Rain soaked tents add to refugees' woes

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 18 January 2005, 14:02 GMT]
Tents sheltering hundreds of thousands of Tsunami victims in the east of Sri Lanka are inundated with rainwater following heavy down pour since Monday night. Women, children and elders sheltered in these tents are undergoing untold hardships in preparing meals and sleep during nights, NGO sources said

Majority of the displaced from coastal areas in the northeast as their houses were washed away by Tsunami deadly waves last month are now sheltered in tents put up on lands close to their villages. Majority of victims sheltered in public buildings especially schools are shifted to these tents. They are now once again undergoing immense suffering due to heavy rain with strong wind, sources said.

TRO official Ms Nithiyapraba who visited welfare centre at Adambodai, which is located in Nilaveli village, north of Trincomalee town Tuesday morning told TamilNet that she saw victims were standing inside tents as rainwater had flooded the ground. Firewood has been soaked in rainwater and they are finding difficult to cook their meals, she said.

Meanwhile the Metrological Department sources said east would experience heavy down pour.


Children sitting inside a tent at Eachchilampathu area in Trinco district