Aid by the planeload boosts Sri Lanka relief operations
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Sri Lankan relief coordinators said they believe emergency aid is reaching all tsunami survivors, as Germany offered to promote tourism and debt relief to help the island get back on its feet. Roads and bridges are being rapidly repaired so relief trucks can reach many remote areas, while Sri Lankan air force helicopters are dropping supplies to still inaccessible villages, a government official said. “Aid is reaching … every affected area, be it the north, the east or the south,” said Niranjan de Soysa, key coordinator of the Centre for National Operations (CNO), which is monitoring the relief operation from the president’s office. German Foreign Minister Joschka Fischer told reporters, after talks Tuesday with his Sri Lankan counterpart Lakshman Kadirgamar, that Germany was committed to help in the reconstruction of Sri Lanka. “We are ready for immediate help in the reconstruction and we will focus on projects … everywhere in the country,” he said, adding that these would be “at all levels” and include “short-term, middle-term and long-term” reconstruction efforts. “A tsunami early-warning system is crucial for the whole region. The reconstruction of tourism will also be another important development,” Fischer said. “We discussed debt relief … Germany is very positive about that. A second issue which is also very important for Sri Lanka is the granting of free access to the European markets.” Since December 26 — when tsunamis devastated three-quarters of the island’s coastline, killing 30,700 people and making around a million homeless — more than 20,000 tonnes of aid has been dropped off at Colombo airport by some 165 international flights, according to CNO statistics. Of these, 48 were from the United States and 14 from India. The rest were from Britain, South Korea, Germany, France, Sharjah, Dubai, Pakistan, Norway and a few other nations. Cargoes comprise mainly food, medicines, blankets, clothes, bottled water, milk and milk powder, kitchen utensils, tents and generators. “Aid is pouring in from all sides and in all kinds, shapes and sizes,” said de Soysa, estimating the value of the foreign aid flown in so far at “broadly around 52 million dollars”. Around 2,400 tonnes of rice, an equal amount of sugar, 700 tonnes of lentils, 750 tonnes of wheat flour, two tonnes of bread, 4.6 tonnes of canned fish and 8.7 tonnes of milk powder has been distributed across the island since the disaster struck, the CNO says. Of the rice distributed, it said 1,900 tonnes went to the north and the eastern regions — much of which is controlled by the rebel Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE). “We are telling volunteers to work with the TRO to see that goods get distributed everywhere. We are also being monitored by various NGOs,” de Soysa added. The Tamil Rehabilitation Organisation (TRO), a wing of the LTTE, has claimed that supplies which the government is sending to rebel areas are scanty and insufficient. The LTTE has further accused the military of hijacking its supplies and diverting it to camps managed by them, a claim denied by the government. President Chandrika Kumaratunga on Sunday said that though no tsunami victim would starve to death, the country would need more food over the next few weeks. “We have sufficient food for a few weeks, but we reckon we have to feed the people who have been displaced, who have lost their houses. In a few weeks we will need more food,” she told British Broadcasting Corp in an interview. The CNO had last week estimated that between January 2 and 17 at least 5,000 tonnes of food alone would be required to feed survivors. |