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| Wednesday, 19 January 2005 |
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Murali to tsunami fishermen's help Sri Lanka spinner Muttiah Muralitharan has called for greater support for the island's fishermen after visiting the south coast with team mates to hand out aid to tsunami victims. Muralitharan, one of the world's leading players and a United Nations ambassador for the World Food Programme, said he was "deeply shocked" after visiting Hambantota, a fishing town where locals say up to 15,000 people are dead or missing. The densely populated beachfront centre of the town and a local market, packed with around 4,000 traders and shoppers, was decimated by giant waves early on Boxing Day morning. "I have now seen so many towns and villages along the east and south coasts, many of which were hit extremely badly, but I'm deeply shocked by what I have seen here - this town is probably the worst affected," Muralitharan told reporters. Fishermen, living in temporary plastic tents on the rubble of their homes, told Muralitharan that only about five of the town's 400 fishing trawlers were seaworthy while most of their traditional sea canoes had also been destroyed. The United Nations estimate that some 7,500 fishermen have been confirmed dead with at least 5,600 reported missing. Around 18,500 fishing vessels are believed to have been destroyed, about 80 per cent of the island's fishing fleet. Muralitharan, accompanied by Sri Lanka vice-captain Mahela Jayawardene, Kumar Sangakkara, Nuwan Zoysa and Avishka Gunawardene, visited 10 emergency relief camps during a two-daytour around Galle, Matara, Tangalle and Hanbantota. The cricketers travelled south to distribute five lorries of food, medicine, clothing, eating utensils and toys that they had personally raised from a variety of sources. They were also representing the cricket board's disasterassistance programme called Cricket-Aid, which is running an emergency camp in Matara. (Reuters) |
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