Sri Lanka: UN refugee agency completes post-tsunami shelter-building mission

The United Nations refugee agency announced today that it had completed its task coordinating the construction of more than 58,000 temporary dwellings in Sri Lanka to house those displaced to emergency shelters such as tents and public buildings by last December’s devastating tsunami.

Shortly after the tsunami hit the island nation, killing over 30,000 people and displacing nearly 800,000, the Sri Lankan Government asked the UN High Commission for Refugees (UNHCR) to coordinated dozens of non-governmental organizations (NGOs) to build the shelters, according to UNHCR spokesperson Jennifer Pagonis.

“While the refugee agency is not normally involved in natural disasters, UNHCR accepted this short-term role because of the scale of the devastation, and because many of the tsunami-affected people were those also internally displaced due to the conflict,” Ms. Pagonis said.

She added that the agency formally handed over responsibility for permanent shelter to the Sri Lankan government last Tuesday, 15 November.

In addition, UNHCR's own direct shelter programme of building 4,500 transitional shelter units in the northern district of Jaffna and the eastern district of Ampara is nearly completed, she announced.

“Some 20,000 people have benefited from these shelters, with most residents happy with their new houses. Many have taken to painting them with bright colours to personalise their new homes,” she said.

UNHCR is returning its focus to its pre-tsunami work of providing assistance to the approximately 341,000 people internally displaced by the civil conflict between the Government and the Tamil Tigers separatist group, as well as refugees returning from India, where some 68,000 Sri Lankan refugees remain.

Under the UN Indian Ocean Tsunami Flash Appeal, UNHCR asked for $15.3 million for the operation in Sri Lanka, and was quickly fully funded. At the end of October 2005, slightly more than $6 million had been spent on shelters, protection-related activities such as registration, surveys, property rights issues, logistics and supplies such as tents and transport. The balance is expected to be carried over into 2006 to continue to provide assistance to tsunami and conflict-displaced people.

UNHCR has been working in Sri Lanka for over 20 years.