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| Thursday, 27 January 2005 |
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by Hilary Benn, UK Secretary of State for International Development Britain has stood with Sri Lanka in the wake of the Boxing Day tsunami calamity that claimed over 40,000 Sri Lankan lives, as well as those of 11 British holidays-makers, and twice as many who are missing. The shock and distress has been felt particularly in our close-knit UK Sri Lankan communities in places like East Ham, Barking, Harrow and Kingston; while in Sri Lanka itself British people are working alongside local people to pick up the pieces of the disaster, and help get the country back up on its feet. There has been an extraordinarily moving worldwide response to a tragedy that has affected us all. The awesome power of nature has been matched by human beings; willingness to help each other; people who live thousands of miles away; people whose names and faces we do not know - but people who are our neighbours. Ours is an inter-dependent world, in which a disaster for one country is a disaster for all. On Saturday, January 8, I was in Batticaloa on the east coast of Sri Lanka. I visited a school building housing over 1,000 people - most sleeping on the floor. Almost all had lost some or all of their family; and their stories of death and escape were hard to bear. The coastline itself was an appalling scene: brick buildings, two layers thick, had been flattened. I met crews from the Royal Navy ships Chatham and Diligence, who were pumping out wells polluted by seawater, rubble and in some cases bodies. The determination shown both by local officials and by the UN agencies and NGOs on the ground was exceptional. Nothing has stood still in the three-and-a-half weeks since the disaster. Even now, we are still working out the full extent of the loss; and still adapting to how we deal with it. From 27th December - when the Government dispatched a first plane with tents and plastic sheeting to Sri Lanka - everyday has brought more money and more practical help. Worldwide, the UN says that up to $4 billion have been pledged for disaster relief. Within that, it's now estimated that the 200 million pounds of UK government money pledged will be matched by the same figure again from the British public. The Disaster Emergency Committee has been astounded by the level of the public's response; the DEC's members, 12 of Britain's best known charities, will put the funds to use for both immediate relief and longer-term reconstruction. One of the Department for International Development's most practical contributions has been to fly out supplies bought through the DEC appeal. Three flights, carrying amongst other things water purification equipment, tarpaulins, jerry cans and cooksets, have already landed in Sri Lanka - and two more are scheduled. And I have announced that Sri Lanka will be added to the list of countries eligible for our new multilateral debt relief initiative, that was announced by the Chancellor in September 2004. This means that $5.5 million owed by the country to international financing institutions such as the World Bank in 2005 can now be made available for the reconstruction effort, with an extra $80 million to follow over the next ten years. Sri Lanka's challenges are many. The new term is beginning; many children have been orphaned; and in places their school buildings are being used to house homeless people. The Government's priority is now to resettle the 430,000 people driven out of their homes, most of whom are in the east and the north. 222,000 are in welfare centres-the remainder are under tarpaulin, or housed with family or friends. Much of the immediate aid will secure the immediate need for water and proper sanitation in the welfare camps. Immediate and long-term, physical as well as emotional - the task is huge, and its matched by Sri Lanka's will to meet it. The British Government has played its part, and will continue to do so. |
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