NorthEast death toll nears 10,000, Amparai badly hit

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 28 December 2004, 15:07 GMT]
"More than 10,000 people are dead in areas across NorthEast. In Amparai alone there were 5350 dead," said Liberation Tigers, Tuesday afternoon. Cadres of Liberation Tigers and local non-Governmental organizations are working round the clock to provide rescue and relief effort to people in Mullaitivu, said Col.Soosai, Head of the Sea Tiger Wing of the Liberation Tigers. "No international aid from Donor agencies have reached Vanni, and we are using our own resources and assistance provided by the expatriate Tamils which is beginning to reach us," Soosai added.
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First Taskforce Unit meets in Puthukkadu

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 28 December 2004, 14:00 GMT]
One of the units of the Disaster Management Taskforce setup by the Head of the Political Wing of the LTTE, S.P.Thamilchelvan, met Tuesaday at 9.15am at its new offices in Puthukkadu juncion on A9 near Thalaiyady, Vadamaradchy East, Sudar, an official with the LTTE Peace Secretariat told TamilNet. S.Thangan, Deputy Head of LTTE Political Wing, presided the meeting.
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TRO lists immediate relief needs

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 28 December 2004, 11:17 GMT]
Tamils Rehabilitation Organisation (TRO) has released a list of immediate requirements in an urgent appeal to the International Community. The full extent of the tragedy is still being counted and there is widespread view that the initial impact is only the beginning of a major tragedy to unfold in the near future due to disease and starvation, TRO said in an it's appeal to the International Community. The loss of lives and properties and the destruction of physical and social infrastructure have thrown a major humanitarian challenge, TRO said.
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Landmines fear hampers rescue work in Batticaloa

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 28 December 2004, 09:31 GMT]
Five villages Devastated by Saturday's Tsunami are marooned as causeways and bridges have been damaged by the tidal waves. "The newly built government hospital, public buildings, schools, LTTE political offices, homes, churches and temples have been completely destroyed by the sea," Mr. S. Jeyanandamoorthy, Tamil National Alliance MP for Batticaloa, told TamilNet Tuesday. He said that relief and rescue work in the former popular tourist resorts of Pasikudah and Kalkudah has been hindered by thousands of landmines uprooted by the Tsunami from the defenses of the local SLA garrison.
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8000 dead in northeast, 500 000 displaced, TRO appeals for help

[TamilNet, Monday, 27 December 2004, 20:35 GMT]
"8000 dead and 500,000 displaced in northeast of the Island of Sri Lanka", said The Tamils Rehabilitation Organisation (TRO) in an urgent appeal to Tamil diaspora Monday evening. "Beaches are strewn with debris and waste. Whole villages have been turned into cemeteries. Over 8000 have lost their lives in the northeast. More than 500,000 have been displaced from their homes and left without shelter", said the release and called upon the Tamil diaspora to urgently seek humanitarian assistance from governmental and non governmental aid agencies in their host countries.
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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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Disaster Management Task Force Units setup in Northeast

[TamilNet, Monday, 27 December 2004, 18:09 GMT]
Mr.S.P.Thamilchelvan, Head of the LTTE Political Wing in an urgent meeting with the International NGOs, District Secretaries, TRO officials and local NGOs requested to set up a North-East Disaster Management Steering Committee and Special Task Force Units consisting of the District Secretaries, INGO’s, TRO,local NGO’s and representatives of the Planning and Development Secretariat of the LTTE. Similar mechanisms for the districts of Trincomalee, Batticaloa and Amparai have also been planned and details would be worked out in the respective districts soon, an LTTE news release said.
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Five thousand dead in Kalmunai, urgent appeal for medicine

[TamilNet, Monday, 27 December 2004, 17:35 GMT]
More than five thousand seven hundred people were killed by the Tsunami waves along the Amparai coast, officials at the Department of Social Services said Monday. However, Dr. Murugesapillai Baghavan, surgeon at the Kalmunai Base Hospital said that at least five thousand bodies of people killed by the Tsunami have been buried in Paandiruppu, Kalmunaikudi, Maalikaikaddu and Karaithivu alone. “We have not received any assistance so far to cope with this disaster. Please get us antibiotics, Anti-tetanus, toxides, infant food, any type of clothing. This is very urgent”, the doctor appealed.
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Governor meets NEPC officials on relief work

[TamilNet, Monday, 27 December 2004, 16:30 GMT]
Mr.Tyronne Fernando, North East Provincial Governor Monday issued directive empowering all Deputy Provincial Directors of Health Services (DPDHS) in the districts of Northeastern Province to purchase medicines urgently needed to treat Tsunami victims without waiting for the drugs from central supply store of the Health Ministry, NEPC sources said. The conference held by Mr.Tyronne Fernando was abandoned in half way when he was informed of another Tsunami wave was to hit coastal area. Discussions came to an abrupt end when Mr.Tyronne Fernando left the conference hall suddenly, sources said.
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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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Eyewitness says little could have escaped wave

[TamilNet, Sunday, 26 December 2004, 21:29 GMT]
“We went from the hospital to retrieve some bodies of people killed by the first wave near the Pandiruppu beach. We saw at a distance another massive wave, more than hundred feet high, speeding towards Kalmunaikudi. It was like a diagonal wall rising out of the sea. The sight was terrible. We ran for our lives. I do not believe that anything could have survived the force of that wave”, said a doctor at the Kalmunai base hospital Monday.
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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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Tsunami death toll expected to increase

[TamilNet, Sunday, 26 December 2004, 17:10 GMT]
Around 3100 persons in Northeast and 1400 in South have died due to tsunami waves that hit NorthEast coast Sunday, according to government sources in Colombo. In the Northeast alone, nearly 12000 people have suffered injuries and around 200,000 people have been affected, administrative sources in Colombo said. Government sources added that death toll is expected to rise significantly. In the meantime, Tamil National Alliance (TNA)parliamentarian Mr. Joseph Pararajasingam has urged the Prime Minister Mr. Mahinda Rajapaksha, to attend to immediate needs of the affected public in the east.
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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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TRO appeals for urgent assistance

[TamilNet, Sunday, 26 December 2004, 12:50 GMT]
Tamil Rehabilitation Organization (TRO), an independent Non-Governmental Organization registered with Government of Sri Lanka, appealed to the Tamil expatriates Sunday to donate towards meeting the humanitarian crisis unfolding following the tsunami wave triggered flooding in residential areas along the eastern coast of Sri Lanka. Majority of families affected were from the NorthEast of Sri Lanka.
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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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Student leader decries Colombo's military buildup

[TamilNet, Saturday, 25 December 2004, 21:00 GMT]
"The Government of Sri Lanka is strengthening its military in preparation for renewed hostilities. The Liberation Tigers are ready to confront war if it is thrust on us and are prepared to liberate the occupied lands and people," said Mr Subash, Vavuniya district president of Consortium of Tamileelam students, addressing the audience in a book release ceremony held at the Muthaiah Hall in Vavuniya Friday afternoon, sources from Vavuniya said.
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