Tsunami is a Japanese word with the English meaning, ‘Harbour Wave’. Represented by two letters the top letter, “tsu” means harbour and the bottom letter, “nami” means ‘wave’. In the past tsunamis were referred to as ‘tidal waves’ by the majority and as ‘seismic sea waves’ by the scientists. “The term ‘tidal wave’ is a misnomer; although a tsunami’s impact upon a coastline is dependent upon the tidal level at the time a tsunami strikes, tsunamis are unrelated to the tides. Tides result from the imbalanced, extraterrestrial, gravitational influences of the moon, sun, and planets. The term ‘seismic sea wave’ is also misleading. ‘Seismic’ implies an earthquake-related generation mechanism, but a tsunami can also be caused by a nonseismic event, such as a landslide or meteorite impact.

Tsunami is a wave train, or series of consecutive waves, generated in a body of sea water by an impulsive disturbance that vertically displaces the sea water column. Earthquakes, mass movements above or below sea water, volcanic eruptions and other underwater explosions, landslides, large meteorite impacts, comet impacts and testing with nuclear weapons at sea all have the potential to generate a tsunami. Tsunamis can savagely attack coastlines, causing devastating property damage and loss of life.

Sri Lanka is an island of South Asia situated in the Indian Ocean to the south of Indian subcontinent. For administrative purposes, the country has been divided to 09 provinces and the provinces are again sub divided into 25 districts. Each district is divided into divisions known as Divisional Secretariat (DS)s depending on the population size of the area. Each DS division consists of several Grama Niladhari (GN) divisions, which is the lowest level or unit of administrative area. Presently there are more than 300 DS divisions and more than 14,000 GN divisions.

26th of December 2004, was an ever unforgettable day of the history of Sri Lanka as well as for some other neighboring countries. On that fateful day, Tsunami waves struck the Eastern and Southern coasts of Sri Lanka as well as parts of Northern and Western coasts sweeping people away, causing flooding and destruction of infrastructure and private properties without any warning whatsoever. Since that the damage caused to their lives was unbelievable. Thousands of people were displaced and disappeared or killed within a very short time.

Altogether 13 districts out of the 14 districts in the coastal belt of Sri Lanka have reported to be affected by the waves as followed

• Southern Province: Galle, Matara and Hambantota
• Western Province: Kalutara, Gampaha and Colombo
• Eastern Province: Ampara, Batticaloa and Trincomalee
• Northern Province: Jaffna, Mullativu and Killinochchi
• North Western Province: Puttalam

Also there are affected people were living outside the areas directly affected such as who were traveling, staying and happened to be in the above coastal areas.

The tsunami affected about 1,000, 000 people initially and devastated over two thirds of country’s coastline, claimed 35,322 human lives, injured 21,441, and left 1,500 children without parents. Also social networks were disrupted. Besides the huge loss of lives and injuries the disaster caused extensive damage to property and disruptions of fisheries, agriculture, other livelihood activities and business assets. Infrastructure such as roads, railway, water, electricity and telecommunication supplies were severely affected. Remote coastal beaches were not accessible for a certain period of time. Social networks were disrupted. Vulnerable groups, such as poor fishery community who lived by the shore in simple shelters, were the worst affected. Apart from the coastal communities already being comparatively poor in the Sri Lankan context, the tsunami has compounded previously existing vulnerabilities and inequalities especially in the North and East, the region worst affected by the tsunami. In addition, many thousands indirectly linked to the key sectors such as tourism and fishery lost their means of livelihood.

Human

• Number of people killed 35,322
• Number of people injured 21,441
• Number of internally displaced people (IDPs) 516,150

Economic

• Value of lost assets US $900 million
• Number of lost livelihoods 150,000
• Number of houses damaged 89,000
• Proportion of fishing fleet destroyed 75%
• Extent of salinated agriculture land 23,449 acres
• Damage to tourism infrastructure
  • Large hotels 53 Out of 242
  • Small hotels 248
  • Related small enterprises 210

Social

• Widowed, Orphaned and affected elderly and disabled 40,000
• Health facilities damaged by the tsunami 97
• Education facility damaged
  • School 182
  • Universities 04
  • Vocational Training Center 15
• School Used as a Camps for IDPs 446
• School Children affected 200,000
  

(Source: TAFREN, Central Bank MoF - National Planning Department, Sectoral reports, Department of Census and Statistics)

The potential risk of a sizable death toll from possible deterioration of hygiene levels, lack of quality drinking water and shelter, and delayed access to health facilities was strong, but did not occur. In this background, it was an enormous challenge to address the multifaceted issue of providing immediate relief and facilitating recovery and reconstruction. The demonstration of human solidarity and kindness in the immediate aftermath in this endeavor in this small country was commendable.

There was a large outpouring of assistance from civil society; individuals, clubs, societies, local and international organizations who provided shelter in schools, temples, churches and other locations, mobilized to clear roads, search for survivors and transport injured to the hospitals and other safe locations. The international community quickly responded with humanitarian aid including rescue teams, supplies, equipment and personnel.

South Sri Lanka

Southern province is comprised of 03 districts known as Galle, Matara and Hambantota.

Shelter sector is divided into two i.e. Temporary / Transitional shelter and Permanent shelter.

Temporary and Transitional Shelter

Internally displaced families initially found shelter in temporary emergency accommodations such as tents, public buildings, and religious institutions or sought refuge with friends and relatives since the reconstruction of thousands of houses would take time. Therefore the need of transitional shelters was arisen to bridge the gap between emergency accommodation and permanent shelter.

Permanent Shelter

The government ministries and departments such as Urban Development Authority (UDA), National Water Supply and Drainage Board (NWSDB), Ceylon Electricity Board (CEB), Road Development Authority (RDA) and other relevant government institutions worked together with coordination on permanent house building.

Construction of New Houses

• UDA lands
• Church lands
• On original dwelling (beyond the buffer zone)

Repair of Partially Damaged Houses

Cash for Work

Initial focus of Caritas SED Galle's programme was on clearing debris to road and irrigation infrastructure rehabilitation.

Self Help Groups

Livelihood beneficiaries were facilitated to gather into small groups of similar professionals, industry, interests, close proximity etc. Group members are operating savings and credit activities within their groups.

There are 03 sub sectors in livelihood programme as followed.

• Agriculture
• Fisheries
• Micro Enterprise

Livelihood Asset Replacement

Destroyed assets were replaced to Individuals and livelihood groups to restore their means of livelihood as before the Tsunami.

Capacity Building

Several training and awareness programmes and workshops are conducting to improve knowledge and skills on various disciplines.