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I got the opportunity to join a fact finding mission to the Eastern Province organised by the National Peace Council of Sri Lanka. A group of monks and media persons representing the Southern Province took part in this tour.

During this tour we discussed with many of the key persons in Batticaloa, both in Government and LTTE controlled areas, issues concerning the welfare of the affected communities living in the welfare centres in Batticaloa and LTTE controlled Vakarai.

Ven. Ampitiye Sumanarathana Thera

The Chief Incumbent Thera of Mangalaramaya Temple, Batticaloa town, Ven. Ampitiye Sumanarathana Thera narrated everything that happened in the precincts of the temple since 9.10 in the morning on the fateful day of December 26, 2004.

Ven. monk said both the Tamil and Muslim people were seen running towards the temple using an unusual word in Tamil, for tsunami.

At the beginning there was a crowd of about 150 people but on the second day the number which occupied the temple premises increased to over 450 persons he said.

LTTE provincial leader for Vakarai in discussion with monks and the media

All who gathered at the temple could be heard weeping and wailing for the missing members of their families.

Clothes, towels, bedsheets and even robes which were available in the temple were given to the' people. On the first day with the assistance of the Sri Lankan Army, the displaced people were given food around, 4.00 p.m.

On the second day, no food was available in the temple for a crowed of 450 persons and realising the gravity of the problem. Ven. Sumanarathana Thera had to break open the till of the temple.

Tsunami affected women and their children housed in a congested welfare centre in Uryankadu school premises in Kadiraveli in an LTTE controlled area of Batticaloa district.

Coins and notes amounting to Rs. 3500 were found in the till and another sum of Rupees two thousand was obtained by pawning the gold chain of his brother. On the second day, displaced people could be fed, using the money thus obtained, he said breaking into tears.

Just after two days, on December 28th once again the lives of the victims of tsunami became miserable due to torrential rain resulting in heavy floods the Ven. Monk explained.

The Divisional Secretary had scolded the people and at that point the monk intervened and ordered him to leave the temple premises.

A certain army officer had tried to chase the people away from the temple but the monk got them back and provided each of them with a packet of dry rations he said.

The government officials of Batticaloa failed miserably to provide assistance to people when they were in the temple premises he said.

K. Devaasan, the Chief Officer of TRO, Batticaloa said that they had taken contingent measurers for an emergency and some groups were trained for disaster management.

Rev. Father T. Sritharan Sylvester, Director Eastern Human and Economic Development, Caritas-Batticaloa said that several organisations comprising Buddhist monks came to Batticaloa to provide humanitarian assistance to the affected communities.

The people of the Eastern Province witnessed the friendly nature of the Southern community specially after the catastrophe, he said.

Tsunami had created a healthy atmosphere for both LTTE and the Government to explore avenues to reach a lasting solution to the ethnic conflict, the explained.

The implementation of relief programmes of the Government in the Eastern Province proved to be very slow he complained.

Additional Divisional Secretary Vakarai, Ms. Rahula Nayagee referring to the statistics obtained by the G.S. areas of Punani East said 315 lives were lost due to the tidal waves. Out of 16 G.S. divisions, 13 divisions were severely affected by the tidal waves, she said.

The sum of Rs. 15,000 given by the Government for the funerals of the victims was already distributed among 315 families she said.

Certain local and foreign NGOs had undertaken the rehabilitation of some of the affected villages. The staff of Vakarai Divisional Secretariat works from 8.00 a.m. to 6.30 in the evening without O.T. she said.

She thanked the people and the monks of the South for visiting the Eastern community.

The provincial military leader of LTTE in Vakarai, N. Aruvu said that they were happy that some bhikkhus and a group of media persons from the South had reached Vakarai amid numerous inconveniences to gather firsthand information of the affected communities.

He said programmes launched by the Government on rehabilitation, and reconstruction should be done on all equal basis throughout the tsunami affected areas without discrimination.

Both Sinhala and Muslim representatives provided dry rations for the affected people living in the welfare centres in the Eastern province he said.