News
 

Fighting leaves 100,000 more homeless

By Chris Kamalendran

More than 100,000 civilians were displaced by last night in the northern and eastern provinces due to the ongoing clashes between the security forces and the LTTE, marking the biggest ever refugee crisis in eight years and drawing international attention.

The latest displacements were reported from the Pallai and Iyakachchi areas in the Jaffna district yesterday, adding to the increasing number of displaced from Mutur, Sampoor, Serunuwara and Thanganaagar in the Trincomalee district and Vakarai in the Batticaloa district.

Civilians fleeing villages in the north and east were accommodated in schools, places of worship and government buildings while some were living under trees. More than 5,000 had fled to other parts of the country including Colombo, Negombo and Kandy.

Nation Building Ministry Secretary M. S. Jayasinghe said aid agencies, such as the ICRC, the UNICEF and the local Red Cross were assisting in handling the refugee crisis.

But officials of aid agencies said continuing battles had forced them to scale down operations and they did not even have access to some areas.

The highest number of about 20,000 displaced people was being accommodated in the Kantale area followed by 10,000 in Serunuwara and 6,500 at Thampalakaman in the Trincomalee district.

Mr. Jayasinghe said Rs.45 million had been allocated immediately to provide food to the displaced people.

Meanwhile, due to the mass displacement of civilians in the north and east the year 5 scholarship exams were not held in Trincomalee and Jaffna districts yesterday.
Top  Back to Top   Back To Index Back to Index

Copyright © 2006 Wijeya Newspapers Ltd. All rights reserved.