Plan's immediate relief work in Sri Lanka

• ensuring sanitation to help prevent disease: ensuring latrines, water storage tanks and bathing places are available in 35 camps in Hambantota District.
• ensuring supply of 'safe' water: supplying five mobile pumps, to allow fresh water back into the wells. To do this we need to empty Hambantota's many wide-diameter open wells of the polluted salt water that filled them during the tsunami, so allowing fresh water to re-charge them – at a cost of around $3,000. These complement similar pumps bought to respond to a small flood last year. These were put to work again after the tsunami.
• supplying essential medicines to the national medical supply system for use in camps – at a cost of around $45,000.
• supplying 14 generators to provide light in temporary camps in areas without electricity at a cost of around $45,000
• making provision for children's education: we are purchasing and will distribute school supplies – initially 20,000 sets of exercise books, pens etc – to enable children who lost these in the flood to re-start education when schools re-open. Education is too often the unseen casualty in disasters. Total cost should be around $60,000. These will be distributed in Hambantota and other areas.
• helping look after the psychological needs of traumatised children: we're investigating support for play and psychosocial trauma healing activities in the camps.

Plan has also contributed $200,000 to Sri Lanka's national fund - $100,000 for general, immediate relief and $100,000 for reconstruction in the community of Hambantota.

Longer term reconstruction

• home reconstruction
• environmental sanitation, either in camps, if these remain, or as people rebuild their homes
• fishermen: to enable them to recover their livelihoods

To enable us to continue this vital work, please support our Tsunami Appeal - visit one of our donor countries to make a donation