Colombo’s
forgotten tsunami victims
By Hiranthi Fernando
It was a sea of rubble along the coast at Modera in Moratuwa. Chunks
of concrete, broken tiles, bricks, roofing sheets, doors and windows
lay in heaps as far as the eye could see. Among the sorry remnants
of their homes, a few families live a forlorn existence in makeshift
shelters. It looks as though the tsunami had struck just yesterday.
“All
we want is a home to live in,” said M.D. Swarna, a mother
of three, the youngest just one year old. Swarna’s husband,
Nishantha Ajith, is a fisherman, but is unable to earn a living
as he has no boat.
Swarna
and her family had taken refuge in a school in Ratmalana for three
weeks after the tsunami. “We came back here because the children
have to go to school,” she said. “We lost everything,
including Rs. 200,000 worth of jewellery which was in my almirah,”
lamented Swarna.
She
said the family had not received the government’s weekly Rs.
200 stipend for the past ten weeks. “When we go to the Samurdhi
Bank, they tell us they have not received the money from the Divisional
Secretary’s office. We are now living on foodstuffs brought
for us by our relatives.”
She
said various organizations had told them that if they had the land,
they could build houses. “But we have no land. We are within
the 100-metre buffer zone. We are willing to go away from the sea
as we are frightened to stay here now.”
Chandrika
Peiris is expecting her third child next month, living among the
ruins of her house, in a temporary shack covered with a tarpaulin.
“It is very difficult to live like this,” said Chandrika
adding that water seeped in through the planks, when it rained.
Chandrika’s husband sells wooden furniture turned out by carpenters
in Moratuwa.
Her
complaint, like Swarna’s, is about the rations. “Now
they only give us flour,” she said. “They say they have
no rice in the co-ops. What we want most is a place to live,”
she added wistfully.
Other
wives also complained about the weekly rations which they said they
did not get regularly. The Rs. 200 allowance has not been given
for four weeks.
“I went three times and even the flour was finished,”
said Deepika. “We hear that the people in Panadura have been
issued new rations cards, while we still have coupons left with
no foodstuffs to get.”
At
Jayasinghe Mills, 39 families are accommodated in a large warehouse,
which has been divided into tiny cubicles with cloths draped across.
“They are trying to take us to temporary homes in Angulana
to a place near the sea, with no water,” said Shelton Silva.
“We don’t want to go there. We prefer to stay here until
they give us a permanent place to live.”
This
is the common plea of most of the people of Modera affected by the
tsunami. The majority of them are from the 100 metre buffer zone
and have nowhere to go. While some of their neighbours beyond the
100 metre line are being aided by NGOs to rebuild their houses,
these people within the buffer zone have no such hopes. Many of
them are still living in refugee camps in schools and temples in
the area.
“People
are saying Moratuwa is not affected and the Rs. 5,000 has been stopped
for us, while the people in Panadura are getting it,” they
lamented. “But you can see how we are affected, how we have
to live.” |