Flood Relief Operations May – June 2017

Heathy Lanka Alliance for Development

Flood Relief Operations

May – June 2017

 

Statistics of the effected families and people in 04 effected district

 

The recent monsoon rains caused severe flooding that affected families in 4 out of Healthy Lanka’s 8 working districts. The affected districts are Rathnapura, Matara, Galle, and Hambantota. While the government provided food and immediate relief items to the affected families, Healthy Lanka worked with government officers and its ADD youth groups to assist the flood affected families to rebuild their lives and return to their day to day activities. The numbers of affected persons in the abovementioned districts are as follows.

 

Rathnapura District

 

Kiriella Divisional Secretariat Area

 

  • Affected families – 116
  • Children who lost school supplies – 87

 

Eheliyagoda divisional secretariat area

 

  • Affected families – 81
  • Deaths – 3
  • Families evacuated due to landslide risk – 28
  • Children who lost school supplies – 82

 

Matara District

 

Thihagoda divisional secretariat area

 

  • Families affected – not yet finalized
  • Children who lost school supplies – 1110
Kamburupitiya divisional secretariat area

 

  • Affected families – not yet finalized
  • Children who lost school supplies – 777

 

Hambantota District

 

Katuwana divisional secretariat area

 

  • Affected families – 240
  • Partially damaged houses – 119
  • Totally damaged houses – 17
  • Affected children – 95
  • Families in relief camp – 60

 

Galle District

 

  • Totally damaged houses – 445
  • Partially damaged houses – 3400
  • Deaths – 16
  • Affected families – 23,663
  • Affected children – not yet finalized

 

 

Progress of the flood relief programme

 

The following is a report on flood relief operations conducted by Healthy Lanka with funding from FORUT International especially sent for the purpose. The operations were launched in the aftermath of severe floods that affected several parts of the country during the month of May, among which were Healthy Lanka’s working locations. As many Sri Lankans living in rural areas tap ground water to meet their needs, there were many requests for the cleaning of wells that had been submerged in the flooding. The process is extensive and takes place in two phases, the first of which is to clear mud and debris and the second of which involves purifying the water with chlorine and having the well approved by the Public Health Inspector. In response to the need, Healthy Lanka purchased two water pumps for the organisation. These were sent to the districts worst affected by the floods, namely Galle and Hambantota.

 

The pumps were purchased on request of the communities in Galle and Hambantota. As most of the families are within the low income range, they face difficulty in paying the LKR 5000 – 6000 labour cost of having the wells cleaned privately. While Healthy Lanka has cleaned a total of 51 wells up to now, members of the ADD youth groups and peer educators in the areas volunteered to do the required manual labour so that there was no extra cost for manpower. The youth volunteers provided labour worth LKR 255,000.00, a cost which would have had to be borne by the communities. A further 35 wells remain to be cleaned during the coming week and will be done by the youth volunteers, saving the community LKR 175,000. As the water pumps were purchased by Healthy Lanka and the services given free of charge, the communities have been saved from an additional cost of hiring pumps. We hope to use the water pumps in future projects as well.

Cleaning of Wells in the Galle and Hambantota Districts

 

A total of 51 wells have been cleaned in the Galle and Hambantota Districts. The breakdown of numbers of public wells is as follows.

 

Location Number of Public Wells Number of Families Benefitting
Hambantota

District

Thalwatta 1 300
Halmillayaya 1 12
Kohombiliyagoda 1 8
Katuwana 1 8
Katuwana D/S division 21 (used by individual families) 21
Galle

District

Nagoda 2 7
Elpitiya 2 6
Baddegama 1 4
Badegama, Nagoda,and Elpitiya DS division 21 (used by individual families) 21
Total 51 387

 

 

 

  • A further 35 wells in both districts remain to be cleaned. This will be done within the coming week in Galle and Hambantota Districts.