• 50 volunteers from UoM (staff + students) going to collect data about children affected by the tsunami and in camps in Hambantota district at the request of Prof Harendra De Silva, National Child Protection Authority. They will leave Jan 6 morning from UoM. I attended a meeting at NCPA today in which Prof discribed the status, the objectives of data collection and instructions. I offered UoM and LAcNet help for more projects of this nature.
• UoM volunteers are leaving Jan 6 to all affected districts to collect information about damaged schools at the request of Ministry of Education
• UoM volunteers are leaving Jan 6 morning to help repair fishing boats of fishing folks at Dondanduwa fishing harbour/area
• A UoM volunteer team is already in the affected areas to help clean ground water with necessary chemicals etc from UoM and others
• A UoM team was requested by Hambantota GA from Thrish (again). About 150 returned after about a week's work and now the GA wants our guys back again to help him!! This time, a bus load went again with CSE dept lab PCs. (If IBM delivers the 350 or so notebooks as promised, it will be a great help [we can get our PCs back :-)])

Well, from today, we will focus on few things.

1. Developing required detergents in mass scale. The Department of Chemical Engineering, Uni of Moratuwa is handling it. We will commit funds for it. If we are quick enough, we will be able to save a lot of lives because everybody is weak now. Even the slightest infections will cause grave damages. About 30 students are leaving today to Hambantota to start such work.
2. Feeding the girls guide association with correct information about ladies with special needs. If there is some way we can hire some double cabs it will be a great help. So far my brother gave about six doubles cabs from his construction sites. That was a great help at Hambantota. They left yesterday. If you think it is OK, I can try hiring.
3. Continue data collections in other areas. Already few teams have left.

Yes, Cecil talked to me. He said doctors and nurses from Badulla Hospital have been to Ampara area for relief work and are willing to continue that but need help with:

1. medical items: the list is to be taken from Director of Hospital. I called his number but not answering yet; Cecil asked me to try on Monday. If we get a list of urgent items, will try to use LAcNet money we have (with Thrish) to buy them and send to Badulla Hospital; if we need more money will let you know.
2. Transport to Ampara: I offerred LAcNet help. Will try to get help from lorry/van owners in the area with Cecil so that we can cover the fuel+driver cost.

The situation is getting better now. Things are settled and most of the bodies have been removed. Essential roads have been cleared. But there is no public transport. Telecommunication is up again. We had a hard time communicating with Colombo without any SLT or mobile communication during the last five days. We relayed data after travelling to places where we had some reception. But we managed the task during the most urgent time when the Government system had completely collapsed.

We handed over what we did to UNICEF and other volunteer organizations and came back because the students have to sit for the final exams in few weeks. Hope the university will take some action to postpone it.

The next step is to take immediate steps to ensure the area is kept clean and the germs are controlled. Planning the reconstruction work should also be done in parallel. We will use some of your funds to help the Chemical Engineering department of the Uni of Moratuwa who has volunteered to develop and can the urgent detergents in mass scale.

I asked the government agencies to give us the reconstruction needs once they have identified them, so that we can put them in the web. We have a big role in supporting them to re-build the education system while supporting the health needs in the schools. [Other Photos]. [Complete Update]

From the list of things sent to us by Health Ministry earlier, with two colleagues, I have made an order to the state pharmaceutical manufacturing corp (SPMC) for urgent drugs costing about Rs. 600,000. Will pick them up deliver to the Medical Supplies Division tomorrow.

I came back to Colombo to buy some items. Just a quick note. We first started collecting data at different camps in Hambantota, Tissa, Kirinda etc. Based on them, we have mobilized our teams to work. Some are helping the army to find and bury bodies. Some are sorting dry rations that people dump at camps without any records. They are building a regional database of items so that we can search for things when needed. Med students are doing clinics at the camps. Others continue to update their data and feed the National database with info.

The whole area is full of decaying dead bodies. A body weighs about 200 Kg with a lot of water soaked. Students who collected bodies to boats and transported them to tractors had the weirdest experience. The army was so impressed when they volunteered. First they did not believe that the students will stand that smell and the scenes. I had few shocking experiences. Suddenly I noticed a familiar car stuck on top of a tree. Went closer and saw my high school sticker on the rear window. Then I realized that it was one of my best friends. Went around and saw a lot of cars with my Alma-Mata.s sticker all close to each other. Then somebody told me the story of a medical camp held the day before by that group. All of them were gone. Then at one place, a mother.s body with a premature baby delivered still with the cord. One of the most shocking requests I got while in a camp was some breast feeding mothers needed some medicine to stop their breast from swelling because they had no babies to feed. I knew nothing about such medicine. However, we managed to relay the info to meds. Hope something happened. The University of Moratuwa has lost some students. Lots of bodies are still in the sea and the lagoons.

Folks, I will use your funds to buy special medicine mothers and kids may need, detergents, gloves, and masks needed to clean houses to assist re- settlement, to clean hospitals, and for those who collect dead bodies, candles, sanitary wear for displaced ladies (nobody seemed to have thought about it), and a part of the expenses (food, medicine and transport) of students who have volunteered to do some hard work with virtually no sleep. We have heaps of food flooding in.

It is great to realize that Sri Lankans have got together like never before. At least hope it will be one hope in this dark cloud. Got to head back. Will write again.

1. Clearing the area effected by the tsunami
2. Resettling the displaced
3. Phychological counseling of the effected people