Transitional shelters provide relief to tsunami victims

Nearly 95 per cent of those in tents or camps have been provided shelter under the Transitional Accommodation Project (TAP), Commissioner General of Essential Services and Chairman of the Task Force for Relief (TAFOR) Tilak Ranaviraja said.

Under the Transitional Accommodation Project 55,000 temporary shelters or housing units have been completed within five months in the 11 districts affected by the tsunami. These houses have now provided over two lakhs of displaced families houses with better amenities than in tents or camps they had been living after the disaster.

Launched in February this year under a specific directive of President Chandrika Bandaranaike Kumaratunga, the TAP was one of the major tasks assigned to the TAFOR chaired by Ranaviraja who is also Secretary of the Ministry of Public Security, Law and Order.

The project was funded by United Nations agencies such as the UNDP, UNHCR, IOM and local and foreign non-governmental organisations, with the TAFOR and TAP providing facilitation to these organisations in meeting logistical requirement as well as co-ordinating and monitoring the work with the NGOs and the district officials including District Secretaries, Divisional Secretaries and 'Grama Niladharis'.

TAFOR was also assigned the responsibilities of looking after the internally displaced people distribution of relief goods and payment of cash allowances.

The original directive of the President was to construct 30,000 housing units under the programme.

But once the programme was started, it was found that several households had more than one family living together and this together with those who had been living with relatives after the disaster opting for these transitional shelters, the required number increased.

Several UN agencies and non-governmental organisations recognising the need for these transitional shelters assisted in the programme.

Specific guidelines and standards were set in the construction of these temporary shelters. Each housing unit should have a minimum floor area of 200 square feet with cement flooring and wooden panelled walls and windows to allow ventilation. Each house consists of two rooms and a living room.

Common amenities like water, electricity (supplied free of charge), sanitation, healthcare and a montessori school and a community centre are provided. Recreational facilities for the children and youth are also being provided.

Another significant factor that has emerged from the statistics is that out of the over 50,000 temporary shelters, 38,600 shelters have been constructed in Trincomalee, Batticaloa, Ampara, Jaffna, Killinochchi and Mullativu (including uncleared areas) whereas 12,260 have been in Galle, Kalutara, Hambantota, Colombo and Matara.

Anthony Fernando