Sri Lanka Flood 2017 – Help Sri Lanka to Recover (Part II)

Hi guys, hope you are doing well. I hope you have read my previous article regarding the tragedy Sri Lankans faced last two weeks. If not, I would like to kindly request you to read it before reading this one.

I wrote the previous article in a bit of a hurry due to the situation. So I decided to write another one with more details to give you a clear idea and encourage you to donate more to help Sri Lanka recover.

According to Disaster Management Center, this is the second largest natural disaster ever happened in Sri Lanka (Tsunami is the largest obviously). As of 04/06/2017, statistics from Disaster Management Center is as follows.

Number of deaths : 212

Number of missing persons : 79

Total number of people affected : 717,622

Number of families affected : 184,265

Number of totally destroyed houses : 2,313

Number of partially destroyed houses : 12,529

Number of relief camps : 226

You can see how the numbers are increasing.

You might haven’t still seen the actual sights of the flood yet. Check the below pictures and videos to have a clear idea.

See the below two pictures carefully.

Can you imagine the magnitude of this flood? Watch the below videos also.

Hope you have a clear idea now what kind of disaster has taken place. Water has withdrawn in all the affected areas at the moment except some paddy fields, low grounds and river basins.

But that doesn’t mean all are settled now. As I told you in the previous article also, a lot more to be done. I would like to explain them in details again for you.

Food

There are 226 relief camps still operating. And tens of thousands of victims are being fed in those. Most of those people have lost everything, they have nowhere to go. Now foods are being prepared within the camps for them. Cooked meal packets are not collected anymore. So now all they need is raw foods and cooking accessories. According to the nature of destruction, they will have to be fed for a few more weeks.

Drinking water issue is largely sorted out I guess, not fully. Lots of wells are cleaned, but there is some more. So, water is also needed, but not critical as before.

Medical Needs

It is heard that there are some skin diseases spreading among people in camps. It has to be expected and they are very hard to prevent when thousands are stacked in small spaces.

(A small image is attached since it is kind of unpleasant. Click on the image for large image.)

So medical supplies and medical services are greatly needed. Not only skin diseases, but many more diseases can be spread among them like diarrhea. So the required supplies and services have to be given fully to avoid more deaths. Doctors and Tri-Forces execute medical campaigns in affected areas. According to the information, there are shortages of certain medicines and other supplies for relief camps.

Clothes and Sanitary Needs

For most of the victims, the only possession left was the clothes they were wearing when the flood came. In many areas the water level has risen very quickly, leaving people no time to take their properties out. So a lot of people had nothing even to wear. Kind hearted Sri Lankans collected lots of new clothes and distributed among camps to the best of their capacity. Not only individuals, but also businessmen in the clothing industry donated a huge amount of clothes. But the thing is, a lot more needed to fulfill the requirement.

Other than clothes, other sanitary needs like tooth brushes, tooth paste, soap, towels, bed sheets, sanitary pads, diapers were heavily required and people tried to fulfill those requirements of victims as much as they can.

Education Needs

The education sector is severely affected by the flood. Majority of students who have affected by the flood, have lost all their note books, text books and other materials.

Further a number of schools have been fully or partially destroyed due to the rough water stream. Even though when the buildings are not damaged, the properties inside were heavily damaged and mostly unusable.

Restoring education in affected areas needs a lot of assistance. Necessary stationeries, textbooks and uniforms have to be provided quickly. And all damaged schools have to be repaired or reconstructed as soon as possible. Any delay in this matter may have severely bad results in the future.

The worst case is, the G.C.E. Advanced Level is in three months (discussions are going on to postpone it). They have lost each and every study material so close to the exam. There are some campaigns which provide students the notes for every subject.

Repairing and Reconstructing Houses

This will be the most time consuming relief effort after this disaster. As you can see in the above statistics, 2,313 houses have been totally destroyed and 12,529 houses have been partially destroyed. Most of these damaged houses are owned by people with low income. Most of them are built on unstable and unsafe grounds. So building a new house is almost impossible for most of them. So they will need a lot of support. Some NGOs like Red Cross, Sarvodaya and ShelterBox are involved in this matter.

Repairing and Reconstructing Public Properties

Lots of public properties like roads, bridges, schools and hospitals were damaged by the flood. They need to be repaired or reconstructed in order to bring the civil life of Sri Lanka back to normal.

Help Sri Lanka

You can understand that Sri Lanka needs further assistance in above mentioned matters. As I mentioned in previous article also, according to the magnitude of the disaster, Sri Lankans can’t face this alone. As a third world country with limited resources, we need international help. Please consider donating Sri Lanka, your help will definitely make a change in someone’s life. I would like to list out the verified channels again, which you can submit your donations to.

Red Cross

I need not to tell anything about this since Red Cross is the world’s most trusted and most active disaster relief organization. And you can donate directly online to their Sri Lankan branch via above link.

Sarvodaya

Sarvodaya is the largest NGO founded in Sri Lanka. It is a well reputed and trusted organization for helping Sri Lankan to grow, especially in rural areas. In this crisis, they have involved directly to provide food and other necessities to the people. They are accepting both local and international donations. You can make your donation online via the above link. Your donations will make their campaign more successful.

Foundation of Goodness

Foundation of Goodness is another Non-Profit NGO that serves Sri Lanka just like Sarvodaya. They are well reputed and appreciated in Sri Lanka. They are conducting a number of projects in various sectors to increase the living standard of Sri Lankans. In this disastrous situation they are helping the victims in various ways. Follow the above link to see more details of their works. You can submit your donations to them and they will take them to the correct place in the correct manner. Click here is you wish to donate.

This is your chance to help Sri Lanka to stand up again. Hope you will take that.

If you need to know more details regarding the situation, just leave a comment below. See you in the next article.