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MSF’S TSUNAMI RESPONSE IN SRI LANKA FLEXES TO DIFFERING NEEDS
Working in Kalmuni in Ampara District, about 50 kilometres north of the popular Arawan Bay, Chris said the MSF logistical response in the first hours was impressive. “Within the first 24 hours after the tsunami hitting Sri Lanka we received 35 tonnes of relief materials, since then we have brought in approximately 1,000 metric tonnes with MSF Spain alone,” Chris said.
The supplies MSF brought in were medical supplies and practical non-food items (NFIs) including soap, water buckets, mats and shelter materials. However it was obvious from a very early stage that the emergency medical needs of the tsunami victims were limited indeed, due to the massive response from the international and domestic health sector. The needs quickly turned to shelter as tens of thousands of Sri Lankans found themselves homeless and displaced from their own communities. “Early on we set up three temporary hospital structures to help with the immediate infrastructure requirements in Marathamunai, Nintavur and Karativu. And then we saw that the displaced people were living in public buildings such as schools and the conditions were cramped and unsanitary in many of them. The [Sri Lankan] government wanted to get them out but there was no plan for resettlement, so after a rapid but comprehensive assessment of the needs, we decided there was a compelling case for MSF to be provide shelter,” recalls Chris. The MSF logistics team set about designing a temporary shelter that could be constructed from local materials in the minimum time possible. Fortunately there was a highly experienced construction logistician on Chris’ team who designed the wooden frame, iron sheeting and walled shelter, suitable to last up to two years and could be constructed in 30 minutes.
Once the design and materials were sourced and confirmed, local Sri Lankan tradesmen were hired to start work on providing 1400 temporary shelters in the Ampara district, the majority of them in Mandani Camp, Tirkuoivil. Working 12 to 14 hours a day Chris had 30 local carpenters on his team. “It was really efficient – in just 14 days we built shelters, latrines and the water system for 750 families, which is about 3,000 people. In total we had 100 local tradesmen including another 30 masons,” said Chris. With the immediate medical emergency covered MSF continued epidemiological surveillance but to this day there have been no significant outbreaks of disease in the coastal communities. “From our perspective on the ground it was not a medical emergency, but we were able to achieve excellent results in a short amount of time…after just six weeks we provided shelter to over 1,000 families,” said Chris. Chris Daley is from Yeppoon in Queensland, and this was his fourth mission with MSF. Story by James Nichols » Read more about MSF's
response to the Tsunami disaster
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Australian
volunteer Chris Daley, a logistician with the Spanish section of Médecins
Sans Frontières (MSF), recently returned from a three-month emergency
mission in Sri Lanka, following the devastating Boxing Day Asian tsunami.
