Only a few days more to complete 2 years of the devastation and havoc caused by the tsunami killer waves which struck the coastal belt of Sri Lanka on 26.12.2004 and brought death and destruction to tens of thousands of people who were living in close proximity to the coastal belt in the Districts of Galle and Matara.The Hittetiya camp in the Matara District vouch for the havoc caused on that fateful day. Even today 45 families comprising of 500 individuals live huddled in this camp. These people are faced with the under mentioned problems :-
i. Lack of Sanitation and medical facilities.
ii. Unhygienic toilet facilities with over flowing cesspits.
iii. Camps getting submerged during the rainy season.
iv. Non provision of any relief measures to the families living with the House holders.
v. Lack of standardization in the houses that are being constructed by the parties to whom the government has given the contract.
vi. Failure to solve the housing problem.
A petition embodying the problems faced by the people prepared by the Savisthri Organization in concurrence with the victims occupying the Hittatiya camp was forwarded to His Excellency the President of the Socialist Republic of Sri Lanka with copies to the Reconstruction and Development Authority (RADA) and other individuals with authority on 09.12.2006 Regarding the procedure adopted by the Savisthri Organization to ensure that justice is meted out to the victims at Hittetiya camp, the Peoples Planning Commission (PPC) has taken action to inquire the present position of the victims at camp level and prepare a separate petition to exert impacts on the authorities concerned. This is being done at the moment to bring relief to the victims of the tsunami.
For further particulars please contact the Savisthri Organization on the following numbers.
E- mail : sasthri@sltnet.lk
Telephone / Fax : 094 11 2865084
(The attached photographs display the present condition of the victims at the Hittatiya Camp. )