Background On 25 and 26 May, heavy rainfall brought by the southwest monsoon triggered flooding and landslides in 15 of the 25 districts of Sri Lanka. As of 31 May, about 630,000 people and 9,000 houses have been damaged according to UN Resident Coordinator for Sri Lanka. 6 clusters (Health, Food Security & Nutrition, Shelter and NFI, WASH, Education and Protection) have been activated in response to the local needs.
CREST received appeals from 3 local partners, and a relief and assessment team was deployed from 14 – 21 June for initial distributions and to conduct needs assessment with local partners.
Objective
1. Identify the areas for immediate needs and develop a logistics plan.
2. Distribution with local partners and authorities.
3. Situation report and future planning.
Team Member
Member: CK Cheong
Travel Events Date - Event
14 Jun
0630 - Check in at KLIA 2.
0930 - Arrived at Colombo and pick up by Thoumiyan and team.
1200 - Arrived at Alliance Development Trust (ADT) N6° 50.922’ E79° 51.954’ meeting with Raghu, Thoumiyan, Andrew and Paramesh.
1400 - Lunch at office
1500 - Visit to UN office at 202-204 Bauddhaloka Mawatha, Colombo 7, Sri Lanka. Coordinator during this response is Mr. Alex Suwitra
1630 - Money charger (1 USD = Rs 153) 1800 - Next day planning and rest
15 Jun
16 Jun
17 Jun
18 Jun
19 Jun
20 Jun
21 Jun
Activities 1. Immediate Needs and Logistics Planning Location: Alliance Development Trust (ADT).
Person in Charge: Raghu Balachandran Contact Number: +94 11 551xxxx Email: raghu@adtlanka.org
Update: Initial travel & distribution plan was drafted together with local partners
From left: Mr. Andrew, Thoumiyan, Paramesh, Raghu
Relief Dry Food Pack from ADT
2. Distribution and assessment at Vanapoluhena, Baddegama. Location: Vanapoluhena, Baddegama N6° 11.854’ E80°14.396’. Person in Charge: Father Jayasinhe
Update: There are 300 families in this village, major source of income is tea planting. There is a tea factory in the village. Distribution of dry food pack only for 40 families are badly affected selection has done by the local pastor.
3. Distribution in the District of Rathnapura.
Location: Palawala GPS: N6° 38.803’ E80° 21.287’ Beneficiaries: 37 Families (Flood / IDP Camp) |
Location: Thimiyawa GPS: N6° 42.948’ E80° 18.047’ Beneficiaries: 27 Families (Flood) |
Location: Elapatha GPS: N6° 40.276’ E80° 21.986’ Beneficiaries: 57 Families (Flood / IDP Camp) |
Location: Millakade Dhodampe GPS: N6° 43.587’ E80° 20.149’ Beneficiaries: 52 out of 200 Families (Flood) |
Location: Ayagama GPS: N6° 38.270’ E80° 18.588’ Beneficiaries: 10 Families (Landslides) |
Location: Eheliyagoda GPS: N6° 52.050’ E80° 16.342’ Beneficiaries: 7 Families (Flood / IDP Camp) |
Location: Dhoranankada GPS: N6° 51.946’ E80° 14.949’ Beneficiaries: 28 out of 98 Families (Flood / IDP Camp). Food given will cook together. |
Location: Upper Amunutenne Division GPS: N6° 43.358’ E80° 31.650’ Church: Assembly of God (Landslides) |
Location: Batugedara GPS: N6° 40.535’ E80° 24.490’ Beneficiaries: 35 out of 645 Families (Flood) |
4. School Bags Distribution Before the distribution, assessment was done by ADT, local pastor and school principal. School kits are given only to affected families.
 Location: Thebuwana Tamil School Principal: K. Rajaratnam GPS: N6° 35.384’ E80° 3.945’ Bags: 28 out of 512 students Others NGO in this area: People Bank – Exercise books Lion Club, Hindu Society – Food packs |
 Location: Thebuwana Sinhala School Principal: Kumarsingal GPS: N6° 35.452’ E80° 3.274’ Bags: 50 out of 211 students Others NGO in this area: People Bank – Exercise books Lion Club, Hindu Society – Food packs |
 Location: Neboda Tamil School Principal: Sivarani GPS: N6° 35.217’ E80° 6.393’ Bags: 20 out of 408 students Others NGO is this area: ADT – Food packs Local Church – School Shoes |
 Location: Mahagama Tamil School GPS: N6° 36.765’ E80° 10.820’ Bags: 40 out of 40 students Others NGO is this area: None |
5. Health Assessment Location: Rathnapura General Hospital Update: During our visit, many dengue cases were reported. People died due to dengue fever, we went to hospital to check the status. At normal day, dengue cases are less than 50. On 17 Jun, ward 11, 125 dengue cases reported and 90 cases were confirmed. At this moment, 6 wards have assigned for dengue patients. (125 is the number for 1 ward). Hospital is running out of medical staff, equipment and everywhere you walk, you will see these pictures. Doctor Nishantha welcomes medical teams to help out.
All pictures are taken with approval from the local authority. Only for CREST’s documentations and reporting purposes.
Financial Reports
92% of the funds are directly delivered to the hands of the flood and landslides survival.
Recommendations
1. Medical Team – Medical assistance is requested from the hospital as the hospital is planning to extend the ward for dengue patients. Medical equipment and staff for dengue treatment is highly in demand at this moment. We can consider to deploy a medical team or helping the dengue patients by providing mosquito nets or sleeping mats.
2. Food and Non-Food Items – Needs a lot of funds to provide for this. It is a short term operations but the needs are plentiful.
4. Livelihood – Majority of the communities are staying in estates. They plant either tea or rubber trees. Damages to the tea plants and rubber trees is not significant.
5. Risk Reduction & Training – Training on Disaster Preparedness and Risk Reduction with the local partners and community is on high demand. Flood in Sri Lankan is an annual event, providing tools and knowledges on disaster preparedness will be beneficial in the long run and progressively making a change in local community.
Submitted by CK Cheong Date: 22-June-2017