Three weeks after the Boxing Day tsunami, local churches in Sri Lanka are ensuring aid reaches neglected remote fishing communities in the east of the country.
Across Sri Lanka hundreds of volunteers from various denominations are continuing a massive relief effort co-ordinated by Tearfund partner Leads (Lanka Evangelical Alliance Development Services), while plans are being made to meet the many long-term needs of thousands of families.
Several remote villages in the east have in the past few days received only their second aid deliveries of rice, fish, noodles and soya, since the crisis destroyed thousands of lives and livelihoods.
Reginold Sembamalai Ignatius, a youth leader in the Methodist Church, who volunteered to distribute aid, comments: ‘There are many camps for displaced people where help is available, but in this area of the east there are no camps and people have received very little help.’
32-year-old mother of four, Dayanandan Marmadajan, receives food from church volunteers working for Tearfund partner Leads.
Roshan Mendis, Director of Tearfund partner LEADS said churches had ‘hit the ground running’ when the disaster struck on Boxing Day and had continued the effort, using local knowledge and existing church networks to maximum effect.
‘In Colombo alone we have had than 500 volunteers from different churches and other places helping us. Elsewhere we have 150 volunteers assisting in packing relief, assessing the needs of the people and helping out in the camps. Churches have delivered a vast amount of manpower.’
Around the country local churches, including Dutch Reformed, Methodist and Assemblies of God congregations, continue to provide effective networks to reach some of the poorest and neglected communities.
In the village of Mirawodi 32-year-old Dayanandan Marmadajan was queuing to collect food from church volunteers for her four children aged between three and 10-years-old.
‘We are sorrowful about what has happened to us,’ she said. ‘My husband is a fisherman and our home, boats and nets were washed away by the tsunami. We have nothing.’
Krishnaphily Marimuthu (54), a fisherman sits on his tangled fishing nets, the only possessions he has left after the tsunami took his boat and home.
Along the coast in Kalmadu, where churches are also delivering aid, 54-year-old fisherman Krishnaphily Marimuthu told Tearfund workers he thought the world was ending when the tsunami wave destroyed his thatched seaside home and fishing boat.
Sitting on top of the remains of his fishing nets, he recounted: ‘I was putting my nets into the boat, when the seas rose up. It was terrible. My brother and I ran for our lives. I did not stop running for one-and-a-half kilometres. I reached safety but my brother did not survive and was swept away.’
He added: ‘Fishing is all I know, but now I have no home or boats. I will have to rely on other people to survive. Although I am scared to go out fishing again, I will have to fish again if I am to survive.’
Leads, with the help of local churches, is launching long-term support for some of the poorest people affected by the tsunami.
Says Roshan Mendis: ‘These communities are going to be affected for a generation. They have been totally displaced. Thousands of people will have to be relocated, so they are virtually going to have to start new communities.’