Oxfam’s Tsunami Emergency Appeal has been the most successful appeal in our history. As a result of the unprecedented public response in New Zealand and internationally, Oxfam’s planned work is now almost fully funded, supporting a long-term programme to rebuild communities in the tsunami-affected region. Oxfam is working on the ground in Indonesia, Sri Lanka, India, the Maldives and Somalia, reaching 600,000 people.
Oxfam’s Tsunami Emergency Appeal has been the most successful appeal in our history. As a result of the unprecedented public response in New Zealand and internationally, Oxfam’s planned work is now almost fully funded, supporting a long-term programme to rebuild communities in the tsunami-affected region. Oxfam is working on the ground in Indonesia, Sri Lanka, India, the Maldives and Somalia, reaching 600,000 people.
Our focus is on providing clean water and sanitation, helping to prevent the outbreak of diseases such as cholera and typhoid. Oxfam New Zealand-supported water engineers, Les Collins and Dave Neru, in Aceh, Indonesia and Kate Medlicott and Richard Weaver, in Sri Lanka, have played a leading role in providing clean water and sanitation.
Getting on – after the tsunami
We’ve seen the photos and TV footage of the devastation – of boats in trees, gaping churches and recently completed aid-funded hospitals that look like they’ve been stepped on. It is what can’t be seen that strikes more profoundly, says Kate Medlicott, Oxfam New Zealand’s Water Programme Manager, who is in Sri Lanka with the Oxfam emergency response team.
Before the tsunami, people in this area lived in houses, in some cases more basic than the tents they now have. Now there is nothing to see – as if no one ever lived there.
In the first days after the tsunami local Oxfam staff in Batticaloa assisted with ferrying injured people to hospital and distributed cooked food. They also distributed water tanks to camps in many districts.
People are now just getting on with their lives as best they can,” says Kate, and from the outside it’s not too affronting. Children run out to wave to us and we’re nearly always greeted with smiles and kindness. It’s when you talk to people on a personal level, however, that the trauma of the tsunami shows.
At first, when I started talking with the local Oxfam staff, I was surprised that everyone told their stories of what they were doing when the tsunami struck in a giggly, joking kind of way. One day, as Ragu told me his story, I remarked how amazed I was that everyone was able to laugh about it and his eyes immediately welled up.
Since then I’ve noticed it’s normal – the laughing seems to be a way of coping. I’m told people who witnessed the genocide in Rwanda do the same.”
Kate is based in a very poor district, Vakarai, north of Batticaloa. Before the tsunami, 90 percent of the people were fisherman. Many of them have lost everything – their homes, family members, fishing boats – their livelihoods. Many can’t return to rebuild as the government has declared that no resettlement will be permitted within 200 metres of the shoreline. Others are too afraid to return.
She is working long hours to establish water and sanitation facilities in nine camps, now home to 3000 families. She is working with two local Oxfam engineers, technical assistants and local partners – building toilets, trucking in chlorinated water to tanks and constructing private bathing areas for women. It’s basic stuff – but a constant race against time to prevent the outbreak of disease.
It’s satisfying,” says Kate. We are able to make a huge difference.”
However, real reminders of the longer-term difficulties, such as dealing with the trauma of the tsunami, remain ever present.
In a focus group today,” Kate writes, we were questioning kids about changes in hygiene practices they will need to stay healthy in the camps. It was hard to get them to talk so we started to question them more broadly about changes, things that were different or things that they missed. Slowly answers came in about underwear, favourite dresses, having more than one pair of shoes.
One girl put up her hand and said ‘I miss my little sister’. Then suddenly the rest of the children followed, brothers, parents, friends…”
Oxfam has been involved in each of the countries badly affected by the tsunami for more than 30 years, and we are committed to helping local people rebuild their lives, livelihoods and communities in the long term. Oxfam is also speaking out, pressing governments and the international community to respond with sufficient aid, debt relief and trade reforms.
