Engineered Catastrophe

[TamilNet, Sunday, 25 March 2007, 11:52 GMT]
Batticaloa has turned into an area of humanitarian disaster, and a battle ground for refugee figures, as more than 100,000 residents of Paduvankarai districts were forced to flee to GoSL controlled regions by the shelling of Sri Lankan Armed Forces inside LTTE controlled areas during the first two weeks of March. The changing IDP numbers have swelled to 165,485. While UN appealed for "vital funds to boost its operations in eastern Sri Lanka" and leftist parties accused the Government of engineering "demographic change," Sri Lanka Government spokesperson K. Rambukwella dismissed the severity saying only 52,000 are displaced, contradicting his own administration's official figures.

Eluwankarai, meaning the Coast of Rising Sun, the interior region of Batticaloa, is inundated with Internally Displaced People (IDPs) with the influx of refugees from the LTTE controlled region. Majority are housed in 91 temporary centers and some with relatives and friends.

"There is no room for thousands of new war-displaced in crammed refugee camps in Sri Lanka's east, so many are sheltering under trees or in schools and churches," Reuters report, datelined 13 March, said.

The Government of Sri Lanka (GoSL) attempted to hastily resettle the previously arrived IDPs from Vaharai and Trincomalee. 6,512 refugees had been re-settled in Vaharai and 2,664 were re-settled in Muthur and Eechilampattu by the second week of March.

"Sri Lankan authorities are using threats and intimidation to force civilians who fled recent fighting in Sri Lanka’s civil war to return home," Human Rights Watch (HRW), a rights watchdog, accused Colombo in a press release issued 16 March.

The reports by Humanitarian Agencies working in the East, including those of UN say the IDPs face countless problems including food, accommodation, sanitation, health, schooling for children.

Batticaloa district consist of 14 Divisional Secretariat Divisions where live 579,469 persons from 147,197 families. Out of the 14 divisions, four divisions- Porathivu Pattu or Vellavely, Manmunai South West or Paddippalai, Manmunai West or Vavunathivu, and Koralai Pattu South or Kiran, - and part of Eravur Pattu or Chenkalady division lie under LTTE administration.

Population in LTTE areas in Batticaloa Division Area Name Families Persons Porathivu Pattu Vellavely 9,493 36,776 Manmunai S/W Paddipallai 6,651 25,644 Manmunai West Vavunathivu 7,846 30,026 Koralai Pattu South Kiran 3,786 24,085 Eravur Pattu (LTTE part) Chenkalady 4,789 29088 Total 32,565 145,619

Nearly 82% of the residents of LTTE areas, amounting to 119,044 individuals, have fled to the military controlled areas. They joined the previously displaced 27,179 refugees from Trincomalee district and 19,262 persons displaced from Vaharai-in Batticaloa district, making up the total refugee population to 165,485.

“My children are suffering from diarrhea, and are constantly vomiting, and I have not been able to see a health officer. I have to walk 10 km if I were to take them to a hospital, and that is not possible in the current situation,” Siththiravel Sivappirakasam, a farmer and a father of 4 children from Mavadi Munmari in Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) controlled Batticaloa district said.

“I have spent Rs.350,000 and grown paddy in 15 acres for this season. I borrowed some money and used my own funds for this. Harvest is ready but I can't access my field. 7 acres of my paddy field were burnt due to the shelling. My only consolation is that my family is safe.

“We are used to military operations and have been displaced several times. We are still ready to go home if shelling on populated areas stop,” Sivappirakasam said.

Mrs. Nesammah Ananthan of Mandapaththady, Kannankudah, had a similar story. “I have six children including a baby. My husband is a farmer. With his meager income we were able to manage our family until 10 days ago. Though we have been here for the last ten days, we have not been provided with any relief assistance from the GoSL.”

The Batticaloa Zonal Director of Education, A. M. E. Paul, is extremely busy organizing a rudimentary organizational setup to facilitate schooling for burgeoning number of refugee children who have been denied the right to education.

“Because of the new influx of IDPs, 110 schools remain closed in the district. Around 23,000 students from Paduvankarai are not attending schools. Students in 18 other schools face difficulties as they witness the daily trauma of IDPs and fellow students staying in the premises as refugees,” Mr Paul told TamilNet.

Study on Refugees and Forced Displacement

Miss Kalaichchelvi Nagamani, a student of Palugamam Kandumani High School, said, “I sat for the G.C.E. O/L Examination last December and expect results soon. I was planning to study for G.C.E. A/L, at a private tuition center in Palukamam.

“We fled our home on the 9th March after a shell fired by the army landed on our house destroying part of the house. I could not take any of my belongings, even my books and notes,” Kalaichelvi said.

Seasonally high temperatures have added to refugees woes. Chicken-pox and measles are health issues plaguing the IDPs, with 49 IDPs in Araiyampathi affected with chickenpox.

Meanwhile, the IDPs are worried about their house and properties left behind. They fear looting of their property by armed troopers in their absence, as has happened to previous IDPs from other areas in the east.

Many displaced farmers want to attend to their fields either to harvest the paddy or to tend the harvested fields to prepare for seeding for the following season. Sri Lankan Armed Forces have closed the gateways to the LTTE held areas. The refugees are left to languish in inadequately equipped temporary refugee camps, as Colombo struggles to deflect the damaging international repercussions for triggering the humanitarian catastrophe.

Related Articles:
16.03.07   Colombo forcing refugees to return home- Rights Group
12.03.07   751 IDPs return to Muthur Tamil villages from Batticaloa
12.03.07   SLA forces exodus of Tamils in Batticaloa
01.03.07   Batticaloa families flee SLA shelling
25.02.07   Offensive aftermath
24.02.07   SLA strips bare houses in Vaharai, Sampoor - MP
15.01.07   Unfolding misery
11.01.07   Vaharai tragedy
18.09.06   Uncertainty haunts Vaharai IDPs, two children die of diarrhe..
21.08.06   Eachchilampathu IDPs face dire shortage of food
19.08.06   Paduvankarai faces misery


External Links:

UN:		UN refugee agency urges Sri Lanka not to forcibly return displaced persons
Reuters:		Too soon to resettle east Sri Lanka refugees: U.N.
AU:		Sri Lanka faces humanitarian crisis as 150,000 flee fighting
Reuters:		Norwegian Refugee Council assists displaced civilians in Batticaloa
HT:		Bid to alter ethnic ratio in Lanka flayed
TW:		Batticaloa Becoming a District of Displaced Tamils
UN:		UN appeals for urgent funds to feed thousands displaced by fighting
Reuters:		Sri Lanka Refugees Living Under Trees