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Rising to the challenge of aiding reconstruction

While it is encouraging to note the ready responses Sri Lanka is having to her appeals to her foreign friends for material and financial assistance in this her hour of need, what is of equal importance is the succour the local citizenry could provide in the great reconstruction and rehabilitation effort which is underway in the flood-affected areas. It is our hope that the Government's call for countrywide help in this effort wouldn't fall on deaf ears.

Every able citizen owes it to her or his countrymen to help in whichever way they can to get the flood-affected areas of Sri Lanka back on their feet. We hope the assistance needed would not only be forthcoming but be also regular and substantial.

As is often the case, times of tragedy tend to bring out the best in Sri Lankans. In times past material and emotional support were spontaneously rendered by the local people to their counterparts who were in the throes of suffering. The recent drought in Southern Sri Lanka is a case in point. In that crisis, assistance of all kinds, flowed into the affected region in substantial quantities. Here indeed was a spontaneous, warm response to those in need of a helping hand.

The same process seems to be picking-up at the time of a reverse disaster in almost the identical region. At the neighbourhood, village, town and district levels people seem to be awakening to the need to render assistance in whichever way possible to the flood-affected. Hopefully, the Government's call would quicken this process.

Unfortunately, national crises have also brought out the worst among some local sections. These sections suffer from the tragic flaw of making a fast buck even out of calamities. It happened at the time of drought and it could happen again at a time of deluge. Some groups have already sprung into the act of collecting material assistance and funds, at the local and neighbourhood levels, for instance, but how reliable are they?

While benefactors need to direct their assistance to only those who have been authorized by the State to perform the function of collection centres - such as District Secretariats - the law enforcement agencies need to get wise to the wiles of these swindlers. Those not authorized to collect flood assistance should be taken to task by law-enforcers.

Meanwhile, the flame of humanity needs to be kept burning in the hearts of the citizenry. Besides the ordinary people of the land and the State sector, even the corporate and business sectors need to rise to this challenge of providing abundantly for the reconstruction of the flood-affected areas.

We need to work as one man for the whole resuscitation of the flood-affected regions. A spirit of sacrifice and caring for the unfortunate is a pressing need. Equally important is a high degree of accountability on the part of those receiving and disbursing funds.

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