Sri lanka and Rotary
We have now driven along the coastal road twice, going as far as Hambantota, almost the southern most tip of the island. It is debris, rubble and tent cities all the way, mixed in with views of quintessential tropical beaches fringed with palm trees. Providing temporary shelter are thousands of tents in various colors, design and material, in clusters in every town; some parked on roofs of buildings which have no fronts or backs, some are on the foundations of previous homes; some are in open spaces and some are in between trees.
At Peraliya, several of the swept-away train carriages have been uprighted and placed on a small section of track as a memorial to the 1500 people trapped in the train who died there. The tsunami was of such force that the fully-loaded train and tracks were tossed several yards and then dragged back as the wave receded. The twisted track is still there, sitting next to the newly reconstructed railway track and surrounded by tents.
It is hard to imagine a wall of water higher than the coconut palms crashing over everything along hundreds of miles of coastline. One man today said he survived by catching hold of the electric wire at the top of the poles. That¡¦s how high he was in the water. When the wave started to recede, it sucked back cars, people, boats, houses, you name it, before crashing back out to sea. Boats are grounded on rocky outcroppings, on both sides of the highway; boat halves rest on the beach.
We¡¦ll be driving along getting glimpses of beautiful tranquil beaches, calm blue ocean with bobbing fishing boats, forgetting for the instance the events of December 26th, but then we only need slightly to turn our heads to be forcibly reminded of the devastation by rubble and tents and pieces of boats. Not all devastation is evident. In Galle, there was flooding up to first floors (15-20¡¦) in a bus station/market area causing 2,000 deaths.
Some beaches have been widened with huge deposits of sand; one causeway was breached. At Hambantota, we stood on a bluff above the bay, in a slight breeze ¡V what a beautiful sight. The water is bright blue, white fine sand, colorful fishing boats here and there, swaying palm trees. Just don¡¦t turn the head to see the tent cities. (I mentioned to someone how it seemed more cleared than some other areas and was told the US military were in this area clearing rubble and debris and did a noticeable job.)
However, life goes on. Rubble is still being cleared daily; we even noticed some differences in the space of a few days. Boat repair ¡§stations¡¨ are being conducted on beaches under tarps. Boys are playing cricket in open spaces between the tents; school is being conducted under tarpaulins stretched from damaged walls. Train tracks have been re-laid and service is once again available on a regular basis as far as Matara.
One school we visited had been flooded, leaving a slick black mud residue and a lot of debris. The Colombo Mid-City Rotary Club rounded up about 100 people (one member bringing his staff) and spent a day clearing and burning debris and scrubbing down the classrooms. The school has about 700 students and while we were there, a college in Colombo was giving out new uniforms, shoes, backpacks and other school supplies.
A Rotary story: In this area, Colombo Mid-City had started a long-term ¡§dream village¡¨ project next to a small lake for low-income families prior to the tsunami. We saw the houses being built; four to a cluster, each with two rooms, bathroom and verandah. Ownership is given to the families, some of whom were there for our visit. There is no distinction of religion or ethnic background. Ray Dias of the Kelvedon, UK Rotary Club was with us as his club is one of the partner clubs for this project. Ray is a Sri Lankan who has lived in England for many years. When the tsunami happened, he raised even more money in order to expand the project to include displaced persons. The government has secured land to start a new village for low-income and displaced families. The area has been cleared and roadways marked. Some foundation work has started. We did not see any plans for waste water, water or electricity but were told they are to be included in the next few years.
While visiting the school which had been flooded, we noticed the 190 tent city opposite the school was established by a Taiwanese group, Buddhist Compassion Relief Tzu Chi Foundation (Singapore branch.) At lunch we met a few of their volunteers and found they have committed to building 1,000 permanent houses right next to the Rotary ¡§dream village¡¨ project. They also plan to build a hospital and school. Their tent city was impressive: the tents were large and sturdy, roads had been marked, and there was no litter.
Further tsunami notes gleaned from local papers and sources:
-Stats: The statistics are not complete as some parts of LTTE (¡§Tamil Tigers¡¨) held areas have not reported.
Two thirds of the coastline of the island was damaged.
At least 42,000 died; 3,500 still missing, presumed dead.
At least 100,000 houses damaged or rubbled.
At least 500,000 people displaced. (Total population is about 20 million.)
About 175 schools require relocation out of the buffer zone; many more require repairs.
-Coastal Conservation (Buffer) Zone: 100 or 200 metres. No new buildings in the zone unless they had been constructed legally prior to tsunami. Most people¡¦s houses were not built legally, e.g., with a deed of land ownership.
-Govt. housing grants and loans: each family which lost their home will have a new 500 sq ft, 2 room house with all infrastructure built for them free of charge outside of the buffer zone. Outside of buffer zone, if house was damaged up to 60%, then you can get new house; otherwise, grants are given for reconstruction. If house was damaged less than 60%, there are grants to repair or very low interest loans for repair.
-Orphans: 1097 orphans but only about 50 have not been placed with relatives or friends. Each child receives monthly stipend for school uniforms, books, food, etc. to help relatives out. New orphanages are not needed to be built but some orphanages need repairs.
Three UK based expat orgs have projects for displaced children: launching 2 model villages and ongoing assistance schemes.
A German man gave about $8,000 USD to a home for the developmentally and physically disabled which we visited in Galle. They had lost about 40 clients in the flooding and have some basic health related infrastructure problems. (This will be a future project of the Colombo Rotary Club.)
-Fisheries & boats: China, Japan & Belgium are reconstructing ¡§harbors, fish factories and boats; if boats not repairable, they will be replaced. Cost: 1 billion rupees (10 rupees to the dollar)
Buyaboat.uk.net: RC of Falmouth, England providing admin oversight.
Colombo Club says $3,500 per boat, includes outboard motor, nets & some basic equipment. Some individual Rotary Clubs are raising funds for boats.
-Vocational programs: special programs in carpentry, masonry and other construction skills for senior school students in tsunami affected areas have commenced because there is a lack of manpower to carry out the large volume of construction in those areas. Fifteen voc training centres were completely damaged, along w/equipment, and loss of life of 3 teachers.
-1500 metric tones of relief supplies are still stockpiled at the airport creating problems. The duty-free offer for tsunami related relief supplies was withdrawn after 30 days for various reasons, one of which was that a knocked down helicopter and a knocked down fighter plane was discovered in the so-called relief supplies. Also, there were several other abuses of the duty-free offer.
"Inches don't matter: rules of the road for driving in Sri Lanka."
#1: Busses rule. The privatized busses have testosterone to spare and race each other to pick up passengers. Blind curves, center lines and oncoming trucks are meaningless. Sometimes they swerve and sway so much they look like they are about to tip over. You don't mess with the busses.
#2: Tailgating is required (remember, inches don't count) because how else can you be ready to overtake everything in front of you.
#3: Drive down the middle of the road (any road) as fast as you can, creating half lanes, so that everything else has to hug the non-existent shoulder and pedestrians and dogs have to jump out of the way.
#4: Pecking order: Cats, dogs, people, buffalo, bicycles, tuk-tuks, slower minivans and cars, faster cars and SUVs, trucks and busses. (Busses rule the road.) We noticed a lot of dogs walking on three feet only. On the other hand, buffalo don't run, they just plod along.
A nice story: The president of the Colombo Rotary Club received a package in the mail from the Ritchie Family in Orlando, Florida addressed to him personally with correct address except it said Colombo, INDIA. But got to them anyway, and all the supplies were distributed.
The 1300 children at a school we visisted in the beautiful hill country of Sirigaya (in the middle of the country) up until about a few years ago, had to hand haul up their buckets of drinking water from a well. Then the govt. put in a hand-operated pump and now the Rotary Club of Colombo Mid City in partnership with the Rangiri Badulla Rotary Club have installed 12 faucets near the classrooms. The school welcomed us with a 12-girl marching band, the raising of the flags and singing of the national anthem by a dozen girls, a full school assembly with singing, a little dancing, a little folk music all by the students, plus a blessing of a monk and lighting of oil lamps to start the assembly. We were honored to be included in giving out new uniforms to those who had achieved academic awards. We then all went to a vegetarian lunch at a nearby research center which works with forest peoples to help them with sustainable forest practices.
Pictures will be posted to an email site as soon as I figure it out. I do have photos on a CD, so it won't be long.
Our friend Dr Paul Farley from Lakeport arrived today for a two-week volunteer stint with a medical organization. While we are disappointed not to be able to have a hands-on volunteer opportunity yet, the initial emergency relief phase is over and now longer-term programs are underway. We shall continue to publicize them and keep awareness up.
Love to all. Thanks for all your encouragements and good thoughts.
At Peraliya, several of the swept-away train carriages have been uprighted and placed on a small section of track as a memorial to the 1500 people trapped in the train who died there. The tsunami was of such force that the fully-loaded train and tracks were tossed several yards and then dragged back as the wave receded. The twisted track is still there, sitting next to the newly reconstructed railway track and surrounded by tents.
It is hard to imagine a wall of water higher than the coconut palms crashing over everything along hundreds of miles of coastline. One man today said he survived by catching hold of the electric wire at the top of the poles. That¡¦s how high he was in the water. When the wave started to recede, it sucked back cars, people, boats, houses, you name it, before crashing back out to sea. Boats are grounded on rocky outcroppings, on both sides of the highway; boat halves rest on the beach.
We¡¦ll be driving along getting glimpses of beautiful tranquil beaches, calm blue ocean with bobbing fishing boats, forgetting for the instance the events of December 26th, but then we only need slightly to turn our heads to be forcibly reminded of the devastation by rubble and tents and pieces of boats. Not all devastation is evident. In Galle, there was flooding up to first floors (15-20¡¦) in a bus station/market area causing 2,000 deaths.
Some beaches have been widened with huge deposits of sand; one causeway was breached. At Hambantota, we stood on a bluff above the bay, in a slight breeze ¡V what a beautiful sight. The water is bright blue, white fine sand, colorful fishing boats here and there, swaying palm trees. Just don¡¦t turn the head to see the tent cities. (I mentioned to someone how it seemed more cleared than some other areas and was told the US military were in this area clearing rubble and debris and did a noticeable job.)
However, life goes on. Rubble is still being cleared daily; we even noticed some differences in the space of a few days. Boat repair ¡§stations¡¨ are being conducted on beaches under tarps. Boys are playing cricket in open spaces between the tents; school is being conducted under tarpaulins stretched from damaged walls. Train tracks have been re-laid and service is once again available on a regular basis as far as Matara.
One school we visited had been flooded, leaving a slick black mud residue and a lot of debris. The Colombo Mid-City Rotary Club rounded up about 100 people (one member bringing his staff) and spent a day clearing and burning debris and scrubbing down the classrooms. The school has about 700 students and while we were there, a college in Colombo was giving out new uniforms, shoes, backpacks and other school supplies.
A Rotary story: In this area, Colombo Mid-City had started a long-term ¡§dream village¡¨ project next to a small lake for low-income families prior to the tsunami. We saw the houses being built; four to a cluster, each with two rooms, bathroom and verandah. Ownership is given to the families, some of whom were there for our visit. There is no distinction of religion or ethnic background. Ray Dias of the Kelvedon, UK Rotary Club was with us as his club is one of the partner clubs for this project. Ray is a Sri Lankan who has lived in England for many years. When the tsunami happened, he raised even more money in order to expand the project to include displaced persons. The government has secured land to start a new village for low-income and displaced families. The area has been cleared and roadways marked. Some foundation work has started. We did not see any plans for waste water, water or electricity but were told they are to be included in the next few years.
While visiting the school which had been flooded, we noticed the 190 tent city opposite the school was established by a Taiwanese group, Buddhist Compassion Relief Tzu Chi Foundation (Singapore branch.) At lunch we met a few of their volunteers and found they have committed to building 1,000 permanent houses right next to the Rotary ¡§dream village¡¨ project. They also plan to build a hospital and school. Their tent city was impressive: the tents were large and sturdy, roads had been marked, and there was no litter.
Further tsunami notes gleaned from local papers and sources:
-Stats: The statistics are not complete as some parts of LTTE (¡§Tamil Tigers¡¨) held areas have not reported.
Two thirds of the coastline of the island was damaged.
At least 42,000 died; 3,500 still missing, presumed dead.
At least 100,000 houses damaged or rubbled.
At least 500,000 people displaced. (Total population is about 20 million.)
About 175 schools require relocation out of the buffer zone; many more require repairs.
-Coastal Conservation (Buffer) Zone: 100 or 200 metres. No new buildings in the zone unless they had been constructed legally prior to tsunami. Most people¡¦s houses were not built legally, e.g., with a deed of land ownership.
-Govt. housing grants and loans: each family which lost their home will have a new 500 sq ft, 2 room house with all infrastructure built for them free of charge outside of the buffer zone. Outside of buffer zone, if house was damaged up to 60%, then you can get new house; otherwise, grants are given for reconstruction. If house was damaged less than 60%, there are grants to repair or very low interest loans for repair.
-Orphans: 1097 orphans but only about 50 have not been placed with relatives or friends. Each child receives monthly stipend for school uniforms, books, food, etc. to help relatives out. New orphanages are not needed to be built but some orphanages need repairs.
Three UK based expat orgs have projects for displaced children: launching 2 model villages and ongoing assistance schemes.
A German man gave about $8,000 USD to a home for the developmentally and physically disabled which we visited in Galle. They had lost about 40 clients in the flooding and have some basic health related infrastructure problems. (This will be a future project of the Colombo Rotary Club.)
-Fisheries & boats: China, Japan & Belgium are reconstructing ¡§harbors, fish factories and boats; if boats not repairable, they will be replaced. Cost: 1 billion rupees (10 rupees to the dollar)
Buyaboat.uk.net: RC of Falmouth, England providing admin oversight.
Colombo Club says $3,500 per boat, includes outboard motor, nets & some basic equipment. Some individual Rotary Clubs are raising funds for boats.
-Vocational programs: special programs in carpentry, masonry and other construction skills for senior school students in tsunami affected areas have commenced because there is a lack of manpower to carry out the large volume of construction in those areas. Fifteen voc training centres were completely damaged, along w/equipment, and loss of life of 3 teachers.
-1500 metric tones of relief supplies are still stockpiled at the airport creating problems. The duty-free offer for tsunami related relief supplies was withdrawn after 30 days for various reasons, one of which was that a knocked down helicopter and a knocked down fighter plane was discovered in the so-called relief supplies. Also, there were several other abuses of the duty-free offer.
"Inches don't matter: rules of the road for driving in Sri Lanka."
#1: Busses rule. The privatized busses have testosterone to spare and race each other to pick up passengers. Blind curves, center lines and oncoming trucks are meaningless. Sometimes they swerve and sway so much they look like they are about to tip over. You don't mess with the busses.
#2: Tailgating is required (remember, inches don't count) because how else can you be ready to overtake everything in front of you.
#3: Drive down the middle of the road (any road) as fast as you can, creating half lanes, so that everything else has to hug the non-existent shoulder and pedestrians and dogs have to jump out of the way.
#4: Pecking order: Cats, dogs, people, buffalo, bicycles, tuk-tuks, slower minivans and cars, faster cars and SUVs, trucks and busses. (Busses rule the road.) We noticed a lot of dogs walking on three feet only. On the other hand, buffalo don't run, they just plod along.
A nice story: The president of the Colombo Rotary Club received a package in the mail from the Ritchie Family in Orlando, Florida addressed to him personally with correct address except it said Colombo, INDIA. But got to them anyway, and all the supplies were distributed.
The 1300 children at a school we visisted in the beautiful hill country of Sirigaya (in the middle of the country) up until about a few years ago, had to hand haul up their buckets of drinking water from a well. Then the govt. put in a hand-operated pump and now the Rotary Club of Colombo Mid City in partnership with the Rangiri Badulla Rotary Club have installed 12 faucets near the classrooms. The school welcomed us with a 12-girl marching band, the raising of the flags and singing of the national anthem by a dozen girls, a full school assembly with singing, a little dancing, a little folk music all by the students, plus a blessing of a monk and lighting of oil lamps to start the assembly. We were honored to be included in giving out new uniforms to those who had achieved academic awards. We then all went to a vegetarian lunch at a nearby research center which works with forest peoples to help them with sustainable forest practices.
Pictures will be posted to an email site as soon as I figure it out. I do have photos on a CD, so it won't be long.
Our friend Dr Paul Farley from Lakeport arrived today for a two-week volunteer stint with a medical organization. While we are disappointed not to be able to have a hands-on volunteer opportunity yet, the initial emergency relief phase is over and now longer-term programs are underway. We shall continue to publicize them and keep awareness up.
Love to all. Thanks for all your encouragements and good thoughts.
posted by Unknown at 8:23 AM
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