Irish Red Cross Response

The Irish Red Cross is presently operational on both the east and west Sri Lanka coastlines with a team of 4 international staff and an extensive local staff providing invaluable local knowledge and experience. However, recent months in Sri Lanka have been marked by a significant escalation in hostilities between the Sri Lanka Military and a Tamil Separatist Movement in a long running historical conflict which in 2006 alone is thought to have left 1,500 dead and 1,200 wounded in the north and the east of the country.

Accompanying this conflict have been notable population movements which, in addition to some isolated communities, have often remained inaccessible to humanitarian agencies including the Red Cross. In response to this new and growing emergency, the Irish Red Cross has met the increasingly critical needs of this affected population through the provision of 3 tonnes of water disinfection material, 11 tonnes of water distribution equipment and 1,600 emergency latrines as well as clothing. Furthermore, emergency stocks of much needed relief items have already been been replenished in seven villages, further stocks are being made available and acute medical equipment has been provided to one hospital.

Irish Red Cross Long Term Tsunami Response

Over and above the support in the immediate aftermath of the Tsunami, the longer term approach of the Irish Red Cross in addressing the longer term needs of Tsunami survivors and their wider communities covers three main sectors: house construction, education, livelihoods.

House Construction

• In October 2006, some 64 Irish Red Cross built apartments in the western Sri Lanka town of Kalutara were completed and are now occupied by some of the most affected and vulnerable families in the district. The completion of this project represents a significant milestone in the context of the many diverse challenges faced in post-Tsunami rehabilitation in Sri Lanka and the opening of the apartments on October 6th was marked by the visit of Irish Red Cross Chairman David Andrews to Sri Lanka who has taken particular personal interest in ensuring the effectiveness of Tsunami operations.

• In eastern Sri Laka, a further 121 houses have also been completed through direct support of the Galway-Sri Lanka Project, a project formed in Galway through a strong pre-existing relationship with a community in the Tsunami affected region of Ampara. An expansion of existing house construction activity is expected to continue well into 2007 and beyond.

Education

An important element of the Irish Red Cross response to the Tsunami has been an interest in investment in long term activities focused on complimenting and sustaining both short and medium term assistance. This is refelected in particular in an emphasis on restoring or establishing education and training services and facilities which include the following:

• By the end of March, 2006, the construction of 20 temporary classrooms for a school in the town of Panadura which had literally swapped places with a military camp. The school of 3,500 students moved into the military's former inland base while the military relocated to their more vulnerable (to possible future Tsunamis) beachfront site. Continuing the positive relationship that this project has created between public donors in Ireland and the students of the school, the Irish Red Cross team assisted in establishing what are hoped to be mutually benefiting links between the Panadura School and Newbridge College in Kildare.
• Earlier in the year, the Irish Red Cross facilitated the distribution of much valued English books to five schools that the Irish Red Cross had also helped refurbish following their use as temporary shelter in the weeks and months immediately following the Tsunami.
• The construction of a school for 400 students in the town of Kalutara, adjacent to the completed apartment complex also built by Irish Red Cross, is on-going. The original school in the town, like many in Sri Lanka, hosted many of thsoe immediately displaced by the Tsunami acting as both temporary shelter as well as an important focal point for the distribution of assistance.
• In this same town, the Kalutara Youth Skills Training Programme aims to assist up to 200 18-25 year olds to restore or establish new sources of income or livelihood by providing training in basic computer skills. The targeted participants belong to the most vulnerable sectors within the community who are least able to reinvest in or restore their affected livelihoods and income to pre-Tsunami levels. Specifically, training includes Microsoft Office, data entry skills, CV preparation, as well as interview and telephone skills enabling participants to take up employment in the expanding IT service sector.
• One pre-school and one community centre have also been completed in eastern Sri Lanka. Both these facilities provide valuable facilities for vulnerable communities affected by both the Tsunami and the country's long running internal conflict while both another pre-school and community centre are currently under construction. Both pre-schools and community centres are built by the Galway-Sri Lanka Project through the financial support of the Irish Red Cross.

Livelihoods

The capacity of many Tsunami survivors to re-establish their livelihoods or strategies to earn a living, or indeed to identify alternative strageies, were undermined as a result of the loss of many key family resources. Not least amongst these key resources lost were many skilled family members as well as physical items such as tools, bicycles and fishing equipment.

In response, the Irish Red Cross is assisting many communities both through the provision of education and training as highlighted above as well as through more direct support by making available cash grants and replacing key community identified assets in both east and west Sri Lanka.

Support to date has primarily concentrated on supporting the activities of small business/cottage industries, fisheries and agriculture and resources such as bicycles, sewing machines and welding equipment as well as poultry have already been provided to over 260 beneficiaries in the past 6 months.