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This elderly woman with a fractured leg attempts to take the
hazardous sea route to the cleared areas for treatment
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Vakarai Hospital in the uncleared area which has turned into
a refugee camp and inset Dr. Thurairathnam Varatharajan himself
a refugee |
The second blow: Misery of Eastern refugees
By Anthony David and Chris
Kamalendran
As an old year ends and a new one begins, memories
of the scars left behind by the devastating tsunami two years ago
came alive in most hearts. The human tragedy that wreaked havoc
is still alive in the minds of those who survived and the millions
who learnt of the heart rending tales. All that is over, but so
many things happened then.
But Sri Lanka, once the blessed isle that boasted
of calm and peace, seems to have become the playground for human
misery. More sordid tales of suffering and untold hardships are
unfolding by the hour as Security Forces and Tiger guerrillas fight
bitter battles in the East.
Vakarai and adjoining regions where farming and
fishing were key occupations of the villagers had remained serene
over the years. It is these shores that the rays of the morning
sun kissed first and spread rapidly to other parts of the country.
But today, the inhabitants are forced to starve as artillery and
mortars of the protagonists are raining on their heads.
The hospital at Vakarai could qualify to become
the busiest but the least staffed hospital in any combat zone in
the world. There is one doctor and one midwife. Since December 8
more than 2,000 patients have been treated there.
The hospital, with just 10 beds, has been graded
as a mobile hospital and had been usually manned by Italian Red
Cross doctors. But since the closure of the road and the recent
fighting the hospital is manned by a local doctor who is also one
of those who had fled the Ichchilanpattu area in the Trincomalee
district.
“We are short of medical supplies and unable
to transfer the patients to the cleared areas as the ICRC is yet
to be granted permission to enter the area by road”, Dr. Thurairathnam
Varatharajan, told The Sunday Times by telephone. The hospital is
not only accommodating patients, but also housing some of the displaced
who believe that the area is safe and may not be caught in the crossfire
between the security forces and the Tamil guerrillas.
No food convoys since November: UNHCR
The last food convoy to reach the uncleared areas of Vakarai
was on November 29, according to the UNHCR.
A convoy was organized by the Commissioner General of Essential
Services in cooperation with the United Nations, International
Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) and other organisations.
“This was the first convoy since end October. There
have been no similar convoys since”, a UNHCR spokesperson
said.
“As a result of the escalating conflict the civilian
population has become increasingly vulnerable and suffered
from a lack of protection, forced recruitment (including child
recruitment), abduction, torture and murder. The violence
has disrupted the day to day lives of tens of thousands of
people hindering their access to food, employment, health
facilities, and education”, the spokesperson added.
Infrastructure biggest problem: GA
Batticaloa’s Government Agent S. Punnayamoorthy told The
Sunday Times that one of the biggest problems they were facing
was the lack of basic infrastructure, including toilets, in
the welfare centres to accommodate a large number of people.
“We are short of staff to look into the problems of
the displaced. We are short of money as well”, the GA
pointed out.
Mr. Punnayamoorthy on Friday was due to make a fresh appeal
for more funds during a meeting with the Essential Services
Commissioner D.S. Divaratna in Colombo after some Rs. five
million allocated last week for the displaced persons were
made use of.
“Most of the displaced are being accommodated as a
temporary measure, but we cannot expect them to go back to
their homes as some of them are from areas as far as Trincomalee”,
Mr. Punyamoorthy said.
He said that schooling for the displaced was likely to be
a problem as they cannot be accommodated in other schools
in Batticaloa.
The GA is expected to discuss the issue with the UN agencies
and other international NGOs within the next few days with
a view to improving the welfare measures for the displaced
in the Batticaloa area.
He said that according to official figures over 20,000 more
civilians are still living in the uncleared areas.
The cost....
The UNHCR has allocated US dollars 15 million to take care
of the internally displaced next year – US$ two million
more than this year’s allocation. They have planned
to provide for 465,000 displaced for next year.
Following are the budgetary allocations since 2005 for the
displaced in Sri Lanka by the UNHCR.
2007 budget: $15m - protection and assistance, including
durable solutions, to old and new IDPs with an estimated planning
figure of 465,000 conflict IDPs in Sri Lanka, i.e. an overlap
of 55,000 between persons who remain displaced after the 2002
ceasefire and persons displaced since April 2006.
2006 budget: $13m, including $5.13m for 2006 CHAP/response
to new displacement Sept - Dec.
In 2005, UNHCR spent $8.5m on protection and assistance,
including durable solutions, for conflict IDPs. $ 9.3m on
tsunami activities (relief and transitional shelter).
...and in Kanthale
Displaced persons from the Serunuwara area continue to reside
in welfare centres in Kanthale, officials in the area said.
Nearly 4,000 persons continue to remain until security is
further increased.
According to the UNHCR, the displaced are being accommodated
in eight displacement sites in Kanthale, mainly schools and
temples.
UNHCR has provided 700 sets of cooking utensils, 400 plastic
tarpaulins, 200 mats as well as common cooking pots, soap,
towels, bed sheets and mosquito nets. |
Four days ago a woman suffering from malnutrition
had delivered a child weighing 800 grams and the doctor was battling
to save the child’s life. That was among one of the cases
during the past three weeks where the doctors battled to save the
life of children and the elderly.
On Friday they were forced to transfer eight sick
persons by a fishing boat to Valachchenai despite the risk of coming
under attack as the ICRC was yet to arrive to evacuate the patients.
The military is yet to grant permission to the ICRC and NGOs to
enter the area on grounds that the security situation was not conducive
for them to travel due to artillery fire by the LTTE.
“There is intermittent firing from LTTE-controlled areas.
We cannot take a risk and send any person into the uncleared areas”,
military spokesman Brigadier Prasad Samarasinghe told The Sunday
Times.He said that the ICRC needed to get an assurance from the
LTTE that there would be no firing from them and that only after
such assurance was received the military was willing to grant permission.
“The ICRC also has the option of using the
sea route”, he said. However, The Sunday Times learns that
due to rough seas the journey by sea is risky. Last week 14 persons
were drowned when they attempted to flee Vakarai by boat and since
then hardly any one has been using this route to escape.
Not only the UN agencies and INGO’s have
been turned away, several media teams too have been refused permission
to enter the Vakarai area. As the displaced from the uncleared areas
continue to stream into government-controlled areas of Batticaloa
a fresh refugee crisis is developing with the number of displaced
since April this year now exceeding more than 70,000 and more expected
in the coming days.
The number of camps accommodating the displaced
have now swelled up to 46 with many of them overcrowded with the
displaced from Vakarai where the food and medicine situation has
been worsening. The exodus has prompted the Government Agent’s
office to appeal for urgent funds.
Attempts by the LTTE to force civilians to remain
in uncleared areas have failed with more civilians opting to leave
despite the long and risky journey through unknown jungle tracks.
Civilians arriving in government controlled areas are being received
by the army at Rideethenna, a village in the Punani area on the
border of the Batticaloa district. Tamil music is broadcast to entertain
the villagers arriving there in an apparent public relations exercise
by the Army to encourage them to move into government controlled
areas.
Most of them have hardly had any proper food for days or weeks.
The displaced fleeing to government controlled
areas described the adverse food situation and shortage of medical
attention in the Vakarai area which had prompted them to leave.
“The Vakarai hospital premises is accommodating more than
5,000 displaced persons”, one of them said.
Civilians arriving in the cleared areas say that
sufficient food stocks were not reaching the uncleared areas as
the road from Batticaloa to Vakarai has been closed for the past
two months due to the security situation and the food convoys no
longer arrived there.
The last food convoy had reached the area on November
29 and has been the only convoy sent there during the past two months,
according to the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR).
(See box story)
A large number of women and children have walked
more than 40 kilometres to enter government controlled areas. They
had been forced to pay Rs. 1,500 for the tracker who had guided
them through the jungles to the entry point to government controlled
areas.
Those arriving at the entry point at Rideethenna
in Punani undergo a security screening before they are registered
and allowed in.
At least 15 persons have been detained by the Army since last Sunday
and the screening process is continuing.
The displaced have been arriving from April onwards
from areas as far as Trincomalee soon after they believed that the
security situation was turning worse, following the bomb explosion
in the market place in the Trincomalee town that claimed over 19
lives.
During the past two weeks 21,000 civilians have arrived into the
cleared areas, marking one of the biggest exodus in a short period
and creating a huge burden on relief agencies and the government
administration, including the Government Agent.
Batticaloa’s Government Agent S. Punnayamoorthy told The Sunday
Times that they were trying to cope with the ever increasing number
of displaced persons. (See box story)
The Batticaloa GA’s office has already been
burdened with displaced persons as some 30,000 affected by the tsunami
continue living in 5,863 temporary shelters awaiting resettlement.
Together with the tsunami victims the number of displaced in Batticaloa
have now passed the 100,000 mark.
One of the main problems the Government Agent anticipates
is that he would have to organize alternative arrangements for the
displaced who are being currently accommodated in 22 government
schools. The rains are already causing problems to those already
accommodated in the welfare centres.
An UNHCR spokesperson said that they were carrying
out a survey and were preparing five relocation sites identified
by the authorities for semi-permanent accommodation with a potential
capacity of 12,000 persons for immediate occupation.
Six more proposed sites are also under assessment, the spokesperson
said.
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