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70% of victims without aid
02/02/2005 15:09 - (SA)
Colombo - Aid for tsunami victims in Sri Lanka has reached only 30% of the almost one million people affected by the disaster because of bureaucratic bungling, a top government official said on Wednesday, as survivors stepped up protests.
Hundreds of men, women and children rallied outside the United Nations World Food Programme office in the capital, Colombo, complaining they had not received food rations. Demonstrators from the southern coastal town of Matara submitted a petition seeking UN intervention to obtain relief.
"This is not satisfactory," Thilak Ranavirajah, chief of the presidential task force to coordinate relief, told reporters about the scarce aid distribution. "The president directed me to see that all families, or at least 70% to 75% of them, get relief by this weekend."
The December 26 earthquake and tsunami killed more than 30 000 in Sri Lanka and affected a further 960 000 people who lost family members or their homes.
Ranavirajah said bureaucratic incompetence and ignorance of tsunami survivors had considerably slowed aid delivery. His figures excluded areas in the north and east under Tamil Tiger rebel control.
Demonstrations
The WFP said they were baffled by the demonstrations, saying the organisation had donated 10 000 tons of rice, lentils and sugar and helped deliver them to government stores island-wide.
"We are very concerned about these protests," said Selvi Sachithanandam, a WFP spokesperson. "Food has already been sent, we can't understand why the people aren't getting it."
Word of the delivery troubles came a day after the government began investigating complaints that food aid intended for tsunami victims in eastern Batticaloa had disappeared and that some of the homeless living in camps were being fed rotten supplies.
The government estimates that it will cost $103m to compensate the surviving families and provide food rations for the next six months.
"I don't know from where the treasury will find the money, but my problem is that our public servants have failed to deliver what the government wants given to those in need," Ranavirajah said.
"There will be a certain amount of corruption," he said, vowing action against anyone found guilty.
On Monday, hundreds protested in the eastern town of Trincomalee, claiming the government had given them no food aid and offered no help to rebuild their lives.
Ranavirajah also ordered all government employees involved in relief activities to report to work on Friday despite it being a national holiday for Independence Day.
- AP
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