Tsunami recovery, six years on

In one hour between 9.25 and 9.27 a.m., the whole of Sri Lanka will pause for two minutes to remember those who died in the Tsunami six years ago. Yesterday I was driving between Hikkaduwa and Bentota, and stopped to look at one of the many tsunami protection walls.

There were thousands of purple flowers growing on the top of this wall and enough for one  in remembrance of every person who died. Let's remember them today and forever.

I have been working since the tsunami struck, first in India, then the  Maldives, Indonesia and now Sri Lanka. The work of the Red Cross is virtually finished except for a few large projects that were delayed by the conflict in Sri Lanka but they should be finished in a few months time. For those wanting to read more about the Tsunami recovery operation I recommend the link below to find out about individual case studies in Sri Lanka and Indonesia.
http://www.ifrc.org/what/disasters/response/tsunamis/case-studies.asp

A Mother and daughter reflect on the tragedy the tsunami brought to their family and village. The scars are still deeply there. Photo: Sri Lanka Red Cross
 Society.

The Sri Lanka Red Cross Society put this article on their website today:

Sri Lanka today remembered the victims of the 2004 tsunami that killed over 35,000 people all across the country. A nation-wide two minute silence was maintained between 9.25 am to 9.27 am as a mark of respect.

The National Safety Day that is to be held to commemorate tsunami victims was also held in the Jaffna in the Northern part of Sri Lanka attended by Prime Minister D. M. Jayaratne.

Meanwhile the Sri Lanka Red Cross Society (SLRCS) also launched activities in district level and community level to commemorate “National Safety Day”.

These activities were launched with support of Community Based Disaster Risk Management Project funded by International Federation of the Red Cross & Red Crescent Societies.

The Director General of SLRCS, Tissa Abeywickrama said “the Sri Lanka Red Cross Society has been in the forefront of the recovery operation soon after the tsunami. We have been able to build over 35,000 houses in order to restore the lives of the tsunami survivors. Various livelihood programmes were also in place and over millions have benefited from our Tsunami Reconstruction programme, which up to date was the biggest recovery operation of the Red Cross Movement. Even though it did happen 6 years ago we need to remember what we went through, and especially learn from the mistakes of the past so we can face the future better. Today’s programmes are aimed at refreshing our knowledge in disaster risk reduction and keeping our communities safe”.

The activities were held in Ratnapura, Gampaha, Nuwara-Eliya and Matale branches.

Twenty community activities and five branch level activities were held with awareness programme for the general public of the respective areas.

The Head of Delegation of IFRC, Sri Lanka Bob McKerrow said, “I have been working since the tsunami struck, first in India, then the Maldives, Indonesia and now Sri Lanka. The work of the Red Cross is virtually finished except for a few large projects that were delayed by the conflict in Sri Lanka but they should be finished in a few months’ time. We have been in the forefront of helping most vulnerable people of Sri Lanka and we will continue to do so in the years to come”

Meanwhile environmental cleaning programmes were also held in Ratnapura, especially near the Bopath-Ella waterfalls. A search and rescue demonstration was also held targeting the visitors of the waterfall at the premises as well.

Activities will be implemented in CBDRM project areas of the four districts with participation of stakeholders specially District DMC.

 If you like to read more or make a donation to the ongoing work of the Sri Lanka Red Cross, please click below.

http://www.redcross.lk/news-readmore.asp?nid=41