After the Tsunami

Even though it's been nearly seven years since a tsunami tore apart Sri Lanka's coastal communities, some 400 families continue to live in refugee camps on the east coast of the country. In the Sainthamaruthu camp in Ampara District, for example, 32 families live in rudimentary structures originally designed to house them for just a few months. Now, nearly seven years later, a new generation is being born and raised in conditions that many describe as heart-breaking. Fortunately for the families in the Sainthamaruthu camp, an IFAD-supported project has just broken ground on a new housing development that will provide all the families in the camp with new homes. Despite the out-pouring of international support just after the tsunami, IFAD is the only international organization that continues to build houses to resettle tsunami victims. More than 35,000 people were killed and another 400,000 left homeless when the tsunami struck on December 26, 2004. Sri Lanka's southern and eastern coasts were struck equally but the government says the war with Tamil terrorists, which ended in 2009, made it hardest to resettle displaced people in the east.

Category:

Nonprofits & Activism

Tags:

• SRI LANKA
• Tsunami
• Refugees
• Asia
• IFAD