Financial Times

Donors pledge to assist tsunami transitional shelter dwellers
Donor organisations have pledged their assistance to maintain reasonable living conditions in the transitional shelters of the tsunami affected families until they migrate into permanent dwellings, the Reconstruction and Development Agency (RADA) said in a statement.

The pledge was made by the International Organization of Migration (IOM), the Norwegian Refugee Council (NRC) and others at a donor briefing held last week organized by RADA. The meeting was chaired by the Chief Operating Officer (COO) of RADA, who informed the donors of the need to provide support to families still living in transitional shelters until more permanent solutions could be arranged.

UN Resident Coordinator, Miguel Bermeo told the meeting that the transitional shelter program has been recognized as a genuine success by the international community, and that it is necessary to stay committed to the people who were so badly affected by the tsunami, just over one year ago. “The good news is, that this does not require a great amount of resources, just continuing what was started,” he said.

IOM, recently requested by RADA to be the Lead Agency to coordinate Care and Maintenance for Shelters, also made a presentation on the organization’s present capacity to implement this programme. Addressing the meeting, Program Officer, IOM, Ms. Rana Jaber explained that funding would be necessary to allow the agencies that remain committed to giving assistance to provide basic support to the 56,000 families remaining in transitional shelters.

“During the construction phase, dozens of NGOs contributed to the construction of shelters all around Sri Lanka. But today, only a handful remain and the burden must be shared among them,” Ms. Jaber said. IOM along with the Norwegian Refugee Council (NRC) each propose to support 12,000 shelters while other partners will be identified in the coming weeks to cover the balance. Past experience has shown that if left unattended, such newly formed communities could face great difficulties which they cannot overcome on their own.

Issues such as basic repair, sanitation, waste management and security are foremost on the minds of residents in temporary shelters and assistance is vital in ensuring that communities live in decent living conditions.
“The principle behind such a program is to assist communities in gradually taking responsibility for themselves,” said W. A. Karunasena, Project Director for the Transitional Accommodation Project (TAP). In future, it is expected that the number of temporary shelter residents will gradually reduce, as they migrate into permanent houses. However, it is necessary for the time being to support both the transitional and the permanent solutions, he said.

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