Identifier
Created
Classification
Origin
05COLOMBO880
2005-05-12 11:26:00
UNCLASSIFIED
Embassy Colombo
Cable title:  

SRI LANKA - EARTHQUAKE AND TSUNAMIS:

Tags:  EAID AEMR PREL PGOV CE 
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This record is a partial extract of the original cable. The full text of the original cable is not available.
UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 05 COLOMBO 000880 

SIPDIS

STATE ALSO PASS TO USAID
USAID/W FOR A/AID ANDREW NATSIOS, JBRAUSE
DCHA/OFDA KISAACS, GGOTTLIEB, MMARX, RTHAYER,
BDEEMER
AID/W FOR DCHA/OFDA
DCHA/FFP FOR LAUREN LANDIS
DCHA DEPUTY ASSISTANT ADMINISTRATOR WILLIAM
GARVELINK
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 #24 - Shelter Assessment of
Southern Coast

-------
Summary
-------
UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 05 COLOMBO 000880

SIPDIS

STATE ALSO PASS TO USAID
USAID/W FOR A/AID ANDREW NATSIOS, JBRAUSE
DCHA/OFDA KISAACS, GGOTTLIEB, MMARX, RTHAYER,
BDEEMER
AID/W FOR DCHA/OFDA
DCHA/FFP FOR LAUREN LANDIS
DCHA DEPUTY ASSISTANT ADMINISTRATOR WILLIAM
GARVELINK
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 #24 - Shelter Assessment of
Southern Coast

--------------
Summary
--------------

1.Following an assessment of the east coast,
the USAID/Office of U.S. Foreign Disaster
Assistance (OFDA) Shelter Specialist,
USAID/Disaster Assistance Response Team (DART)
Information Officer (IO),and USAID/Colombo
Project Management Assistant traveled to
Hambantota and Galle Districts on May 6 and 7 to
monitor USAID/OFDA-funded transitional shelter
programs and review the progress of the shelter
sector in tsunami-affected areas on the southern
coast of Sri Lanka. The USAID team met with
representatives from USAID-partners GOAL and
Community Habitat and Finance International (CHF)
during the field visit. While problems remain
with labor and supply shortages and local
government regulations, construction of
transitional shelter is progressing steadily on
the southern coast, with USAID partners playing a
key role in coordination and planning. End
summary.

-------------- ---
Hambantota - GOAL - Upgrading temporary shelters
-------------- ---


2. According to U.N. High Commissioner for
Refugees (UNHCR) May 2 statistics, 14,523 persons
were displaced in Hambantota District and 4,030
homes were damaged or destroyed. According to the
Government of Sri Lanka's (GOSL) Transitional
Accommodation Project (TAP),1,283 of the 1,762
transitional shelters (73 percent) had been
completed as of May 6. USAID/OFDA provided
$1,280,423 million to GOAL for the construction of
transitional houses, repair of homes, and
construction of latrines in Hambantota, Ampara,
and Matara Districts.


3. GOAL is the official lead shelter agency in
Hambantota District and the only agency providing
transitional shelter in Ambalantota Division. To

date, GOAL has completed 145 shelters in
Ambalantota and Kirinda Divisions of Hambantota
District, 780 in Ampara District, and 250 in
Matara District. In March, when GOAL began
constructing the structures, housing standards
required a total cost of $300 per shelter but that
standard has since increased to $400 a shelter.
As a result, GOAL is now retrofitting the shelters
with separate kitchens.

4. These cost limits are important for
coordination in the shelter sector because they
allow for certain standards to be followed and
limit competition between agencies working in the
shelter sector. Unfortunately, some agencies are
reportedly not following the cost guidelines and
are trying to attract beneficiaries with shelters
that cost more than the agreed upon standards. In
Hambantota, the total cost per shelter increased
because some agencies stated that they were having
difficult designing and constructing quality
shelters within those price limits. However, as
cost guidelines increase, organizations must
upgrade previously constructed shelters and
decrease the number of shelters that they are able
to construct under fixed funding.


5. Prior to constructing the transitional
shelters, GOAL conducted a detailed assessment of
the area including damage assessment, land use,
inundation line, and services in order to
understand how transitional and permanent shelter
options would affect the entire community. GOAL
has also actively promoted community awareness.
For example, GOAL took beneficiaries to a site for
permanent shelters that the GOSL is building so
they could make an informed decision about whether
to move into those shelters. In addition, GOAL
worked with the community in Ambalantota to ensure
that residents could construct transitional
shelters in the community, either on their own
land or with friends and relatives. According to
GOAL, residents will remain in the transitional
shelters for approximately 18 months.


6. Although the government has stated that
construction of transitional shelters will not be
allowed in the buffer zone, enforcement of these
regulations has been weak. During the visit to
Hambantota, the USAID team observed a large number
of transitional shelters - frequently of very poor
quality - built by both private individual donors
and national and international NGOs within the 100
meter buffer zone. USAID-partners are not
building transitional shelter within the buffer
zone.


7. During the visit, the USAID team went to the
local government's coordination office and met
with a TAP official. According to the TAP, more
than half of the fully and partially damaged homes
(1,478 total) are outside of the 100 meter buffer
zone in Hambantota District. In total, the
tsunami affected 14,344 families in Hambantota

SIPDIS
District.


8. According to the TAP, the GOSL has already
constructed 681 permanent houses in Hambantota
District and is working on an additional 500 on a
site 8 kilometers from Hambantota town. The
government has announced plans to encourage
government and retail buildings at the site so it
will not be so isolated. The USAID team visited
this site and noted that the houses appeared to be
poorly constructed. In addition, the houses were
laid out in long straight rows, instead of
communal groupings. The entire site had been
graded and cleared making the site hotter and more
prone to drainage problems. According to GOAL,
local officials in Hambantota District may be
overlooking transitional shelter in the desire to
advance quickly with permanent shelter
construction.

--------------
Galle - CHF - Building capacity
--------------


9. USAID/OFDA provided $2.0 million to CHF for
the construction of transitional shelters, repair
of homes, and construction of latrines in Galle
and Matara Districts. CHF explained that although
Sewalanka is officially the lead for coordinating
shelter in Galle District, CHF has become the de
facto coordinator due to Sewalanka's lack of
capacity. CHF estimates that 30 to 60 percent of
all the transitional shelters in Galle were built
by small agencies and 15-20 were built by the
families themselves. CHF has completed
approximately 450 shelters in Galle District and
128 in Matara District to date.


10. In order to provide livelihood opportunities
and increase the pool of skilled laborers, CHF
conducted a skills training in masonry and
carpentry. Participants were paid and received
new tools and a certificate of completion
following 10 days of training. Initially, CHF
could only complete 6 shelters a day but now due
to increased training, CHF is able to complete 30
shelters a day. CHF will hold some transitional
shelter materials in reserve while affected people
decide what they would like to do and in order to
repair shelters built by other organizations. CHF
plans to continue its transitional shelter program
through the end of the monsoon season at the end
of July.


11. The USAID team visited a tent camp in
Hikkaduwa Division which CHF had been upgrading.
CHF had begun a program to improve the camp by
adding shade to the tents and digging drainage
ditches. However, the residents informed CHF that
they had other shelters and were just using the
tents during the day in order to collect
assistance. CHF stopped the program to improve
the site.


12. The USAID team also visited a site in
Halwathura, Ambalangoda Division, Galle District
where CHF had relocated approximately 19 families
in February. This was a squatter community of
poor fisherman that had been camping next to a
crematorium following the destruction of their
homes in the tsunami. The residents showed great
pride in their shelters, planting gardens, drying
fish, and inviting the USAID team inside to see
the other improvements they had made. The men in
the community rent boats twice a month, paying
half of their catch to the boat owner. Following
the recommendation of the USAID team, CHF will
move the two water tanks servicing the camp away
from the road closer to the latrines so that the
community can more easily access the water and
women will have more privacy for bathing.


13. In Patabandimulla, Ambalangoda Division, the
USAID team visited a site where CHF had provided
transitional shelters on beneficiaries own land.
Some residents constructed the shelters on the
foundation of their old houses, while others
constructed them next to the old foundation
depending on their reconstruction plans. This
situation, in which residents are able to rebuild
on their own land, is an ideal situation for
transitional shelter. Because beneficiaries are
already on their own land, they can immediately
begin the process of transforming and making
investments in their shelter, integrating the
transitional shelter into their permanent
structure.


14. In a meeting with the Divisional Secretary
(DS) for Balapitya Division in Galle District, the
DS reported to the USAID team that the government
has not yet decided whether people can build
businesses on their land in the buffer zone, but
the DS thought that preference would be given to
larger tourism-oriented businesses. The DS
estimated that all permanent shelters in Galle
would be finished in nine months, even with delays
caused by the coming monsoon.

--------------
Comment


15. The transitional shelter sector has advanced
progressively on the southern coast despite the
high levels of damage in the area. Although
agencies are having difficulty finding land for
transitional shelter, the situation is better than
the eastern coast where the buffer zone is twice
as large (200 meters versus 100 meters). However,
the increased land area available on the southern
coast does not mean that relocation of residents
will not continue to be a major problem. The
higher level of development and population density
on the southern coast greatly limits the
availability of suitable free land. In addition,
similar to the eastern coast, competition between
NGOs, weak local government decision making, and
poor construction and design continue to afflict
transitional sector activities. However, the
USAID team notes that USAID shelter partners on
the eastern and southern coasts continue
progressing steadily while constructing high
quality structures, following agreed-upon
standards for cost, materials, and design.
LUNSTEAD