Tsunami Crisis . Information Update

31st December 2004

 


CHA Information Centre :

Hot line : 011 4737782 / 3

Web page : www.humanitarian-srilanka.org

Email : tsunami1@cha.lk / tsunami2@cha.lk

 


THE EXTENT OF THE PROBLEM

The statistics of persons affected by the Tsunami as at 31st December 2004 at 10.30hrs is as follows:

District

Deaths

Injured

Missing

Refugees

Colombo

65

  

12

24,500

Gampaha

7

    

32,000

Kalutara

170

726

31

33,794

Galle

3,724

2,500

  

44,582

Matara

1,061

4,000

  

40,500

Hambantota

4,500

    

28,785

Ampara

10,436

120

  

183,527

Mullaitivu

1,700

2,500

1,300

24,557

Batticaloa

2,222

1,106

600

* 285,408

Trincomalee

925

  

327

93,408

Killinochchi

559

880

62

49,286

Jaffna

2,076

541

500

48,729

Puttlam

4

      

Vavuniya

140

109

2,000

99

Total

27,589

12,482

4,832

889,175
         

Source : District Secretariats

(These figures are tentative and as are reported by the respective DS)

* The figure for refugees in Batticaloa was stated incorrectly as 486,297 by the same source in
the previous update. It has now been rectified.

RELIEF EFFORTS

The Government, the UN, donors, NGOs, private institutions, media institutions have all
commenced operations to provide relief to the large numbers of populations who are currently in dire straits.

Contact Details

style='font:7.0pt "Times New Roman"'>      Prime Minister's Office hotline for relief funds and information

Tel : 94112542871 or 94112392047
Fax : 94112321404

style='font:7.0pt "Times New Roman"'>      UN and International Agency Meeting

Minutes of the UN and International Agency meetings are available on the web site . www.lk.undp.org/ndmc

Roman"'>      Presidential Secretariat

Coordinator of INGO and NGO activities : David Evans

Contact no: 0722 265003

NOTICES

International Donations

The Ministry of Foreign Affairs has set up a 24 hr Hotline for all enquiries related to international donations from abroad

Hotline : 0094 011 53 61 938

Clearance of Cargo at the Airport . updated notice

The Disaster Relief Network (DRN) has set up operation at the airport in
Colombo and signed an agreement with the Government of Sri Lanka to receive
all incoming relief commodities. Agencies / organisations who are sending
relief commodities to Sri Lanka are requested to provide the following
information on the virtual OSOCC in addition to the clearance request to
the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

The information required by DRN and necessary to be provided comprises of:

-         Cargo specification

-         weight and quantity

-         origin

-         Consignee (or unsolicited)

-         A contact point of the receiving agency in Sri Lanka and instructions on
how to contact

-         Specification if commodities are for common use or for specific agency

DRN will keep the commodities in a storage facility in the airport for a
maximum of seven days. If the receiving organisation has not picked up
these commodities, it will be handed over to the Government of Sri Lanka.
This service is only available for pure relief commodities.

Offers of Assistance

UNDP Colombo is recording all offers of assistance both material as well as human resources.

For more information please contact Stacey White on 0777 726 448
Information

The UN Joint Logistics Centre Air Coordination Cell has initiated a situation report to provide an overview of Air Operations in South East Asia in the wake of the tsunami crisis. If you wish to subscribe to this sit rep visit their web site : www.unjlc.org

Assessments

Matara District

A rapid assessment of the Matara district has been carried out by the Swiss Humanitarian Rapid Assessment Team

The assessment includes details of infrastructure in the district, basic needs of the displaced population and the steps taken by the Swiss Humanitarian Assessment.

Please contact the CHA information centre for a copy of the Assessment

Note :

Agencies interested in conducting assessments are requested to contact the UN for proper coordination

Resource Management Database

After discussion with interested parties on the need to record requests in order to avoid duplication and improve coordination of resource management, an online database has been initiated by ICTA and CHA. The database, which will record all requests, will be housed at the presidential secretariat and will be operational from 10am Saturday. The link to the database will be made available on Saturday by ICTA.

Please support this effort and log in details that have been received by your organisation.

For further information on this please contact Judy Peitersz on 4616824