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President visits Trinco, Kalmunai

President Chandrika Bandaranaike Kumaratunga visited Trincomalee and Kalmunai to meet the people affected by the recent tidal wave and floods.

Soon after her arrival at the Trincomalee Naval Base, the President visited the Vivekananda school in Trincomalee where nearly 1,500 affected people belonging to 350 families are temporarily accommodated.

On her arrival there, the President was received by two LTTE women members. President Kumaratunga who spoke with them promised to attend to their needs. The majority of people housed in this school had been engaged in the fisheries industry and they had lost their homes, boats and fishing gear in the tide.

The President promised to provide them with new houses and boats within two months and until then to provide all their requirements through the government.

President Kumaratunga also spoke to the doctors working at the camp attending to the affected people and inquired as to whether they had adequate supplies of medicine and other needs.

The President also directed Minister Maithripala Sirisena and Trincomalee Government Agent Gamini Rodrigo who accompanied her to ensure that all medical and other needs are supplied to the people at the school premises without interruption.

Thereafter President Kumaratunga visited Abeypura Viharaya housing nearly 6,000 affected people belonging to 1,161 families. These people included Sinhalese, Tamils and Muslims from Sirimapura, Vijithapura, Uppuveli and Samadra Nagara areas. The majority of them are also fishermen.

The people there who told President Kumaratunga that they had adequate supplies of food and other needs said that they have lost all their belongings including houses and boats.

The President also spoke with the doctors attending on the people there and inquired about their requirements of medicines and other supplies.

Thereafter, the President returned to the Trincomalee Navy camp and discussed the present situation in Trincomalee at a meeting attended by high officials including security forces and police chiefs and the Government Agent.

The President told them to identify government land suitable for building houses to the displaced and report back to her immediately. She said such land should be atleast a kilometre or more away from the sea coast.

The President also directed the Trincomalee Government Agent to submit immediate statistics about the number of people who had lost their fishing boats and the requirements of boats.

She also directed the Government Agent to provide a daily report about the camps housing displaced persons in the district and other details to the special co-ordinating unit set up at the Presidential Secretariat.

She also promised to provide the funds necessary for facilitating the displaced persons in the near future.

The President who heard that the Kinniya hospital had been completely destroyed directed that temporary hospitals be set up at the refugee camps and medicines and other needs be quickly supplied to them.

Trincomalee Government Agent Gamini Rodrigo said that 37,948 families had been displaced in the Trincomalee district alone. Already Satellite Telecommunication facilities have been provided to the Government Agent's office and other Co-ordinating officers on the intervention of the President.

Minister Maithripala Sirisena, Defence Secretary Asoka Jayawardene, Navy Commander Vice Admiral Daya Sandagiri and Trincomalee District MP Jayantha Wijesekera also attended the conference.

From Trincomalee, President Kumaratunga visited Kalmunai to meet the displaced people there. She visited the Kamal Fathima National School in Kalmunai housing nearly 2,500 families and spoke to some of the displaced people.

The President also spoke to the Muslim religious dignitaries at the Kamal Mosque who told her that the displaced had received enough food and other needs and their urgent requirements were water tanks and kitchen utensils.

A large number of people in the neighbourhood also flocked to the National school to meet the President on hearing about the President's visit.

The President also visited Mahmud Ladies College where 3,500 displaced families are temporarily accommodated and looked into their needs.

Minister Ferial Ashraff was also present.

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