President Kumaratunga briefs tsunami crisis to Colombo-based diplomats

[TamilNet, Friday, 31 December 2004, 16:44 GMT]
President Kumaratunga Friday met Colombo based diplomats and members of the International Agencies to brief them on the crises faced by Sri Lanka in the aftermath of Sunday's disaster. Commenting on the long term needs of the country she has said that the country "would welcome the assistance of all friendly nations", adding that the damaged road network would be given the first priority followed by telecom, hospitals, schools, housing.
Full story >>

Muslims on Tsunami hit southeast coast suffer heavily

[TamilNet, Friday, 31 December 2004, 15:42 GMT]
Muslims who live in densely populated villages along the southeastern coast of Sri Lanka suffered heavy casualties in Sunday’s Tsunami, with at least ten thousand killed. Rescue and relief efforts in Muslim towns and villages on the southeastern coast are hampered by lack of coordination and heavy rains. Seventy two Muslim schools were completely washed off and eighty five mosques were severely damaged, Secretary of the Sri Lanka Muslim Congress, Mr. Hassan Ali told TamilNet Thursday.


Full story >>

"Hijacking relief supply to Trincomalee should be stopped"-Elilan

[TamilNet, Friday, 31 December 2004, 15:26 GMT]
A District Task Force (DTF) was established in the Trincomalee district Friday to co-ordinate all relief supplies to victims of Sunday's Tsunami and take steps for the rehabilitation of the coastal areas destroyed in the calamity with the Government Agent Mr.Gamini Rodrigo as its chairman. Mr.S.Elilan, head of the Trincomalee district political secretariat of the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE), Major General Sumith Balasuriya, Commanding Officer of Sri Lanka Army for the Trincomalee district and representatives of international and national non-governmental organizations are other members of the DTF, sources said.
Full story >>

‘Tamils in northeast are also human beings’- LTTE commander

[TamilNet, Friday, 31 December 2004, 01:25 GMT]
“The Sri Lankan government should not look at this as a Sinhala or Tamil issue. It should see it as a human tragedy and help. We should now ensure that the people rescued from the Tsunami devastation are protected from diseases rather than let the enormity of the tragedy make us inactive. The government of Sri Lanka should consider our people also as human beings," said Col. Soosai, Commander of the Sea Tigers who is directing rescue and relief operations on the southern coast of Jaffna and in Mullaithivu, said in an interview to a London Tamil Television, Deepam TV, Wednesday.
Full story >>

Cut red tape to deliver urgent aid- LTTE

[TamilNet, Thursday, 30 December 2004, 18:28 GMT]
The Liberation Tigers Thursday said that red tape should not impede or delay delivery of urgent international aid to the Tsunami hit areas of the northeast. Addressing representatives of international aid agencies and donor community in Kilinochchi Thursday, Mr. Thamilchelvan emphasised that the international community has a "moral responsibility" to ensure that humanitarian aid to Sri Lanka is "equitably distributed to the North-East". LTTE's Political Head stated clearly that the immediate relief measures would be best undertaken by the Task Force mechanism already set up at district level by the LTTE in coordination with the Government Agents of the affected districts.
Full story >>

Starvation, disease more deadly than danger from mines- TRO

[TamilNet, Thursday, 30 December 2004, 13:37 GMT]
Tamil Rehabilitation Organization (TRO) appealed to other relief help organizations not to be daunted by the threat due to mines and not to delay relief coming to the most needed areas. TRO, in a press release said it considers “that dangers caused by free floating mines are far less significant when compared to the dangers of death by starvation and disease.” TRO urged the relief agencies to keep sending relief supplies to all areas. "In Mulliyavalai and Puthukkudiyiruppu areas UNHCR and ICRC are fully engaged in relief effort," TamilNet correspondent, said, assuring other agencies still unwilling to enter difficult areas.
Full story >>

Colonel Sornam visits army-controlled areas in Trinco

[TamilNet, Thursday, 30 December 2004, 13:29 GMT]
Colonel Sornam, Trincomalee district military commander of the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) Thursday visited Tsunami victims given shelter in several camps in the Sri Lanka Army controlled areas in the Trincomalee town and villages in the north of the district.
Full story >>

TRO Provides Relief To Tsunami Victims: Urgent Need for Nurses

[TamilNet, Thursday, 30 December 2004, 11:20 GMT]
Tamil Rehabilitation Organization (TRO), a non-governmental organization from Sri Lanka, has fully geared its administrative machinery to provide relief assistance to victims of all communities - Tamils, Muslims and Sinhalese - in the northeast province. Nearly twenty thousand died and about five hundred thousand were displaced in Sunday's tsunami.
Full story >>

Thamilchelvan stresses urgent needs to Norway, international NGOs

[TamilNet, Thursday, 30 December 2004, 10:38 GMT]
Mr. Thamilchelvan, Head of the LTTE Political Wing, met with representatives of more than 60 international and UN aid agencies in Kilinochchi at 11.30 am Thursday. The urgent needs of the NorthEast, caused by the tsunami which struck the coast on Sunday, were explained to the representatives. He stated both the immediate needs of those affected by the tsunami and their more intermediate needs. He explained that whatever little infrastructure has been built up was damaged or destroyed by the tsunami, sources in Kilinochchi told TamilNet. Further details of the meeting are yet to be disclosed.
Full story >>

Fresh tsunami alert issued in Tamil Nadu, India

[TamilNet, Thursday, 30 December 2004, 06:49 GMT]
A new tsunami alert is issued by Indian authorites, according to South Indian radio stations monitored in Colombo. Residents along the coastal line in Colombo are seen fleeing. Meanwhile, Rediff.com, an Indian online media quoted Commodre Salil Mehta, spokesman of Indian armed forces as saying: "We are on high alert. There is a warning of tsunami and earthquake today (Thursday)". Sri Lankan authorities will not be putting out a warning, government sources in Colombo said.
Full story >>

Still no government relief to North-East - Paper

[TamilNet, Thursday, 30 December 2004, 05:17 GMT]
Three days after the tsunami struck on Sunday, no relief from the Sri Lankan government has yet reached the North-East, said the Jaffna-based Tamil language daily, Uthayan, in its editorial Wednesday.
Full story >>

Batticaloa refugees face epidemic hazard

[TamilNet, Thursday, 30 December 2004, 03:47 GMT]
More than forty thousand people who lost their homes and belongings in the Batticaloa district have found refuge in ninety four shelters – public buildings, schools and some places of worship, according to statistics released Wednesday by the Emergency Disaster Data Collection Centre set up by the Liberation Tigers for aiding relief and rescue work in the Tsunami devastated region. “We are struggling desperately to provide clean water, clothing and sanitation to these refugees”, said Mr. E. Kousalyan, head of the LTTE political division for Batticaloa-Amparai.
Full story >>

Authorities Hinder Help to Tsunami Affected Regions

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 29 December 2004, 23:27 GMT]
Tamil Rehabilitation Organization (TRO) faces difficulties in conducting relief operations in the eastern district of Sri Lanka. Divisions of the Sri Lanka army and police as well as Sinhalese groups stop trucks with aid cargo at Habarana junction, which links Amparai, Batticaloa and Trincomalee districts, and divert them to the south saying that the three eastern districts do not need more aid.
Full story >>

One of world’s best surfing locations wiped out

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 29 December 2004, 21:23 GMT]
Arugambay, an idyllic place by the sea on Sri Lanka’s southeast coast, is one of the ten best surfing locations in the world. Nothing is left of Arugambay now. The once busy tourist area is littered with corpses and debris. Surrounded by the Pottuvil lagoon and the sea, most of Arugambay was not only obliterated but was marooned by the Tsunami.
Full story >>

Kilinochchi sends relief, medicine, doctors to Amparai

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 29 December 2004, 19:36 GMT]
The Liberation Tigers sent six lorries from Kilinochchi with emergency supplies and a lorry load of medicine along with fifty doctors for relief operations on the Tsunami devastated Amparai coast. The death toll in the coastal areas of the Amparai district rose steeply Wednesday as rescue workers retrieved more putrefying bodies from villages destroyed by the Tsunami. “Three of our teams are working round the clock in rescue and relief operations here”, said Mr. Ram, a Liberation Tigers commander speaking to TamilNet from a coastal village in Amparai Wednesday.
Full story >>

Pirapaharan appeals for international assistance

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 29 December 2004, 14:09 GMT]
Mr. Velupillai Pirapaharan, leader of the Liberation Tigers, Wednesday appealed to the international community and the United Nations to generously assist the people of the northeast devasted by the Tsunami. "I express my deepest sympathies and condolences to my people who lost their kith and kin in this disaster. I also extend my deepest sympathies and condolences to our Muslim and Sinhala brethren in the south who were affected by the Tsunami", he said in a statement issued in Tamil by the headquarters of the LTTE.
Full story >>

Harim Peiris, UPFA Minister visit Jaffna to view damages

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 29 December 2004, 12:18 GMT]
Mr.Harim Peiris, Presidential Advisor, accompanied by Mr.D.E.W.Gunasekara, Constitutional Affairs and National Integration Minister in the United Peoples Freedom Alliance (UPFA) government, arrived in Jaffna Wednesday to see the devastation of the Jaffna peninsula after Sunday's Tsunami, political sources in Jaffna said.
Full story >>

Latest Tsunami toll: 18,000 dead, 10,000 missing, 500,000 displaced

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 29 December 2004, 10:24 GMT]
Latest figures gathered by TamilNet from Sri Lanka Government sources indicate a casualty figures of 18,000 dead, 10,000 still missing and 500,000 displaced in the worst ever disaster Sri Lanka has encountered by the tsunami waves that hit the island Sunday morning.
Full story >>

More than thirteen thousand dead in Amparai coastal villages

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 29 December 2004, 08:51 GMT]
Thirteen thousand two hundred and sixty one persons, in the Tamil and Muslim villages and towns along Sri Lanka's southeastern coast, have been officially registered as dead, according to the Government Agent in Amparai District. He said about 9000 bodies were recovered from the tsunami hit villages until Tuesday night. The enormity of the tragedy here did not come to light because the attention of the Sri Lankan government and international media were largely focussed on death and destruction along the western and southern coasts which are easily accessiblefrom Colombo.


Full story >>

Mullaithivu situation grim amid rising toll

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 28 December 2004, 20:42 GMT]
Three thousand three hundred and seventy three people were killed by the Tsunami in Mullaithivu according to local rescue workers and the Liberation Tigers. Kallapaadu, a coastal village near Mullaithivu town, was completely wiped out by the Tsunami. "So far we have been able to recover 1300 of the 2214 who resettled in village after the Sri Lanka army garrison there was overrun in 1996", said Mr. S. Senthan, the village officer (Grama Sevaka) for Kallapaadu told TamilNet Tuesday.
Full story >>