UK naval ship also arrives in Colombo for tsunami relief

[TamilNet, Monday, 03 January 2005, 14:20 GMT]
A naval ship of the British naval fleet, HMS Chatham, has arrived in Colombo harbour Monday evening with a group a sailors and two light helicopters. The ship has been sent to Sri Lanka following a request made by the ruling United Peoples Freedom Alliance (UPFA) government led by President Chandrika Kumaratunga, defence sources said.
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Pakistan Navy to assist tsunami-hit Sri Lanka

[TamilNet, Monday, 03 January 2005, 07:09 GMT]
Pakistan has decided to send two ships from its Naval fleet, two helicopters along with 400 military personnel to join the international bandwagon in assisting Sri Lankan government to carry out the tsunami relief and rescue operation, Pakistan Embassy sources said. Pakistan has taken this decision on the request made by the government of Sri Lanka, led by President Chandrika Kumaratunga. A 150-member team of Engineering Task Force (ETF) of the Pakistan army is also scheduled to come to Colombo soon for the urgent reconstruction work. The Frigate is expected in Colombo before Friday evening, sources added.
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TNA to brief international community on northeast devastation

[TamilNet, Sunday, 02 January 2005, 15:49 GMT]
Tamil National Alliance (TNA) will soon brief the international community about the massive needs of the north-east that suffered the worst in December 26 Tsunami disaster, TNA sources said Sunday.
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Relief supplies hijacked and relabelled in Moratuwa - Colombo paper

[TamilNet, Sunday, 02 January 2005, 10:39 GMT]
The radical Marxist Janatha Vimukthi Peramuna (JVP), a major coalition partner in the ruling United People’s Freedom Alliance (UPFA) government of President Chandrika Kumaratunga, has been accused of hijacking relief supplies sent to welfare camps and re-distributing them as supplies from the JVP, reported The Sunday Leader, a Colombo based English weekly in its latest issue.
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Teams of expatriate Tamil doctors to arrive in NorthEast

[TamilNet, Saturday, 01 January 2005, 16:29 GMT]
Fifteen doctors, including reputed practising surgeons, arrived from London tonight to serve in the tsunami hit Mullaitivu, the worst affected district in the Sunday disaster, said a Tamils Rehabilitation Organization (TRO) spokesperson in Colombo. "More doctors are coming. Medical professionals from U.S, Canada, and Europe are also due to arrive to work in the NorthEast areas at planned intervals," the spokesperson added.
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1500 U.S Marines to arrive in Sri Lanka

[TamilNet, Saturday, 01 January 2005, 11:24 GMT]
U.S Ambassador to Sri Lanka , Jeffrey Lunstead, U.S Commander of U.S Disaster Response Assessment Team (DRAT), Colonel Thomas Collins, and a USAID representative said in a press conference held at Hotel Galladhari in Colombo Saturday afternoon that 1300 U.S Marines are to arrive in Colombo in a U.S Wasp class amphibious assault ship, USS Bon Homme Richard, equipped with a helipad and supporting five helicopters on board.
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Sri Lanka mourns

[TamilNet, Saturday, 01 January 2005, 08:37 GMT]
Sri Lanka observed Friday as a national mourning day to express shock and grief to the deaths due to Sunday's Tsunami that hit the coastal areas in the northeast and the south killing about 30, 000 and rendering around one million homeless. Sri Lanka's National Flag was flown half-mast on government buildings and Thamileelam National Flag was flown half-mast on all political secretariat offices of the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) in the North East, sources said.
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Tsunami victims of Vakarai division suffer without basic facilities

[TamilNet, Saturday, 01 January 2005, 00:08 GMT]
Tsunami victims in several villages in the Vakarai divisional secretariat division in the Batticaloa district, now being cut off with their mainland as the Panichchankery Bridge collapsed in Sunday's calamity, suffer without adequate food supply and other essential items such as dry ration, kitchen utensils, milk food, feeding bottles and good drinking water, civil sources said.
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President Kumaratunga briefs tsunami crisis to Colombo-based diplomats

[TamilNet, Friday, 31 December 2004, 16:44 GMT]
President Kumaratunga Friday met Colombo based diplomats and members of the International Agencies to brief them on the crises faced by Sri Lanka in the aftermath of Sunday's disaster. Commenting on the long term needs of the country she has said that the country "would welcome the assistance of all friendly nations", adding that the damaged road network would be given the first priority followed by telecom, hospitals, schools, housing.
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Muslims on Tsunami hit southeast coast suffer heavily

[TamilNet, Friday, 31 December 2004, 15:42 GMT]
Muslims who live in densely populated villages along the southeastern coast of Sri Lanka suffered heavy casualties in Sunday’s Tsunami, with at least ten thousand killed. Rescue and relief efforts in Muslim towns and villages on the southeastern coast are hampered by lack of coordination and heavy rains. Seventy two Muslim schools were completely washed off and eighty five mosques were severely damaged, Secretary of the Sri Lanka Muslim Congress, Mr. Hassan Ali told TamilNet Thursday.


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Fifth Indian Navy ship with relief supply arrives in Colombo

[TamilNet, Friday, 31 December 2004, 15:39 GMT]
A tanker from the Indian Navy fleet, INS Aditya, arrived in Colombo harbour Friday evening with relief supplies, medical teams and other provisions. This is the fifth Indian naval war ship to arrive in Sri Lanka aftermath of the Sunday's tsunami disaster on immediate rescue and relief operation.
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‘Tamils in northeast are also human beings’- LTTE commander

[TamilNet, Friday, 31 December 2004, 01:25 GMT]
“The Sri Lankan government should not look at this as a Sinhala or Tamil issue. It should see it as a human tragedy and help. We should now ensure that the people rescued from the Tsunami devastation are protected from diseases rather than let the enormity of the tragedy make us inactive. The government of Sri Lanka should consider our people also as human beings," said Col. Soosai, Commander of the Sea Tigers who is directing rescue and relief operations on the southern coast of Jaffna and in Mullaithivu, said in an interview to a London Tamil Television, Deepam TV, Wednesday.
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Irate Tsunami refugees jeer PM, JVP in Jaffna

[TamilNet, Thursday, 30 December 2004, 13:04 GMT]
Sri Lanka’s Prime Minister Mahinda Rajapaksha and leaders of the Sinhala nationalist Janatha Vimukthi Peramuna visited Jaffna Thursday amidst strong protests by refugees from the Tsunami destroyed coastal villages of the peninsula. Jeering refugees, demanding relief from Colombo, got into a tussle with the PM’s delegation at the Puloly American Mission School near Pt. Pedro. Earlier, the PM and his entourage were turned back by refugees in Valvettithurai protesting against Colombo for not sending relief or medicine to them since the Tsunami devastated their villages four days ago.
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US Military advance planning teams arrive in Colombo

[TamilNet, Thursday, 30 December 2004, 12:08 GMT]
Advance teams for the US Military's disaster relief response arrived in Colombo Thursday to begin assessment efforts and plan humanitarian aid operations to Sri Lanka and the Maldives.
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TRO Provides Relief To Tsunami Victims: Urgent Need for Nurses

[TamilNet, Thursday, 30 December 2004, 11:20 GMT]
Tamil Rehabilitation Organization (TRO), a non-governmental organization from Sri Lanka, has fully geared its administrative machinery to provide relief assistance to victims of all communities - Tamils, Muslims and Sinhalese - in the northeast province. Nearly twenty thousand died and about five hundred thousand were displaced in Sunday's tsunami.
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Hundred Americans said missing after Sri Lanka Tsunami

[TamilNet, Thursday, 30 December 2004, 06:49 GMT]
US officials said Thursday that seven American citizens have been been reported dead in the Tsunami. They said hundred Americans are still unaccounted for. Thousands of foreign tourists were in Sri Lanka's southern coast when the Tsunami struck. Many are dead or are reported missing.
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Fresh tsunami alert issued in Tamil Nadu, India

[TamilNet, Thursday, 30 December 2004, 06:49 GMT]
A new tsunami alert is issued by Indian authorites, according to South Indian radio stations monitored in Colombo. Residents along the coastal line in Colombo are seen fleeing. Meanwhile, Rediff.com, an Indian online media quoted Commodre Salil Mehta, spokesman of Indian armed forces as saying: "We are on high alert. There is a warning of tsunami and earthquake today (Thursday)". Sri Lankan authorities will not be putting out a warning, government sources in Colombo said.
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More than thirteen thousand dead in Amparai coastal villages

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 29 December 2004, 08:51 GMT]
Thirteen thousand two hundred and sixty one persons, in the Tamil and Muslim villages and towns along Sri Lanka's southeastern coast, have been officially registered as dead, according to the Government Agent in Amparai District. He said about 9000 bodies were recovered from the tsunami hit villages until Tuesday night. The enormity of the tragedy here did not come to light because the attention of the Sri Lankan government and international media were largely focussed on death and destruction along the western and southern coasts which are easily accessiblefrom Colombo.


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Galle, Matara, Hambantota: 4000 dead, 8000 missing

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 28 December 2004, 20:41 GMT]
Tsunami death toll in Galle now stands at 2600 with 3000 still missing, in Matara the death toll is 850 and 4000 are listed missing, and in Hambantota 1100 bodies have been recovered and about 1000 are still missing, official sources in Colombo said.
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TRO lists immediate relief needs

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 28 December 2004, 11:17 GMT]
Tamils Rehabilitation Organisation (TRO) has released a list of immediate requirements in an urgent appeal to the International Community. The full extent of the tragedy is still being counted and there is widespread view that the initial impact is only the beginning of a major tragedy to unfold in the near future due to disease and starvation, TRO said in an it's appeal to the International Community. The loss of lives and properties and the destruction of physical and social infrastructure have thrown a major humanitarian challenge, TRO said.
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