When
the Asian tsunami struck Sri Lanka’s coastline almost
two years ago, 63 year old Ernest de Silva was at home enjoying
a cricket match on the TV. “People were shouting all around
about the water coming in but I paid no attention because I
was more interested in the cricket”, he explains. When
the second wave came ashore Ernest soon found himself being
swept out of the house by a huge surge of water. He and his
wife only managed to survive by clinging onto a coconut tree.
Today Ernest is putting the final touches to his new home in
Balapitya in the southern District of Galle. He is busy supervising
some local carpenters who are installing the windows and door-frames.
In the back yard a cockerel stands tethered to a small tree
in preparation for a ritual that will christen the new home.
When the door frames are complete - the cockerel will enter
through the front door and leave through the back, driving out
any evil spirits that might remain on the site.
For Ernest and thousands like him, his new home will herald
a new beginning. For the past two years he has lived crammed
in to a four meter squared wooden shelter with his wife, daughter
and son-in law and their two children. After the tsunami the
family sought shelter in a local Buddhist temple where they
stayed for a few weeks. They were dependent on the charity of
the monks and distributions of relief supplies made by NGOs
in the weeks after the disaster.
“We had nothing but the clothes we escaped in”,
explains Ernest. “The Red Cross gave as clothing, sleeping
mats and bed sheets”. But they couldn’t remain at
the temple and after a couple of weeks decided to move back
to the site of their former home. Only the foundations of their
house remained, everything else had been swept out to sea as
the wave retreated. The Buddhist monks gave them some zinc roofing
sheets which they used to build the temporary shelter together
with pieces of wood and plastic sheeting that they managed to
salvage.
As the weeks turned into months Ernest became increasingly concerned
about the family’s future and his own health. His home
was 65 meters from the sea and fell within the 100 meter coastal
buffer zone where the government had prohibited any reconstruction.
“We were promised a new house in a relocation site a few
kilometers inland but that never came to anything. I developed
high blood pressure and my diabetes became worse. I had no income
because my shop had also been destroyed”. Eventually Ernest
found part time work at the local ‘Tsunami betting centre’
where he receives a daily commission of $USD 4-5 – barely
enough to get by.
When the Government changed its housing policy last November,
the buffer zone was revised to 45 meters which meant that Ernest
was entitled to a cash grant from the Government to rebuild
his own home. He would receive a US$ 2,500 base grant provided
in installments linked to the completion of the foundations,
walls and roof of the house. The plan was for donors to supplement
the Government grants by an equivalent amount of top-up funding
which in Ernest’s case was provided by the Netherlands
Red Cross who have also helped to guide him through the construction
process.
“At the beginning I had no idea how to build a house but
the Red Cross technical officers have helped me. They come every
week to make sure that we are doing it in the right way”,
he explains. Before starting on the house, the technical officer
assigned to Ernest helped him with the basic design and provided
guidance on the amount of sand, cement, bricks and timber he
should budget for. Ernest was free to choose the local masons,
carpenters and electricians who would help him to build the
house. After two months the roof is on and the family plan to
move in before Christmas.
A few kilometers down the road Sunil Gayasiris new house has
reached roof-level. As soon as he receives the final grant installment
from the Government he will be able to go out and buy window
frames and sashes and complete the electrical wiring in the
house. An electrician by trade, Sunil lost everything in the
tsunami. The only item that he managed to salvage was his refrigerator
which ended up on a neighbor’s roof.
Like Ernest, he has been living in a small wooden shelter next
to the site of his former house together with his wife Madhuka
and their five year old son Sunil. “I can’t wait
to leave this shelter”, says Madhuka. “During the
monsoon the rain runs down from the main road and come straight
through the hut. We are also too close to the beach, the sound
of the waves at night frightens our son”. Sunil and Madhuka
have been building the house since September and hope to be
in by early December.
Red Cross volunteers Navindra and Romesh are on the site to
check that everything is going well. Together with Beneficiary
Relations officers assigned to the area, the volunteers organize
fortnightly progress meetings which bring together families
who are involved in the owner driven housing programme.
According to Kanthi Hewakankege, the Red Cross’s Beneficiary
Relations Manager, the meetings are aimed at developing cooperation
between households. “We don’t lecture people we
encourage them to share experiences and exchange information,”
says Kanthi. “People come together and give each other
tips on which builders to use, and where they can get bulk discounts
if they buy materials as a group”.
As part of the meeting they tour each others houses offering
advise and in some cases criticism. “I realized that I’d
made a mistake when my neighbor pointed out that I hadn’t
built a supporting wall in one part of my house. I’m glad
he recognized the mistake for me early on otherwise the walls
could not have taken the weight of the roof”, explains
Sunil.
Since December 2004 the Red Cross Red Crescent Movement collectively
has either fully funded or co-financed the construction of 5,013
houses in Sri Lanka. 6,159 houses are currently under construction
and by 2008 it is anticipated that the Red Cross will have contributed
towards the construction of close to 30,000 homes.
The Swedish Red Cross has contributed $ USD 10 million towards
a $ USD 25 million commitment made by the International Federation
of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies to support the Government
of Sri Lanka’s Owner Driven Housing Programme. These funds
will help 10,000 families to rebuild their homes. So far, 7,184
families have received housing grants in the South and East
of Sri Lanka.
|
 |
 |
|
|
Ernest
de Silva and his family in their small, wooden temporary
shelter where they have lived for the past two years.
“We had nothing but the clothes we escaped in”,
says Ernest. “The Red Cross gave as clothing, sleeping
mats and bed sheets”. (p15005)
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
 |
|
|
Ernest
de Silva helping a carpenter to fit a window frame in
his new house. “At the beginning I had no idea how
to build a house but the Red Cross technical officers
have helped me. They come every week to make sure that
we are doing it in the right way”, he explains.
Ernest and his family will move into their new home before
Christmas. (p15009)
|
|
|
 |
|
|
| Red
Cross volunteers Navindra and Romesh chat with Sunil Gayasiri
and his wife Madhuka and their young son Sunil outside
the family’s soon to be finished new home. The volunteers
help organize fortnightly progress meetings to bring together
families involved in the owner driven housing programme
to share their experiences and knowledge. (p15007) |
|
News
