Tamil MP slams Colombo for ignoring Northeast plight

[TamilNet, Monday, 27 December 2004, 19:37 GMT]
The Tamil National Alliance (TNA) Monday slammed the Sri Lankan government and Sinhala parties in Parliament for "callously ignoring the plight of thousands in the northeast hit by Saturday's Tsunami. Mr. Joseph Pararajasingham, senior TNA MP who took part in a conference Monday on urgent disaster management convened by Sri Lanka's Prime Minister told that the nonchalant attitude of the government and Sinhala parties towards the suffering in the Northeast is "appalling".
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External aid yet to reach Vanni, 3 000 still missing in Mullaitivu

[TamilNet, Monday, 27 December 2004, 15:49 GMT]
No external aid was received until Monday afternoon to assist thousands of people injured and rendered homeless by the Tsunami in the coastal parts of the Vanni region and Southern Jaffna, a spokesman for the Tamils’ Rehabilitation Organisation (TRO) said. The Political Division of the Liberation Tigers convened an urgent meeting on Monday with international NGOs, local aid agencies and senior officials to assess the magnitude of the humanitarian crisis and to organize and enhance urgent relief and rescue measures in the Tsunami hit areas.
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Mullaithivu, Jaffna South coast devastation said dire

[TamilNet, Monday, 27 December 2004, 15:08 GMT]
Mullaithivu, the main coastal town of the Vanni region has been completely destroyed by the Tsunami. Liberation Tigers and local rescue workers are continuing to search for bodies of people killed along this coast. Eight villages have been totally devastated by the tidal wave. Thousands are still unaccounted for, according to the TamilNet correspondent who visited the area Monday. Public building, homes and schools along the coasts of Mullaithivu and Jaffna South have been completely destroyed by the wave.


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Wave toll increases in NorthEast

[TamilNet, Sunday, 26 December 2004, 21:19 GMT]
More than 1000 people feared dead in Batticaloa district and around 800 are feared dead in Trincomalee, civil sources in the east said. TRO sources in Kilinochchi said that they feared around 2000 were dead in Mullaitivu district and around 1000 in Jaffna district. 500 bodies have been placed in Thalaiadi hospital in Jaffna's southeastern coast, and 75 bodies have been taken to Kilinochchi hospital. TRO volunteers are searching for bodies under debris of destroyed buildings.
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Large number killed by Tsunami said children

[TamilNet, Sunday, 26 December 2004, 19:04 GMT]
A large number of children were killed by Tsunami waves in Sri Lankaís northeast, rescue workers and local journalists said. Thousands of children have been wounded in the floods and are still without access to first aid, they said. Lack of transport and roads destroyed by the monster waves are slowing rescue work in Mullaithivu, Mutur, Batticaloa and Amparai, according to aid workers.
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LTTE to declare National Emergency

[TamilNet, Sunday, 26 December 2004, 14:34 GMT]
To cope with the unprecedented destruction of life and property in the coastal areas of NorthEast brought about by the tsunamic waves that hit the coastal towns Sunday, the Liberation Tigers are planning to declare National Emergency to set up procedures in motion to obtain relief assistance from International Agencies, sources close to the LTTE in Vanni said.
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More than 1000 feared killed in Mullaitivu coastal villages

[TamilNet, Sunday, 26 December 2004, 12:42 GMT]
Coastal villages of Koyilkudiyiruppu, Mullivaykal, Kallappadu, Silavaththai, Alampil, and Unnappuluvu in Mullaitivu district were severely hit by the tidal waves and the volunteers who entered the villages for rescue operations told TamilNet that more than 90% of residents in many of the villages have gone missing. Rescue workers said that more than 1000 people are dead in the villages along the Mullaitivu coast.
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Tsunami official death toll hits 5000

[TamilNet, Sunday, 26 December 2004, 08:56 GMT]
Official death toll from the Tsunami waves that hit northeastern and southern coast of Sri Lanka Sunday morning was increased to 5000, Sri Lankan Defence Ministry sources told TamilNet. Government officials in the devastated eastern town Batticaloa said only about twenty five of more than thousand families in Navalady, a coastal suburb of Batticaloa, appear to have survived the massive waves.
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Sinhala Trade Unionist condemns war mongering by Southern politicians

[TamilNet, Friday, 24 December 2004, 03:32 GMT]
"People in the south are against the resumption of war. Power-seeking politicians infuse the idea of war in the minds of the people in the South. The Political parties, greedy for power, are driving fear into the minds of the southern people," said Mr. C. Jayathunga, General Secretary of the Lanka Guru Sangamaya (Teachers Union), the overwhelming majority of whose members are Sinhala Teachers, at an interview given to TamilNet during his recent visit to Jaffna. He also said that the means to achieve peace is for both parties to engage in talks both recognizing each other’s equality of status.
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Muttur flood victims without adequate aid

[TamilNet, Thursday, 23 December 2004, 11:23 GMT]
The government in providing immediate flood relief has ignored several hundreds of victims in Muttur-Eachchilampathu division in Trincomalee district where more than three thousand families are displaced and over twenty villages were flooded not by torrential rain but with spill water of Minneriya tank, humanitarian groups in the district complained to civil authorities.
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"Army harasses LTTE political activists in Trinco" - Elilan

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 22 December 2004, 20:54 GMT]
"Sri Lankan Army soldiers are engaged in a planned way to disrupt our political activities in the Trincomalee district", Trincomalee district political head of the LTTE, Mr. S. Elilan, told TamilNet Wednesday from Eachchilampathu by telephone. He said that he and his group were delayed more than three hours at the Kaddaiparichchan Sri Lankan Army (SLA) checkpoint when they were on their way to LTTE controlled Muttur east Saturday. They were again stopped at Mahinthapura SLA checkpoint Wednesday, he said.
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Eeachilampathu villagers without food, medicine - Trinco MP

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 21 December 2004, 16:43 GMT]
Trincomalee district parliamentarian Mr.K.Thurairatnasingham who has been visiting flood stricken Eachchilampathu division in Muttur area, down south of Trincomalee district told TamilNet by telephone Tuesday night that all roads connecting more than twenty villages have been washed away by the spill water flood and villagers are using plastic boats and catamarans to travel from one village to another.
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LTTE leadership studies fresh government agenda for talks

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 21 December 2004, 15:41 GMT]
The leadership of the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) is studying fresh Sri Lankan government agenda for future talks, Mr. Anton Balasingham, the movement’s chief negotiator and political strategist told TamilNet Tuesday.
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Falk Rovik didn't represent Amnesty - Amnesty Norway

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 21 December 2004, 11:51 GMT]
Head of Information at Amnesty International Norway, Mr. John P. Egenæs , earlier on Tuesday, denied that a controversial Norwegian called Falk Rovik had represented his organisation at a conference held at the Bandaranaike Memorial International Conference Hall (BMICH) in Colombo on Saturday, 18 November 2004. The conference was organised by hard-line forces in southern Sri Lanka opposed to the Norwegian facilitation of the peace process. Mr. Egenæs told TamilNet that the controversial Norwegian neither is, nor has ever been a spokesperson of Amnesty International Norway.
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Spill water floods Muttur villages, 3000 families left in the lurch

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 21 December 2004, 00:46 GMT]
About twenty Tamil villages in Eachchilampathu division in Muttur area are under water since December 19 following the opening of sluice gates of two major irrigation tanks -Kantalai in Trincomalee district and Minneriya in Pollonnorawa district, which are in full capacity. Irrigation authorities have opened the sluice gates of these two tanks to avoid breach to them following heavy rain and excess water flowing from Mahaweli ganga to these tanks. About three thousand families have been displaced, as their wattle and daub houses were washed away or damaged by the spill water.
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Efficient deployments benefit thousands in Batticaloa - TRO

[TamilNet, Sunday, 19 December 2004, 23:08 GMT]
Many villages have been marooned under flood water preventing people from returning to their homes though rain has stopped for the last two days in Batticaloa district. Vaharai divisional secretariat division was the worst affected area by the floods in the Batticaloa district. Hundreds of families had sought refuge at schools and other public buildings. Tamils Rehabilitation Organisation (TRO) was there providing urgently needed assistance to the flood victims, civil sources in Vakarai told TamilNet. 4505 Vakarai villagers have benefited by this timely help, according to a TRO official.
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Telephone link to Trincomalee cut off

[TamilNet, Saturday, 18 December 2004, 14:01 GMT]
Telephone link between Trincomalee District and other parts of the country has been cut off since Saturday morning around 9.a.m due to damage caused to underground cable lines, Sri Lanka Telecom sources in Tincomalee told TamilNet. The Sri Lanka Telecom has deployed several teams to detect the damage.
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Urgent need of relief to flood victims in NE - TRO

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 15 December 2004, 09:01 GMT]
"There is an ugent need to supply cooked meals, fresh drinking water, shelter and other immediate necessities to the flood victims in the NorthEast", a TRO official told TamilNet. TRO has provided temporary accommodation to 761 families and is supplying cooked meals, drinking water and other humanitarian assistance to a further 254 families in the Kilinochchi District, the official added.
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Grenade thrown again at Batticaloa Thinakural office

[TamilNet, Friday, 10 December 2004, 07:19 GMT]
Two unidentified persons who came in a motorbike threw a grenade into the Eastern Regional office of the popular Tamil daily Thinakkural at 12.10 p.m Friday. The grenade didn't explode, but two senior staff suffered minor injuries caused by fragments of window glass that were broken by the grenade.


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Sri Lanka army permits hinder Kalmadu resettlement

[TamilNet, Thursday, 09 December 2004, 15:41 GMT]
Refugee families that resettled in Kalmadu, 15 kilometres northwest of Vavuniya, said Thursday that rebuilding their lives is difficult because they have to obtain special permits from the Sri Lanka army for access to their fields. The village was destroyed in a Sri Lanka army operation in 1999. The villagers of Kalmadu lost all their belongings when they fled the war. They returned in late 2002, many months after Colombo signed a cease fire agreement (CFA) with the Liberation Tigers.
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