OneWorld.net (U.S.)

Respond to disaster in east and south with equal commitment The tidal wave that struck the north, east and south of the country on the day after Christmas has left the coastal areas devastated with the death toll in the thousands and a refugee population of over a million. Although Sri Lanka's multi ethnic communities continue to be polarised on how power is to be shared amongst them the sea did not distinguish between them. The tidal waves did not spare either the government-controlled or LTTE-controlled areas.

Tamils, Sinhalese and Muslims, they have all suffered, lost their lives, their loved ones and their homes. The response of the government to this crisis will be of the utmost importance in assuring Sri Lankans of all ethnic communities that the government is a government of all people, an institution that serves people and protects them, and not only rules and governs them.

Of the affected areas, the east has been doubly unfortunate. It received the direct impact of the waves emanating from the earthquake in the seas off Sumatra to its west. The need for the Meteorology Department to be improved so that the people can get advance notice of impending catastrophe was highlighted by this event. It took two hours for the tidal waves to come after the earthquake. But the people who were the victims of the tidal waves had no warning at all. Worse still the people living on the eastern seaboard were just recovering from the floods caused by heavy rains in the previous weeks. Some were still in temporary refugee camps when disaster struck them a second time.

I was in the east three days before the tidal waves struck. The people in the refugee camps and the relief workers in the area were coping with the aftermath of the floods. The damage and dislocation was relatively minor in contrast to that done by the tsunamis tidal waves. However, even with regard to the earlier floods they complained that more attention had not been paid to their plight and to their recovery. This will perhaps be the situation when any disaster of such magnitude strikes people. While the government machinery was functioning and delivering relief to them, they felt that their plight had not become a national issue and they were relegated to the margins.

Similar effort An important part of the process of recovery and rehabilitation would be to assure people that the government and society at large is very much concerned about their welfare. Along with the eastern seaboard areas in Trincomalee, Amparai and Batticaloa, the seaboard areas of Galle, Hambantota and Matara at the bottom of the island have been devastated by the tidal waves. Even if the government machinery in the southern districts is inadequate to cope with the magnitude of the disaster, there is a reasonable assurance that the government will be exerting its utmost to salvage the people's lives in the south. Both Prime Minister Mahinda Rajapakse and the government's second biggest constituent party, the JVP, have their home bases in the south.

Not much information about the disaster is still available from the LTTE-controlled areas in the north and east. However, LTTE political leader S P Thamilselvan had disclosed that for a beginning 800 bodies had been recovered. As the LTTE-controlled areas are amongst the most war destroyed and poverty ridden parts of the country, it is likely that people living there had very little protection from the ravages of the tidal waves. They would not have had big buildings in which to seek refuge. Their little huts would have been swept into the ocean. The need of the people on the eastern seaboard from LTTE-controlled Mullaitivu downward would be very pressing.

It is critically important that the government should be determined to exert a similar and visible effort as to what it is doing in the south to provide relief and rehabilitation to the east and also to the north. Except for Minister Ferial Ashraff in the east and Minister Douglas Devananda in the north, the government does not have any powerful politicians whose home base is in the north east. Most of the north east is represented by political parties that are in the opposition. This would mean that the internal lobbying pressure on the government to give priority assistance to the north east is likely to be low. Therefore it is important that the government, which must be an all country institution, should make a special endeavour to look after the relief effort in the north east.

In any major relief effort that is meant to cover all affected areas in the north east, it is important that the LTTE be brought in as a major actor and that the LTTE should be prepared to work with the government. In the past the LTTE has generally insisted on working on its own. But with a disaster of this magnitude it is important that the LTTE should revise its attitudes. This is primarily because large parts of the northeast are under the control of the LTTE and it is they who determine who works where and what they do. The dispute over power sharing between the government and LTTE must not impede the relief and rehabilitation efforts.

In addition the LTTE has a disciplined cadre that would be capably of effectively operating in the adverse conditions that exist in the northeast. Addressing the urgent needs of the people needs to be given first place. The strained relations between the government and LTTE should not become an obstacle to ground level cooperation between these two actors. It should also reveal to the LTTE that it cannot serve the people of the north east effectively without a genuine partnership with the government.

Best Interests Unfortunately the present political situation does not appear to be conductive to such cooperation and partnership. For the past nine months since the election to office of the new UPFA government there has been a deadlock, if not deterioration, in the peace process. The government and LTTE have not been able to make the compromises that are necessary for them to take the peace process forward. They are not even dealing with each other in a problem-solving manner. They both seem to have definite political agendas that make it difficult for them to compromise. Instead of compromising they each prefer to point the finger at the other for being intransigent. As a result the trust and respect that the government and LTTE have for each other gets further eroded.

The most recent development in the peace process has been the LTTE's formal rejection of the government's latest proposals for recommencing the peace talks. The issue remains the vexed one of power sharing between the government and LTTE. The LTTE has stated that the government has been vague in its proposals and has called for a definite consensus within the government coalition prior to a resumption of peace talks. On the other hand, there are media reports that President Chandrika Kumaratunga has expressed her determination to be more specific in addressing the LTTE's concerns that the negotiations should be specifically based on the LTTE's proposals for an interim self governing authority.

This positive action on the part of the President could be greatly strengthened by cooperation on the ground between the government and LTTE in delivering immediate humanitarian relief to the affected people. Sometimes answers to problems that cannot be worked out in theoretical discussions can get sorted out in practical realities. The international community has granted a substantial amount of relief assistance that would need to be delivered in an effective manner to the needy people. These funds and material need to find mechanisms to deliver them to the affected people.

Some historians are saying that the last time that Sri Lanka was hit by a national calamity of this magnitude was 2000 years ago when the little princess Vihara Maha Devi was set afloat on a raft on the Kelani river to assuage the anger of the seas. At this time of unprecedented national disaster, political and power struggles between the government and LTTE should not stand in the way of relief actions that are in the best interests of the people. In cooperating with each other to meet the humanitarian needs of the flood affected people, it is also possible that the government and LTTE will learn to trust and respect each other's commitment to the best interests of the people they both seek to serve.