Resettling Tsunami victims in Vadamaradchchi commences

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 04 January 2005, 12:45 GMT]
Resettling the dislocated families from Vadamaradchchi coastal villages in Jaffna district due to Tsunami disaster has commenced Monday night. Displaced residents of coastal villages located between Katkovalam and Thondamannaru in Vadamaradchchi north division are being transported from the present welfare centres to the selected thirteen schools and places of worships close to their previous residences, civil sources said.

However, displaced families from the villages of Manatkadu and Potpathi of the government controlled Vadamaradchchi east division and sheltered in schools located in Varani and Chavakachcheri in Thenmaradchchi division continue to live there, sources said

Meanwhile, volunteers of the Jaffna University Students Union, LTTE and non-governmental organizations are engaged in clearing debris in Tsunami affected coastal areas in Vadamaradchchi east division. The resettlement of displaced families would commence once the clearing work is completed, sources said.

The resettlement of the displaced persons commenced following a decision taken at a conference held Monday in the Jaffna district secretariat with the new Government Agent Mr.R.Ganesh in the chair, sources said.

Mr.K.Vijitharan, Head of the LTTE Jaffna district administrative division, Major General Sunil Tennekoon, Jaffna area commander of the Sri Lanka Army, Divisional Secretaries and representatives of the UNHCR, GTZ and several non-governmental organizations participated in the conference, sources said.

About three thousand families are staying with their relatives and friends and they also needed rehabilitation, the conference was told, sources said.

The conference also decided to set up one welfare centre in each affected village, sources said.

Major General Sunil Tennekon said he welcomed the participation of the LTTE in the resettlement and rehabilitation work. He said all relief works should be implemented through the Government Agent. Security forces would provide their maximum support to the relief operation, he added.

In the meantime, Dr.Jayalath Jayawardene who was the Minister for Rehabilitation and Resettlement in the then United National Front (UNF) government Monday handed over a consignment of drugs to the Jaffna District Task Force, district secretariat sources said.