NGOs Consortium urges government for relief to affected in Jaffna

[TamilNet, Monday, 29 December 2008, 18:12 GMT]
“More than 250,000 people affected in the recent cyclone and floods have only been issued relief sufficient for a week costing less than Rs. 500 per family,“ the Consortium of Non-governmental Organizations in Jaffna district said in an appeal to the President of Sri Lanka submitted through the Government Agent (GA) Jaffna, sources in Jaffna said.

The Consortium urged the government to identify the full needs of the people affected and to provide them relief immediately.

The memorandum also listed certain areas which called for the urgent attention and action of the government.

Immediate effort should be made to build up the devastated agriculture sphere in the peninsula, the memorandum appealed to the GA.

The drainage channels in the peninsula, without regular maintenance, are clogged with debris, have aggravated the recent floods, the memorandum said. The channels inside the Sri Lanka Army (SLA) High Security Zones need immediate renovation and repair, the memorandum added.

The Ministry of Defence should take the responsibility of repairing and maintaining the drainage channels inside the SLA HSZs or Jaffna Secretariat should be permitted to perform the needed repair and maintenance, the memorandum said.

The Consortium also pointed out the need to improve the standard and streamline the weather forecast centre in Jaffna peninsula so that precautionary measures can be taken in advance of foul weather.

The memorandum said that a mild earthquake had been recorded affecting Jaffna peninsula, and that experts in this field have not ruled out the possibility of earthquakes in the peninsula, emphasising the need to reform the weather forecast centre.