Tour Day 2 - June 2, 2005
Meeting at the Ampara Kachcheri

A meeting was held at the Ampara Kachcheri with representatives of each district in the Eastern Province and religious leaders to gather their thoughts on the impact of the tsunami on their province. Mahinda Samarasinghe explained what the Select Committee was set up to do and asked representatives what issues they faced in the aftermath of the tsunami. He also asked them to share their opinions on the buffer zone, compensation money and rebuilding of houses.

The Ampara Province representative read out the statistics and data they had collected after the tsunami to assess the damage within the Eastern Province:

• From the 20 districts within the Ampara Province, 11 were affected by the tsunami.
• Three lakhs of people that lived within the province, two lakhs were displaced by the tsunami.
• 2 in every 3 people were affected by the tsunami in some form or the other.
• In the aftermath of the tsunami, the province had 125 welfare centres and 4,000 refugee camps in place.
• 180,000 people received food stamps in the initial days of the tsunami

No. of people who died in the tsunami - 6,300
No. of people who were injured in the tsunami - 7,000
No. of people who are missing and are presumed to be dead - 161
No. of people who have been paid Rs15,000 compensation - 6,000
No. of people who have been paid the Rs5,000 compensation - 37,000
No. of people who have been paid the Rs2,500 compensation - 40,000
Total number of temporary shelters - 17,000
Total number of people who lived within the 200-metre buffer zone and were affected by the tsunami - 12,813
Total number of people who lived away from the 200-metre buffer zone and were affected by the tsunami - 12,800

The Ampara Province representative told the Select Committee of the discrepancies within the system of giving out houses to those affected. He said that the government statistics, which are derived from the 2001 census, state that only 11,000 houses were damaged by the tsunami. The data the Pradeshiya Sabha has collected shows that 24,000 houses were affected. When asked why there was such a large difference in the numbers the representative stated that since the census was done in 2001, the population in the Eastern Province had grown. He also stated that the Ampara provincial council has provided 6,200 people with transit housing and that five districts within the province have land problems.

The main problem all the representatives at the meeting expressed was the lack of land. If the buffer zone is in place entire towns that existed within 200 metres of the coast will disappear. Another obstacle they face is the lack of water supply and the need for more water bowsers.

Visits to Refugee Camps in Kalmunai and Marathamunnai

The Select Committee also visited refugee camps in Kalmunai and Marathamunnai to speak to the people and examine what conditions they live in. All the displaced people were living in temporary shelters built with the help of the government and NGOs.