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11 years after tsunami, waves of corruption wiping out victims’ village
It’s 11 years since the deadly tsunami shattered thousands of lives and homes in several coastal areas in the country, but waves of blows continue to fall on some of the survivors of the catastrophe.
Some residents live in fear in their houses that have fallen into disrepair
Among them are residents of the “Nest” tsunami village at Ratgama in Galle.
They say that of the 154 housing units built by the National Housing Development Authority (NHDA) in collaboration with some NGOs for tsunami victims, some 102 units had fallen into disrepair and have become unsafe for occupation.
The residents say that so far 54 houses handed over to the area’s tsunami-affected families in September 2006 have been abandoned.
They say around Rs. 900,000 is said to have been spent to build each housing unit with a 600 square foot floor area comprising a hall and two rooms.
There is no kitchen and the occupants say the houses are not worth even Rs. 200,000 and the whole project appears to be a scam.
They allege that the contractors have used lime and other poor-quality building material to build the houses and failed to adhere to the minimum standards as evidenced by thin walls.
Besides, several occupants have developed respiratory ailments because of the poor quality of the lime, the residents say, adding that the worst-affected are small children and pregnant women.
The iron poles that support the roof have corroded and parts of the roof in the remaining houses have collapsed. In some houses, occupants have used wooden poles to support the roof, while in others even the houses have subsided in the soil.
Y. Dayawathi, one of the residents of the scheme, says she and her children sleep in the house with fear.
“We got this house in 2006. These houses are not good. The roofs leak and the walls get sodden even with the slightest rain.
We have made complaints and various officials come and make reports, but so far no action has been taken to provide us better houses,” she says.
Calling for speedy remedial action, she says some 1,200 tsunami victims, including 200 school children, continue to pay a big price for the mistakes of the contractors and officials.
Another resident says that even though they survived the tsunami, they still suffer from its consequences. “The construction is of poor standard.
This is a clear case of victims of tsunami being further victimised with health hazards, crumbling walls and falling roofs,” he says.
