28 May 2003

Colombo, Sri Lanka: Eight national UN Volunteers from India joined relief operations in southern Sri Lanka just days after unprecedented floods and landslides claimed over 260 lives in the country’s worst disaster in 50 years.

Since 16 May, some 500 people are missing and over 177,000 people have been rendered homeless in the floodwaters. Victims and rescue workers fear that additional landslides could worsen the situation. Communication and power lines have been damaged and roads and bridges washed away. Housed in schools and temples, the people are struggling to survive with restricted sanitation and lack of safe drinking water.

The United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) in Sri Lanka responded to the crisis immediately by seconding the UN Volunteers from India who have gained valuable experience in emergency coordination and information management during flood and cyclone-related disasters at home.

The UN Volunteers have been deployed at various affected districts and in the National Flood Operations Centre to assist the Government in streamlining information and coordinating relief distribution of the Government and humanitarian agencies. The UN Volunteers in the districts are helping the government officials identify key priorities and immediate needs of the most vulnerable families, women and disabled.

With their experience in long-term disaster risk management, the Indian UN Volunteers are also introducing natural disaster management to the districts. In addition to rehabilitation activities, preparedness measures are being planned.

Rita Missal, a UNV social development officer who has been serving in cyclone-hit Orissa since December 1999, is coordinating UNV's programme in the districts. She said the UN Volunteers are working to improve communications through information technology, including a web site.

The UN Volunteers’ information feeds into the operations centre at the Prime Minister’s office and is also the source of information for the United Nations Disaster Assessment and Coordination (UNDAC) team and UNDP’s Bureau for Crisis Prevention and Recovery (BCPR) team to prepare the initial assessment. The Government, she added, has also requested the UNV team to compile an emergency telephone directory for key officials and Ministers who are currently involved in flood relief operations.

The Indian UN Volunteers are working in the districts UN Information Support Officers in district headquarters and are assisting district authorities in coordination meetings. They have visited the worst affected districts and have established rapport with district officials, the national army and non-governmental organizations.

Priorities for the UN Volunteers are currently to check conditions in the camps where people are staying and organize local volunteers for management of the camps. They are also carrying out sectoral assessments. They will also introduce community and district preparedness.

The six districts affected are Rantapura, Galle, Kalutara, Matara, Hambantota and a small area of Nuwara Eliya. In Ratnapura, landslides have buried alive 85 persons. Thousands are now living outside their homes after warning from experts of the threat of landslides. Standing water in Matara and other districts has made relief efforts very slow.

In the lower lying districts of Hambantota, Matara, Galle and Kalutara the rivers Milwala, Polwatta Ganga, Kalu Ganga and Bentota Ganga have caused extensive flooding. The water level is still at an average of about two metres above mean sea level but has slowly started receding. Additional rainfall could change the situation for the worse as the soil is saturated.