Baltimore -- Lutheran World Relief (LWR) partners working on the ground in Sri Lanka only
have three to four more days’ supply of food to feed thousands of people displaced by violence between the Sri Lankan government and the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE).
“Our
partners are struggling to provide food to the swelling numbers of internally displaced persons (IDPs),” says Joanne Fairley, LWR’s Regional Director for Asia and the Middle East.Fighting escalated this past weekend in the last LTTE controlled territory, sending thousands more civilians fleeing south in search of sanctuary amidst the announcement from the Sri Lankan
military that LTTE leader Vellupillai Prabhakaran was killed. The news of Prabhakaran’s death, and the LTTE’s subsequent surrender, elicited celebrations in the streets of Sri
Lanka, however, thousands of people, namely Tamils, remain displaced and in desperate need of food, water and sanitation.In addition to the thousands who have made it to a camp, there are an
estimated 40,000 en route to camps. To meet the needs of the increasing numbers of displaced the government has had to open more safe zone camps. Those in the newest camps are not yet receiving food
aid and the camps with which LWR are working have estimated that, feeding people at the current level, their food supply will run out within three to four days.The rise in the number of
displaced has put a strain on the already limited resources of the camps. In one zone, community kitchens intended to feed 400 people are desperately trying to accommodate upwards of 3,500. “The situation in these camps is quite desperate. There is simply not enough food for everyone and if we don’t respond swiftly, people will starve,” says Fairley.In
addition to widespread hunger, disease is a growing concern as many people arrived with only the clothing on their backs. While visiting a camp in Vavuniya, LWR staff encountered a woman caring for
her sick infant grandson. During the visit the child became sick with diarrhea and the woman did not have adequate water to bathe the child and had only her clothes to use to clean him. The need for
water, clothing and sanitary supplies is critical as overcrowding in the camps will likely lead to the rapid spread of disease.Water access and storage are critical problems as there is
currently not enough water for people to use to drink, bathe and cook. There is an urgent need for containers in which to collect water and for toilets.Lutheran World Relief has already
committed $50,000 in response to this crisis and is working with local organizations to distribute cooked food packets, provide supplementary food items for community kitchens, and provide water. An
additional $500,000 is needed to mount a comprehensive relief effort, and LWR has issued an urgent appeal to its donors to contribute toward this effort.“The news of the LTTE surrender
is encouraging,” says Fairley. “However, the humanitarian aid community has to remain focused on the thousands of people who remain displaced and in need of food, water, and
sanitation.”INTERNATIONAL DISASTERS: Editors: When listing organizations receiving donations for aid to survivors of
major disasters outside the United States, Puerto Rico or the U.S. Virgin Islands, please include:
Lutheran World Relief, www.lwr.org, 1-800-597-5972For information contact: Lisa Baumgartner Bonds, 410-230-2814, 443-722-2162 cell,lbonds@lwr.org
[ Any views expressed in this article are those of the writer and not of Reuters. ]
Pro-Tamil demonstrators sit beside a bus trapped by a blockade of a road in front of the Houses of Parliament in London May 18, 2009. Tamils and their supporters demonstrating outside ...
