, shelter, and livelihoods) have
benefited 52,096 people. During this visit the USAID/DART
observed GOAL's activities in several different sectors,
including the following:

Water and Sanitation: GOAL has established a 30,000 liter
water bladder in Nintavur in Ampara District that will serve
more than 250 families daily. The USAID/DART observed local
residents filling buckets with water and benefiting from the
water bladder. GOAL is also engaged in well cleaning in
Ampara District, and to date has cleaned 50 of 4,000 wells.
GOAL plans to clean 1,000 wells in total. The USAID/DART
observed that all wells that had been cleaned were clearly
marked with the date that they were cleaned in order to
avoid a duplication of efforts.

IDPs in Ampara District/Emergency Relief Supply
Distributions: GOAL has responsibility for 18 camps in the
areas of Karativu, Sainthamaruthu, and Nintavur in Ampara
District. A GOAL representative stated that 70 percent of
the population in these areas is living with host families,
and approximately 30 percent are residing at the camps. The
GOAL representative noted that those IDPs living at the
camps have lost their property and belongings and had no
relatives with whom they could stay. The GOAL
representative also reported that she had not seen a
significant influx of orphaned children. In GOAL's three
areas of responsibility, there are 8,000 displaced families
or 29,795 people.

The USAID/DART visited a Hindu boys' school housing IDPs in
Nintavur, where 385 families are registered and 59 families
or 199 residents live at the camp 24 hours a day. GOAL is
distributing emergency relief supplies such as cooking pots
and pans to the IDPs at this camp. The USAID/DART reported
that IDPs in this camp currently cook meals in shifts, and
the biggest need is for cooking pots and pans [Note: The
GOAL representative advised that there is currently a 20 day
delay to obtain pots and pans. The USAID/DART PO is
following up on this issue in order to attempt to fulfill
this demand for pots and pans. End Note.] GOAL has also
distributed 1,000 USAID/OFDA hygiene kits in the camp. The
GOAL representative stated that starting on January 24, GOAL
will pay 375 rupees per week to every person who was
displaced by the tsunami and to all individuals who have
lost their livelihoods due to the tsunami.

The USAID/DART also visited a camp in a mosque where 390
families are registered, and 80 families are residing 24
hours a day. The GOAL representative advised that there is
a communal kitchen in Sainthamaruthu that serves between
1,300 and 1,500 people per day and provides meals to the
camp.

Shelter: The USAID/DART visited a prototype shelter built
by GOAL in Sainthamaruthu. The shelter was built on land
obtained from the neighboring Hindu temple, and the GOAL
representative stated that 40 families will be housed on
this land.

Debris Removal: GOAL is involved in debris removal in
Ampara District, and in the first 20 days of the emergency,
GOAL moved 2,742 cubic meters of rubble. GOAL, in
conjunction with the Ampara District local government, is
utilizing four machines and 15 tractors that are moving 146
loads of material and debris per day.

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CRS' Activities in Ampara District
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9. The USAID/DART also met with representatives of CRS in
Ampara District and visited a camp located in a college.
The camp housed 400 families and several families were
starting to move out. CRS is operating in IDP camps in
Kalmunai Tamil, where between 3,000 and 3,500 families are
displaced and Kalmunai Muslim, where 9,000 families are
displaced.


10. The GOSL would like to relocate people from schools so
they may reopen and is identifying relocation sites to move
people on a temporary basis (six to nine months) until the
plan for reconstruction of new permanent housing is
finalized and implemented. In order to avoid overcrowding
in relocation sites, CRS is exploring options for locations
for transitional shelter. CRS undertook an assessment of
displaced populations in camps in Kalmunai Tamil and
Kalmunai Muslim to understand options available for the
displaced communities. The assessment led to three
categories of displaced populations: families willing to
have transitional structures on their own land; families who
have the option to set up transitional structures with host
families; and families who have no option but to move to the
relocation sites. CRS is exploring the options available
for displaced families and their preferences for relocation
in order to prevent overcrowding in relocation sites.

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USAID/DART Trip to Ampara with Asian Development Bank
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11. On January 22, the USAID/DART accompanied Ambassador
Paul Speltz, U.S. Executive Director to the Asian
Development Bank (ADB),on a four hour tour of the Ampara
coastal areas affected by the earthquake and tsunamis.
Ambassador Speltz was in Colombo to attend a briefing of the
International Financial Institutions (IFIs) sector
assessments. Speltz stated that he believed that the
assessments were generally accurate given the short time
allotted to conduct them, but added that the IFIs should
consult closely with USAID in further developing their plans
for the reconstruction phase. Ambassador Speltz praised
USAID's response to the Tsunami which he said had been quote
terrific end quote.


12. The group traveled from the Ampara Air Force Base to
Maradamunai in Ampara District, accompanied by the USAID/OTI
representative in Ampara and his Sri Lankan staff. The
group visited affected coastal areas, a USAID/OTI funded
clean-up campaign at a local school, an IDP camp in a girls'
school, and a local school constructed with ADB funding.
The number of families at Zahira College, an IDP center, had
dropped from an initial 428 families to about 200 families.
The USAID/DART reported that most of the families who were
leaving the camp lived in homes that were damaged but not
destroyed and were moving back to their homes after the
debris in their homes had been cleaned up. The USAID/DART
reported that in general, it appeared that structures built
with cement and reinforcing rods, even close to the
shoreline, survived the brunt of the earthquake and tsunamis
while those built with unreinforced brick (the majority)
were completely destroyed.


13. According to the USAID/DART, local contacts in Ampara
District indicated that the distribution of relief supplies
to those affected by the earthquake and tsunamis appeared to
be equitable after an initially slow start; however, the
issue of conflict displaced IDPs was raised. Most conflict
IDPs have not been resettled for years and now attention has
turned to tsunami victims. The USAID/DART noted that the
same situation exists in Trincomalee and elsewhere and
represents a potential future flashpoint.

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Assessment trip to Ampara with Head of CNO
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14. On January 23, a 12-person CNO delegation, headed by
Dr. Tara De Mel, Head of the CNO, visited Ampara District to
assess linkages between CNO activities and actual conditions
in the impacted areas. The USAID/DART Team Leader in Sri
Lanka and USAID/DART Liaison to the CNO accompanied the
delegation. The group visited an IDP camp located at a
school and visited the proposed relocation site. The issue
of rations was discussed as families that did not lose their
homes were also claiming the need for rations.


15. The delegation met with the Ampara Government Agent
(GA) to discuss the specific needs of the district and
coordination of NGO activities. The GA stated there were 51
NGOs working in Ampara District; however, it was unclear
whether these NGOs are all working on long-term projects.
Issues such as well water quality, distributions of drinking
water, need for tents to relocate camps currently lodged in
schools, and mosquito problems were also discussed.


16. Dr. De Mel emphasized the role of the CNO and
established communication links between sectoral
representatives in the field and counterparts within the
CNO.

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Coordination with the U.S. Military
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17. On January 23, the U.S. Military transported 10 metric
tons (MT) of produce to Matara in southern Sri Lanka, and on
January 24, the U.S. Military transported 6 MT of produce to
Galle. The U.S. Military completed operations to transport
produce for the National Agrobusiness Council on January 24.

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USAID/DART Staffing
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18. As of January 25, there are 13 members of the
USAID/DART in Sri Lanka and Maldives. Of the 13 USAID/DART
members, one individual is in Galle and another team member
is in Male', Maldives.

ENTWISTLE