SPECIAL REPORT

New photographs available

Plan has worked with sponsored children and their communities in Hambantota for over a decade. There are more than 1000 sponsored children in the district.

From Michael Diamond, Plan Asia Regional Director, and Terence McCaughan, Regional Program Support Manager on the southern coast of Sri Lanka.

Population of Hambantota District - approximately 115,000

Dead - 1,231 at 10.00 pm December 28th. Many more bodies were being found and buried in mass graves today, December 29th, an estimated 1,500 bodies were observed still to be recovered in the lagoon. (Note: these figures are estimates. There are other much higher, estimates, of deaths - up to 4,500.)

Government buildings damaged or destroyed - 55, including the telephone exchange. No information yet on schools.

Homeless - estimated 28,750. This figure comes from initial counts at the 35 emergency "camps", located at schools and temples. The estimate is complicated by the fact that some people went to relatives, never appearing in camps, and that some people who initially went to camps may have moved on to friends and relatives.

Houses severely damaged or destroyed - estimated 1,700.

Livelihood - very severe losses of the small open fishing boats and nets. Fishing supports many families living by the coast. (No figures yet, but officers reported one problem in recovering bodies was that there are so few boats remaining.) Other families made a living from little bamboo beach "cabanas" for budget tourists, and many of these have been destroyed.

Food, water and clothing - For the moment there are adequate supplies of food, bottled water and clothing, thanks to a massive voluntary effort by Sri Lankan individuals and groups around the country.

Plan's immediate relief work in Sri Lanka

To date, Plan globally has raise over $2 million dollars for the tsunami relief effort in southern Asia. These donations are having immediate impact on the situation in Sri Lanka in particular, where Plan has contributed $200,000 to Sri Lanka's national fund - $100,000 for general, immediate relief and $100,000 for reconstruction in the community of Hambantota.

These initial funds are helping with the following:

• ensuring sanitation to help prevent disease: ensuring latrines, water storage tanks and bathing places are available in 35 camps in Hambantota District.
• ensuring supply of 'safe' water: supplying five mobile pumps, to allow fresh water back into the wells. To do this we need to empty Hambantota's many wide-diameter open wells of the polluted salt water that filled them during the tsunami, so allowing fresh water to re-charge them - at a cost of around $3,000. These complement similar pumps bought to respond to a small flood last year which were put to work again after the tsunami.
• supplying essential medicines to the national medical supply system for use in camps - at a cost of around $45,000.
• supplying 14 generators to provide light in temporary camps in areas without electricity at a cost of around $45,000
• making provision for children's education: Plan are purchasing and will distribute school supplies - initially 20,000 sets of exercise books, pens etc - to enable children who lost these in the flood to re-start education when schools re-open. Education is too often the unseen casualty in disasters. Total cost should be around $60,000. These will be distributed in Hambantota and other areas.
• helping look after the psychological needs of traumatised children: we're investigating support for play and psychosocial trauma healing activities in the camps.

Longer term reconstruction

Plan is committed to working with affected communities for the long term and ongoing funds are required to both meet basic needs and also to support the rehabilitation and restoration of family livelihoods, including:

• home reconstruction
• environmental sanitation, either in camps, if these remain, or as people rebuild their homes
• enable fishermen and others to recover their livelihoods.

Plan has launched an international appeal and is already in receipt of pledges of over US$2million but much more is needed. Funds raised will be used to support both short and long-term emergency relief and rehabilitation, including much needed food, clothing, housing and fresh water.

Plan has no religious or political affiliation. Child sponsorship is the basic foundation of our work with children around the world. For more information on Plan's work in Sri Lanka visit www.plan.org.au.

To make a secure online donation to the Tsunami Asia Appeal, visit Plan.s website www.plan.org.au or call 1800 038 100.

Media enquiries for more information, photographs or to arrange an interview with Lucy Perera, or Michael Diamond in Sri Lanka or Richard Sandison or Ian Wishart (Plan Australia CEO) in Australia contact:

Tim Cansfield-Smith
Media & Communications Manager
Plan Australia
Phone: 03 5348 3634
Mobile: 0411 642 194