Mullativu District
Affected
Divisional Secretary Divisions
Maritimepattu
Affected
People
Damages
to Different Sectors
|
Sector |
Nature of the Damage |
Estimated Cost (Rs. Mn) |
|
Housing |
5,033 houses were fully damaged, 424 houses were
partially damaged |
3,125.0 |
|
Road |
70 km. of Local Government roads were damaged, roads
under RDA & RDD were damaged. |
3,158.0 |
|
Water supply |
Water supply system in the Mullaitivu town was damaged. |
450.0 |
|
Agriculture |
1,600 acres of lands have been affected, government
buildings under Department of Agriculture have been damaged, coconut and Palm
cultivation have been affected. |
224.0 |
|
Education |
14 schools buildings were damaged. |
732.0 |
|
Health |
Hospital buildings and Equipments have been damaged. |
8.0 |
|
Fisheries |
Fishing villages, fishing boats and gears were damaged. |
327.0 |
|
Electricity |
Existing power supply under off grid system was
completely damaged. |
150.0 |
|
Tourism |
Attractive sites were entirely demolished. |
500.0 |
|
Posts and
Telecommunication |
No telecommunication facilities available at present,
postal facilities in the affected areas were damaged. |
25.0 |
|
Administration
(Public Institutions) |
Kachcheri Building, Quarters of Public Officers,
Divisional Secretariat Office at Maritimepattu, GSO’s Office were destroyed. |
276.0 |
|
Other |
Buildings of Co-operatives,Local Government Authorities,
Dept. of Animal Production & Health,
National Housing Authority were damaged. |
519.0 |
|
Total |
9,494.0 |
|
Actions
Taken
Confronted
Problems and Issues
Challenges
ahead
Way
Forward
Post Tsunami Recovery Process
District Experience and Challenges Ahead
Mullativu District
Affected Divisional Secretary
Divisions
Maritimepattu
Affected People
·
Number of affected families : 7,421
·
Total number of affected persons: 27,604
·
Total number of deaths: 3,323
·
Number of persons who were in
welfare camps at the initial stage: 11,993
·
Number of welfare camps at initial stage : 21
Damages to Different Sectors
|
Sector |
Nature of the Damage |
Estimated
Cost (Rs. Mn) |
|
Housing |
5,033 houses were fully damaged,
424 houses were partially damaged |
3,125.0 |
|
Road |
70 km. of Local Government roads
were damaged, roads under RDA & RDD were damaged. |
3,158.0 |
|
Water supply |
Water supply system in the
Mullaitivu town was damaged. |
450.0 |
|
Agriculture |
1,600 acres of lands have been
affected, government buildings under Department of Agriculture have been
damaged, coconut and Palm cultivation have been affected. |
224.0 |
|
Education |
14 schools buildings were damaged. |
732.0 |
|
Health |
Hospital buildings and Equipments
have been damaged. |
8.0 |
|
Fisheries |
Fishing villages, fishing boats and
gears were damaged. |
327.0 |
|
Electricity |
Existing power supply under off
grid system was completely damaged. |
150.0 |
|
Tourism |
Attractive sites were entirely
demolished. |
500.0 |
|
Posts and Telecommunication |
No telecommunication facilities
available at present, postal facilities in the affected areas were damaged. |
25.0 |
|
Administration (Public Institutions) |
Kachcheri Building, Quarters of
Public Officers, Divisional Secretariat Office at Maritimepattu, GSO’s Office
were destroyed. |
276.0 |
|
Other |
Buildings of Co-operatives,Local
Government Authorities, Dept. of Animal Production & Health, National Housing Authority were damaged. |
519.0 |
|
Total |
9,494.0 |
|
Actions Taken
·
The affected families were given shelter in 21 Welfare camps.
·
Immediate food supply was assured for displaced population through MPCS
stores and World Food Programme.
·
The entire Government machinery focused its attention to speed up the
recovery process within a shorter period of time.
·
The financial assistance of Rs. 329 million has been provided by the
Ministry of Rehabilitation, Relief and Reconstruction to meet the urgent needs.
·
The refuge families were given individual temporary shelters.
·
1600 temporary huts are under construction with the funds allocated by
the Ministry of Relief, Rehabilitation and Reconstruction.
Confronted Problems and Issues
·
Construction of houses involves in large amount of raw materials. It is
difficult to obtain them locally and therefore need to transport them from out
side the district.
·
The acute shortage of skilled labour like masons and carpenters.
·
Still debris clearance of the town area and other villages are not
completed. This has become an obstruction for the resettlement and the
development of the city.
·
The big pressure from the business people and the small enterprisers on
payment of compensation on damaged properties and on easy access loan
facilities to recommence their business activities.
Challenges ahead
·
3,011 plots of land required to relocate the affected families within the
buffer zone. Only a small portion of
state land is available for this purpose.
·
A considerable amount of money is required for the purpose of acquiring
lands from the private owners.
·
Shifting of Mulaitivu town is the big challenge and it will need large
investments from both private and public sectors.
Way Forward
·
Implementation of the development activities with the fund to be
allocated by the donors.
·
Fund to be allocated by the Government to restore the District
Development
·
Increasing & strengthening the capacity of the local NGOO’s &
CBO’s.
·
Implementing Social Mobilization Programmes among the affected peoples.
·
Re-building the capacity of the Government Departments & Institution.
·
Training Programmes to the officers.
·
Training Programmes on skill development activities.
EXPERIENCE AND CHALLENGES AHEAD
mullaitivu District
Introduction
Since
the creation of the district of Mullaitivu in 1979, it has experienced
devastating threats by natural disasters, and man made disasters by ethnic
war. The district suffered lack of
proper communication due to non availability of Telephones, - transport
difficulties due to bad roads, electricity and other basic needs culminating in
widespread destruction of properties, and want of adequate competent staff to
manage the state affairs. Mullitivu town
area was deserted due to the displacement of the general public as well as the
Government Institutions and the business community due to the security
operations in 1990, and remained a prohibited zone for civilian population
until the year 2002, when, with the signing of MOU between the Government and
the LTTE, the town was resuscitated and attained normally.
On
26-12-2004 the Tsunami tidal waves once again caused enormous destruction for
private and state property and a death of about 3500 people, within a small
area which is the thickly populated town of the district, though the district
administration is very weak in comparison to other districts, by the zeal and
dedication of the officers in the district, the
challenge was met.
The
families affected directly by tsunami are 5827 consist the members of 22,602
and also economically affected approximately 1005 families consisting 4413
members. The public servants too
affected 589 and 11 of them were died.
The
people of the surrounding areas and the LTTE assisted the administration in
providing immediate needs to the tsunami victims. The days following 26/12 saw the influx of
relief supplies from several parts of the country. It is an opportunity at this juncture to
thank all who had contributed towards
relieving the sufferings of the tsunami victims.
Damages on state institutions
Most
of the Government Institutions had their district offices in Mullaitive town
which is very close to the coastal line and the following departments lost all
their documents, records inclusive the buildings where they were housed. Departments that met wholesale destruction
are:
1.
The District
Secretariat /Kachcheri
2.
Assistant Govt.
Agent’s Office – Maritimepattu 9Newly built building was in progress and the
functioning building).
3.
The Department of
Zonal education – Mullaitivu (Newly built building).
4.
Agriculture
Department (Newly built building was in progress).
5.
Agrarian Service
Department.
6.
The District
Superintendent office building, Postal Mullaitivu and Post Office Mullaitivu.
7.
Department of
buildings, newly constructed office.
8.
Almost all the
living quarters for the staff of AGA’s office and Kachcheri including the GA’s
residency (Newly constructed buildings and the old buildings).
9.
Mullaitivu Maha
Vidyalayam.
10.
Mullaitivu Roman
Catholic School (Convent).
11.
Kallapadu, GTM
school.
12.
Office of the
Road Development Department, newly constructed office.
13.
Office of the
Road Development Authority.
14.
Office of the
Local Government Department.
15.
Predeshiya Sabha,
Matitimepattu.
16.
MOH Office.
17.
Assistant
Commissioner Co-operative Development.
18.
Assistant
Director, Animal Husbandry.
19.
Assistant
Commissioner, Agrarian Development.
20.
District
Registrar office, (Registration of land, birth, marriage & death).
21.
Assistant
Director, Fisheries.
The
other Govt. offices too suffered heavy losses of assets, documents etc. It would be appropriate to mention here that
all most all the computer records were lost by the soaking of CPUs in sea
water. This has resulted heavy manual
work load for the staff to prepare the summary of accounts for December
2004. Similarly the other departments
too did their work manually in December 2004.
Losses to private properties
The
dwelling houses of the fishermen small and medium sized congested along the
coast were completely washed away by the tidal waves, causing heavy losses to
the average and poor households. The
boats, out boat motors, fishing gears, were also damaged and washed away by the
sea rendering the surrounding fishermen destitute. As the tidal waves reached more than 2 km.
into the land several business establishments and private assets suffered heavy
losses. It is estimated that 5457
families have lost their dwellings.
Loss of life and human suffering
Within
a short time of about 15-30 minutes the sea had swallowed more than 3000
precious lives and left thousands injured and ailing. In the absence of proper medical facilities
within the district, the injured had to be taken to Kilinochchi, Jaffna and
Vavuniya, a distance of 50-80 km. for emergency and further treatment.
The
death Categories are as follows according to the death registration by the
district registrar:
1. Male 882
2. Female 1146
3. Children
(Below 15 years) 1118
Total 3146
The deaths and missing of
this district are: 3,323
Post tsunami relief work
Temporary sheds
The
tsunami affected population was given shelter in twenty one camps established
in Mulliyawalai and Puthukkudiyirruppu area about 10-15 km. away from the sea
shore. Immediate food supply was given from
the stores of the MPCSs and the world food program. After 3 days food supplies from Colombo and
other places started flowing in and feeding the refugees was not a serious
problem. The entire Government machinery
focused its attention to the issue and at the end of February the refuge
families were given individual temporary shelters, in places closer to their
former dwellings, allowing the schools
to function where refugee camps were established. The contribution by the NGOO and INGOO
towards achieving this task was commendable.
At present all the displaced families are living in individual temporary
huts numbering 2124 at 21 locations constructed for the purpose. A further 1600 temporary huts are under
construction with the fund allocated by the Ministry of Rehabilitation and
these shelters also in progress to provide accommodation to the sharing
families with friends and relatives to avoid problems to reside within their
houses.
Access roads
The road belongs to all three authorities like RDA,RDD and Local government are severely damaged and the people are facing difficulties to move from place to place as the vehicle owners are reluctant to operate their services
Post and communication
The arrangements were made to restore the postal activities are not satisfied due to inadequate facilities in this district. No proper building facilities, staff, furniture, vehicles and equipment available. No communication facilities are available in this district and the installation of 30 telephones to provide communication facilities to the departments are in progress and it is observed as very slow
Accommodation
for staff
The officers of the various departments are facing difficulties for their accommodation and daily they are traveling 10 k.m. to come for office and they need to spend more time for their traveling
Filling
of vacancies and providing vehicle facilities
It is necessary to fill the existing vacancies in all
departments and providing vehicle to serve the affected people by the
government official without any inconveniences.
Water
supply
Almost all wells were polluted and no way to get the
purified water from this area.
Establishing water supply scheme is very essential.
Electricity
supply
No electrical power supply from electricity board and
using generators are very expensive and the affected people are unable to
afford the electrical expenses.
Damages
of agriculture lands
Approximately 2000 acres lands were damaged by salt water and the technical supports may restore the agricultural activities in this area. The main cash crops such as coconut and Palmyra trees were mostly damaged and re-plantation of these crops is essential. This situation has created the shortage of timber items for the purpose of the housing and other needs.
Challenges
to meet the relocation program
3011 plots of land required to relocate the affected families within the buffer zone and large amount of land to be utilized for this purpose. Action already initiated to acquire the necessary land from private parties. Only a small portion of the state land is available for this purpose. A considerable amount should be paid by the government for the purpose to pay the compensation to the private parties to acquire the above lands. Construction of the houses will be involved a large amount of ray materials and it is difficult to obtain locally and need to transport from out side of this district except sand. The acute shortage of skill laborers like masons and carpenters are in this district and the training program for skill training to be accelerated to solve this problem. Still debris clearance of the town area and other villages are not completed and it is an obstruction for the resettlement and the development of the city.
Problem
faced by the fishing community
75% of the affected people are from the fishing community and they lost their fishing boats and other equipments and facing very hardship to restart their life. Priority should be given to them to restart their economic activities immediately.
Damages
to the business and small enterprises
The big pressure received from the business people and the small enterprisers for the payment of compensation and the facilities to obtain easy access loan to restart their activities.
More and more needs are required for the development
of the tsunami affected area of this district for private and public
sector. Shifting of Mullaitivu town is
the big challenge for the administrative machinery and it will be involved a
large amount of financial assistance.
The financial assistance Rs.328.805 Mn. has been provided by the
Ministry of rehabilitation, relief and reconciliation to meet the following
urgent needs:
i.
funeral expenses
ii.
payment for
kitchen utensils
iii.
Needs for school
kids
iv.
Maintenance of
welfare centres, providing water supply and sanitation facilities.
v.
Issue of food
stamps
vi.
Payment for
cooked meals
vii.
Financial
provision to construct the temporary shelters
viii.
Debris clearance.
Finally it has been observed that considerable
attention must be taken by the relevant authorities to preserve the coastal
area to protect from the future threats such as Tsunami, sea erosion, water
pollution caused by the sea water.