Monday 17 August 2009

In Pictures: Heavy rains compound IDP woes

VAVUNIYA, 17 August 2009 (IRIN) - Heavy rains exacerbated poor conditions for hundreds of thousands of internally displaced people (IDPs) in northern Sri Lanka over the weekend.

“We’re not prepared for this. I’m afraid things are going to get much worse,” one international medical officer told IRIN in Vavuniya on 17 August, citing concerns over diarrhoea, dysentery and other waterborne diseases.

“From an epidemiological point of view, this is a public health disaster waiting to happen.”

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Heavy rains pummeled residents of Menik Farm camp this weekend. The camp holds more than 200,000 conflict-displaced

More than 280,000 people live in 30 government camps in Vavuniya, Mannar, Jaffna and Trincomalee districts after fleeing fighting between government forces and the now defeated Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) in May.

Of these, 246,000 are in 14 heavily guarded camps in Vavuniya, mostly in Menik Farm, a sprawling 809ha site divided into six zones about 50km outside Vavuniya, which quickly became a sea of mud and misery when the rains struck.

According to camp authorities, Zone 1 and 4 were the worst affected. Of some 37,000 residents in Zone 4, more than half were badly affected, with tents designed for five and now housing 12 inundated.

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Residents in Menik Farm take shelter wherever they can - including latrines
Limited facilities Photo: Contributor/IRIN

Mud and misery

“Within 20 minutes the whole area was flooded. Every tent was affected,” said Ganeshan Sivasundram, 38, from Kanagapuram Village in Kilinochchi District outside his flooded tent in Zone 4. “How are we supposed to sleep like this?”

“Everything is wet,” Singaratnam Ruban, 41, from Jeyapuram Village in Kilinochchi District, who has lived in the camp since March with his family, complained.

In Zone 1, where residents are living in semi-permanent sheds, toilets quickly overflowed.

“All the toilets are flooded. Human excrement is floating everywhere,” said Maniam Yogapragash, 33, a resident.

“The water supply system is minimal, the excrement disposal system is pretty basic and the land is flat so what was once dust has now turned to mud,” said one aid worker, who asked not to be identified. He talked about double amputees trying to get around in the mud and children playing in excrement.

“Yes, there are latrines being dug, yes, there is water being piped and tanked, and yes, the Ministry of Health is making huge efforts. But you have to remember, you have a city of over 200,000 here, most of whom live in tents. It’s simply not enough,” he said.

“We have provided cooked meals for the affected people and we are preparing to relocate the people if the situation becomes worse,” Vavuniya’s government agent, CHM Charles, reportedly said.

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Within minutes, the camps became a sea of mud and misery - and a breeding ground for waterborne diseases - “When the [vegetation] was cleared for the camp, little attention was paid to how water might flow in and out of the area,” one resident said. Photo: Contributor/IRIN

But according to international aid workers returning from the field on Sunday evening, that time has come.

“Menik Farm is well named. The place is complete chaos,” one international aid worker who also asked not to be identified, told IRIN. “If you think this is bad, the monsoon rains will be 50 times worse,” he said.

Monsoon rains on this part of the island are expected in September and generally last two to three months, making the weekend’s flooding seem like “a walk in the park”, residents say.

Report by IRIN-a project of the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs

Update on Menik Camp flooding: More images and reports from the ground


After first breaking news on Friday, Groundviews continues to receive disturbing photos on the flooding in Menik Camp after last Friday’s torrential downpour. No journalists have been allowed to visit the IDP camp even after the floods.

Key points of situation updates received by Groundviews
Groundviews contributor Vidura’s tweets (available here) are one source of information related to the worsening ground conditions in Menik Camp.Though unverified, shared concerns and points in a number of other reports received by Groundviews indicate,

  • People detained in Zones 4 and 5 are facing severe hardship. Some reports suggest they have moved in to common buildings like schools and hospitals and that this has in turn created other problems over over-crowding and sanitation.
  • Roofs of tents have have been blown away by strong winds.
  • As camps are flooded, vehicles have found it difficult to reach the IDPs with help
  • Toilet pits are overflowing and whole areas are stinking. Huge concerns over health and sanitation.
  • For over two days there hasn’t been proper food and water for IDPs in Zones 4 and 5. (Zone 5 is newly built to move number of IDPs camp from Zone where 75,000 are thought to be detained)
  • Tents in Zones 4 and 5 do not have cemented floors. IDPs are forced to sleep on sandy floors, which of course are now too wet to inhabit.
  • The RDA, responsible for cleaning the ditches, has not done so for months and is yet to start the work.

All reports concur that tensions within the camps over conditions of internment are rising.

Traditional print media and SMS alert coverage
SMS news services update cricket scores minutes after a vital catch, decisive over or match-winning stroke. 48 hours after the devastating floods, Groundviews has not received even a cursory report of the flooding in Menik Camp via any of the SMS news services it is subscribed to, including JNW and Daily Mirror.

Only Uthayan on Saturday carried a news story on the situation in Tamil. English and Sinhala Sunday newspapers are also revealing in this regard.

Amongst the leading English Sunday newspapers, the Sunday Observer, The Sunday Island and The Nation web versions do not report the crisis in Menik Camp. The Sunday Times has a short front page article. Only the Sunday Leader and Lakbima News headline the situation. The Sunday Leader quotes Jeevan Thiyagarajah, Head of the Consortium of Humanitarian Agencies (CHA) in IDPs swimming in human excreta,

… apart from inadequate sanitation facilities and tents meant for an emergency only would also collapse in the event of heavy rains. “My predictions have been proved right,” he said last evening.

Lakbima News notes in IDPs at drowning point notes that “Minister of Resettlement, Rishard Badhiyudeen, when contacted by this newspaper over the phone for a comment, asked us to “call back in 15 minutes”. But the minister remained “un-reachable” since”. Which is frankly unsurprising.

News over KPs arrest and Police brutality dominate Sinhala newspaper coverage on Sunday.

  • Divaina goes with the headline “Operation to round up foreign operatives of Tigers begun”. No mention of the dire conditions in Menik Camp. Front page photo here.
  • Unlike its English counterpart, Lakbima goes with the headline “The Police itself opposes the brutishness of personnel in the service”. No mention of the dire conditions in Menik Camp. Front page photo here.
  • Rivira goes with the headline “KP had prepared atomic weapons!”. No mention of the dire conditions in Menik Camp. Front page photo here.

The denial of access to cover the humanitarian conditions in IDPs camps by government is, sadly, an excuse for leading traditional media to completely erase a growing humanitarian tragedy from their news coverage. A public ignorant of how bad conditions are in these camps for infants, children, women and men will continue to believe in the outrageous braggadocio of the President and his government, claiming to look after these IDPs without the help of any NGO but unable to even agree when, and in what numbers, they will be released.

Even to help government look after these IDPs, we have a right to know what the conditions on the ground are. Simply covering up this humanitarian tragedy is not a viable response. A State that sees fit to keep hundreds of thousands of civilians in these conditions and is blind to the resulting inhumanity, indignity and violence, is not one capable of peace or reconciliation.

IDPs swimming in human excreta - By Arthur Wamanan, The Sunday Leader

Torrential rains in Vavuniya Friday burst temporary sewage pipes, destroyed make-shift shelters and trapped thousands of Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs) interned in Menik Farm in Vavuniya causing many of them to undergo severe difficulties as rain waters filled with sewage matter, maggots and human excreta rose in tents sheltering some 20,000 IDPs.

Reports reaching The Sunday Leader yesterday said that IDPs particularly in Zone 3 and Zone 4 of Menik Farm were seriously affected as poorly constructed drainage pipes caused severe flooding within the area.

The situation caused panic and while turmoil raged the Government moved in additional military personnel fearing large numbers of IDPs would escape the barbed wire camps.

The Sunday Leader has over the last three months consistently highlighted serious concerns raised by humanitarian agencies who pointed out that flooding was possible in these camps due to badly constructed drainage and sewer pipes.

Jeevan Thiyagarajah, Head of the Consortium of Humanitarian Agencies (CHA) told The Sunday Leader that apart from inadequate sanitation facilities and tents meant for an emergency only would also collapse in the event of heavy rains. “My predictions have been proved right,” he said last evening.

Thiyagarajah in fact two months ago threatened court action if the tents were not de-congested.

Government officials yesterday confirmed that of some 20,000 IDPs facing this horrendous situation only around 1,000 had been relocated to other locations within Menik Farm.

Vavuniya Government Agent, P.S.M. Charles told The Sunday Leader that around 400 people in Zone 4 of Menik Farm were on low level grounds and faced more risks than the others in the camp.

“Around 1,000 persons have been shifted to locations within the camp premises. The problem in Zone 4 is that the drainage system could not be completed on time. These 400 persons are on lower level ground. Therefore, they face more problems and would have to be shifted to another location if rain continues,” she said yesterday.

She said the government continued to supply them with food and essential items.

Meanwhile, TNA Wanni District Parliamentarian Sivasakthi Anandan told The Sunday Leader that he had received calls from displaced persons on the issue. “IDPs especially in Zone 4 have been shifted to locations within the camp. I am not aware of the actual number,” he said. “In other zones too, those who live on lower level grounds face similar problems.”

By Arthur Wamanan, the sunday leader, Sri Lanka

Sunday 16 August 2009

Flooding of Vavuniya IDP Camps-Possible outbreak of Epidemics: PUCL demands immediate intervention of Gov.of India and International Community

PUCL expresses concern about reports from the IDP (Internally Displaced People) Camps in Vavuniya area housing Sri Lankan Tamil about severe flooding of the camps following heavy rains for the last 2 days. PUCL apprehends that the IDP camps will turn into `death traps’ unless urgent measures are taken to safeguard lives of the 300,000 inmates.

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[pix-by special arrangement]

Zones 2 (Ramanathan Camp), 3 (Ananda Kumarasamy Camp), 4(No name) of Menik Farm Camps house 65,000, 43,000 and 41,000 inmates respectively. These camps are enclosed by barbed wire from which none can leave without permission of security forces. The camps are constructed in low lying areas susceptible to flooding. Toilets for the inmates are not only inadequate but are also temporary structures oftentimes being mere huge pits dug into the soil. Due to the rains the toilet pits have caved in. As though this is not bad, the toilets have also become full and there is severe water contamination. Flood waters mixed with toilet slush is reportedly flooding the living areas.

Zone 0 and 1 alone are the model zones shown to visiting journalists and diplomats. The habitations are built with tin roofs. Housing in Zones 2,3,4,5 and 6 are made from UN supplied tents shared by 2-3 families, with no privacy.

Supply of cooked food stuffs have been stopped two weeks back. The inmates of these camps have to depend on dry rations and have been forced to have individual kitchens. Due to the rains, the firewood have become wet and unusable. Families are therefore starving.

The red soils of the area have made the camps slushy and unlivable. It is reported that the flood waters are waist deep in some parts posing severe threat to personal safety, health and hygiene. Due to the poor road conditions vehicles are unable to move in the area and thus supply of essential commodities has stopped.

The situation of children and elderly is appalling. Equally horrible is the plight of the injured and handicapped people who are unable to compete with able bodies camp inmates for a share of essential commodities and toilet facilities.

Most NGOs are running out of money and unable to supply food to camps. It is informed that World Food Programme (WFP) is planning to close down its operations in these areas soon.

Epidemics and illnesses due to the poor conditions in the camps and flooding will kill as many as the war did unless the international community steps in and initiates remedial steps on a war footing. The world governments, especially the Government of India have a moral duty to the victims Tamils to ensure that all possible safety measures are initiated.

Government of India has announced that they are going to allocate another tranche of Rs. 500 crores. As members of Indian civil society PUCL demands on behalf of other human rights community that Government of India insist that the IDP camps are shifted to a safer place and all possible remedial measures be undertaken under supervision of Indian groups including experts and independent experts. If this is not done, PUCL fears there will be numerous deaths of Tamils and immense suffering.

Under the circumstances, PUCL urges the Government of India and the International Community to immediately intervene in the administration and running of the IDP camps in Vavuniya region of north Sri Lanka housing close to 300,000 Sri Lankan Tamils affected by the war.

Released to the Press in Chennai by Dr. V. Suresh, President, PUCL (Tamil Nadu and Puducherry)

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