Tsunami Disaster Relief Project

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Sri Lanka

Tsunami Disaster Relief Project

(Draft Project Proposal)

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On December 26, 2004 a massive underwater earthquake triggered a Tsunami that unleashed its natural terror resulting in one of the most catastrophic, deadliest disasters known in the history of man.

At a magnitude of 9.0, it was the largest earthquake since 1964.

The earthquake originated in the Indian Ocean just north of Simeulue island, off the Western coast of Northern Sumatra, Indonesia. The resulting Tsunami destroyed and devastated the shores of Indonesia, Sri Lanka, South India, Thailand and other countries with waves, which the eyewitnesses described to be of up to 30 metres high, the devastation reaching as far as the east coast of Africa, travelling from one continent to another west of the epicentre.

At least more than 226,000 people are known to have died as a result of the Tsunami, and the count is not yet complete. The true final toll may never be known, a secret swept out to sea, only to become a memory of the past.

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“As we understand, as human beings,

our greatness lies,……….

Not so much in being able to remake the world,

but to make the world

a better place…

By doing the best we can,

for ourselves not, but for the needy,

where it is needed…”

(Anuruddha Perera)

Our Vision – Our Mission

With our partners in the United States and Europe, to provide immediate and short-term humanitarian assistance in the form of water, dry rations, medicine, health and sanitary care, educational assistance to the affected people, to minimize their trauma and suffering with understanding and love in difficult areas

and small villages which for whatever reason do not have access adequate relief and care, in the most cost effective and efficient manner.

To follow would be the medium and long term objective of rebuilding and reconstruction of houses and small villages which were completely destroyed, ideally three (3) villages in the North, the South and the East equally distributed among the most needy affected Sinhala, Tamil and Muslim people.

Further to this would be to rebuild and regenerate career and employment opportunities facilitating education recreation and posttraumatic psychological relief.

PLEASE NOTE THAT THIS IS THE IMMEDIATE & SHORT TERM COMPONENT OF THE PROPOSAL. THIS IS PRESENTED WITH THE OBJECTIVE THAT ITS IMPLEMENTATION WOULD BE IN AN ORGANIZED AND PROFESSIONAL MANNER, HAVING THE FLEXIBILITY TO BE CONSISTENT WITH THE CULTURAL AND GEOGRAPHICAL DYNAMICS OF SRI LANKA.

Map & Charts Of Tsunami Devastation in Sri Lanka

2.0 Objectives: Medium to Long Term

Logistical Requirements for Colombo Office (Base of operations)

The requirements of the Colombo base office will continue from the short-term phase, and will vary depending on the requirements of this phase of the project. It would be advisable that the short-term coordinators continue on to this phase and, as and when required, we can expand. We suggest that within the next 2–6 weeks, we should have coordinators (Sri Lankan) working on this phase of the project.

Certain aspects of construction costs will require further time to be verified. We will provide details as soon as possible.

2.1 Reconstruction and Construction of Partially & Permanently Damaged Housing Structures and (where possible) Little Villages.

Our vision is to rebuild good, stable, and environmentally friendly houses and/or small villages in three (3) specifically focused areas to be distributed to the really needy people (e.g., there could be a family who has lost a house only and a family who has lost the house and the salary earner. Help should go to the latter.) Regarding different races and religions in those areas, our goal is bringing together the people.

Rebuilding partially damaged houses

Immediate cleaning up and clearing debris from in and around houses (using heavy machinery where necessary); rebuilding of partially damaged houses is important because this will expedite the process of families moving back to their homes and taking pressure off the makeshift camps. Also providing household amenities such as cooking utensil, gas cookers and sleeping mats will assist them to become independent and self-sufficient as soon as possible.

Diagram 1.0: Number of partially Destroyed houses by district

It is difficult to give a cost rationale on a per-house-basis, as it would depend on the extent of the damages suffered by each and every house. We could deal with a reputable decent construction contractor to whom we could entrust the repairing of the houses of identified and registered victims under our supervision and/or we could assist financially the selected and registered families ad monitor their progress.

We are of the opinion that we should set aside at least sum of $120,000 for this component of this project.

Rebuilding Completely New Houses and/or Small Villages

• We are of the opinion that we should construct small model villages, which are beautifully and conceptually planned (which could be named after the sponsor), which will comprise of well-built, environmentally and sanitation friendly practical housing, a small school and medical clinic with ambulance, community/sports center, playground, library, small market & post office. Please note that required facilities will differ from those in the United States or Europe, and the costs will be very much lower here, hence making the project feasible. We also feel that beautifully planned, clean small villages would facilitate tourism as well, and assist to develop employment opportunities of these people.

• We hope to develop these villages in a manner that would improve their living standards, along with the career and employment generation programs in these areas. We are confident that we could rebuild the lives of these people, with a real sense of value, and for them to feel that we have made a worthy contribution.

• We believe that orphanages for children as well as homes for the elderly should be built. We think this is a great idea, and we have been advised that several organisations may assist. A large number of children have lost their parents and a large number of very old depending parents who have no social benefits whatsoever have lost their children or have become an unbearable burden to their children who have lost everything.

Diagram 2.0 Number of fully destroyed houses by district

Diagram 3.0: map of affected areas and number of affected people

Housing Plan Examples and Approximate Costs

PLEASE NOTE:

We discussed this component with several experienced engineers, architects and contractors and they agree unanimously that the government quotations are totally unfeasible, unstable, unhealthy and would be a short sighted waste of time.

The earlier information that we had received, we believe was insufficiently researched advise given on the spur of the moment, especially focussing on temporary shelter.

You may consult any person who has had any experience with working with cost plans given by most governments in the 3rd world.

We have given a feasible, practical price range for good quality housing which is about 20% - 40% above the Government figures; the actual price per house at the time of construction would depend on the following.

• Exchange rate between the $/€ and Rupees at the applicable time.

• Fluctuating prices of construction material in the local market, especially due to the enormous amount of reconstruction and development required.

• Type of construction material being used – we wish to use ENVIRONMENTALLY FRIENDLY, good quality, safe building material with access to purified water, i.e. we would be 100% against construction using asbestos and other such harmful material. (The Sri Lankan Government has proposed construction with material such as asbestos and very sub-standard materials.)

• Cost of fuel/transportation.

• Man power issues.

• Applicable documentation and legal fees.

• Geographical considerations.

• Weather conditions.

We believe that a larger component of the budget should be set aside for this purpose, as for socio-economical, cultural and practical considerations. This would be the most appreciated relief that the victims would hope for along with regeneration of employment and careers. We have given you above some designs which we believe can be improved on both on cost expenses and design aspects. We commit ourselves to building as many houses and similar projects, you could assist us with.

We are also trying to pursue a contact with one of Sri Lanka’s most outstanding architects, who may assist us with a very unique, artistic environmentally friendly andMOST IMPORTANTLY COST EFFECTIVE DESIGN.

If we decide to build small model villages we believe that we would be able to give approximate costing plans within 1-2 weeks of setting out.

Ancillary Projects

As a part of the Medium and Long Term Objectives we are of the opinion that further to the above, depending on the availability of finances, manpower and feasibility, the following areas of reconstruction should be attended to.

2.2 Child Care Centres

As many children have lost their parents and many parents have lost their children and also their employment, we believe that these child care centres to be administered by these parents would give them an opportunity to love and also to earn an income, and would enable the children who lost their parents to experience parental love.

2.3 Reconstruction of Healthcare Facilities

Several Hospitals around the country have suffered serious damages, which are an unbearable loss for mainly the much suffering Tsunami victims, and also the other hundreds and thousands of poor people living in these areas. Reconstruction with medical equipment is a necessity - Subject to further discussion.

2.4 Reconstruction of Educational Facilities

Construction of kindergartens in Sinhala, Tamil & Muslim areas. Many Schools were damaged or completely destroyed because of the Tsunami. Most schools are in makeshift buildings, with hardly any resources at all - Subject to further discussion.

2.5 Libraries

Setting up libraries in a similar manner to the above, with perhaps free membership for those affected by the Tsunami so that they still have access to books and computers as a large number of children, students, teachers and adults have lost all their resources - Subject to further discussion.

2.6 Recreation and Sports Activity

We believe that it is very important that the victims who are physically, psychologically and emotionally traumatized are supported in their physical and emotional healing.

Therefore we recommend that we build and manage if possible, playgrounds/gymnasiums for martial arts, yoga, meditation, dancing, drama and other such type of recreational activities - Subject to further discussion.

Career Development and Employment Regeneration

We believe that this should beone of the most important objectives of the project.

There is a saying here “do a man a favour and he will forever remember you, give a man employment, then he and all his dependents will remember you”.

We believe, a high standard skills and language training centre could be set up to be monitored as a continuous project. At the best of time, lack of employment opportunities has been a pressing problem affecting the youth of this country, resulting in relentless stress and youth uprisings, which have caused immense destruction and suffering. The youth uprising of 1989, which resulted in the death of nearly 65,000 Sinhala youth, is one such example. Under the present conditions, many would lose their jobs adding on to their woes.

To develop skills in the required areas and promote avenues for independent employment would be a farsighted policy, which would both assist the affected people and the country in the future. There are, i.e. the many aspects of tourism, cottage industries, Ayurvedic treatment, meditation masonry, carpentry, paintwork, plumbing, handlooms, handicrafts, dressmaking, sewing, designing, computer skills, languages (German – English – French - Japanese – (as per the tourism criteria)). Providing fishing boats and nets would be another option.

Fibreglass Fishing Boats- € 1000 – 2000 depending on specifications

Engines- € 1000 – 2000 depending on capacity

Nets - € 400 – 700 depending on quality and size.

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