The Hindu: 08/08/2005"
Sri Lanka's tsunami survivors and their needs have largely been ignored by the authorities responsible for the reconstruction effort, a United Nations agency said today.
"Since the tsunami last year, a greater part of post-tsunami relief, reconstruction and rehabilitation work in Sri Lanka has been carried-out with minimal consultations with the affected communities," the United Nations Development Program (UNDP) here said in a statement.
The UNDP said they were supporting a new drive to gather views of the survivors through consultations with 1,100 tsunami-affected villages in 11 districts.
"No one knows our needs because no one asked us what we wanted. They just brought the same things over and over again," the UNDP quoted survivor Achala Lakmali as saying.
She said that the failure to listen to the affected people had led to a disconnect between assistance and needs on the ground.
"We got a lot of cooking utensils, but no one has given us assistance to build a house because we live with relatives. We pay a rent and have been asked to leave but we have no place to go. It is good that someone is finally asking us what we want," she was quoted as saying.
Sri Lanka's tsunami survivors and their needs have largely been ignored by the authorities responsible for the reconstruction effort, a United Nations agency said today.
"Since the tsunami last year, a greater part of post-tsunami relief, reconstruction and rehabilitation work in Sri Lanka has been carried-out with minimal consultations with the affected communities," the United Nations Development Program (UNDP) here said in a statement.
The UNDP said they were supporting a new drive to gather views of the survivors through consultations with 1,100 tsunami-affected villages in 11 districts.
"No one knows our needs because no one asked us what we wanted. They just brought the same things over and over again," the UNDP quoted survivor Achala Lakmali as saying.
She said that the failure to listen to the affected people had led to a disconnect between assistance and needs on the ground.
"We got a lot of cooking utensils, but no one has given us assistance to build a house because we live with relatives. We pay a rent and have been asked to leave but we have no place to go. It is good that someone is finally asking us what we want," she was quoted as saying.
