Japan, UNDP pay tsunami victims to clear coastal debris

USING bare hands, shovels and barrows, tsunami survivors are cleaning the debris-strewn coast and getting paid for it under a scheme funded by the Japanese government.

Some 5,500 affected by the December 26, 2004 wave surge have participated in the cash-for-work project administered through the United Nations Development Program, (UNDP) with more expected to benefit in coming weeks, a release said yesterday.

Japan is one of several key donors who responded to the UNDP's call for emergency aid to restore housing, small-scale infrastructure and livelihoods and for other urgent needs in the wake of the disaster which claimed lives of 31,229 Sri Lankans.

Young and old workers paid at the rate of Rs. 300 a day, sort through piles of rubble which have partly impeded the return to normality in these areas.

The cash-for-work effort costing a little under half a million dollars is providing much needed temporary employment and has speeded up the tedious task of sprucing up neighbourhoods in the North, East and the South, before the construction of permanent housing can begin.

"Apart from clearing up the coastal belt, the program injects much-needed cash into local economies," said Nynke Kuperus, Transition and Recovery Analyst at the UNDP.

"It contributes to and supports families in their struggle to overcome the disaster. Women, in particular, feel self-confident when they participate."

Much of the work is done manually or with rudimentary implements like hammers, mammoties and axes. Tractors are sent periodically to haul away heavier material.

"It is difficult for individuals to do this sort of work alone," said Gnana Sivapathasundaram, the UNDP's Senior Program Officer in Jaffna. "Many of these people are traumatised by the tsunami disaster and cannot be expected to clear up even their own compounds on their own."

In Marudamunai, Ampara, 38-year-old barber, Koneswaran was able to clear his property with the help of two other cash-for-workers. "This is a great opportunity for us to get this work done. Now I have to collect some money to re-build my home."

Project supervisors were keen to get the scheme under way before imminent monsoon rains turned the rubbish mounds into potential breeding grounds for disease.

A good proportion of the debris is material that can be recycled to build new houses and repair roads and irrigation channels while other waste is used to bolster retaining bunds along the sea shore.

Of the 261,414 families affected in the disaster, over half live in the northern and eastern provinces where the UNDP supports the peace process through its transition program.

Several cash-for-work projects got under way in March, after the major jobs, such as clearing main roads, had been completed by the government and others.

At least 13 areas in the districts of Jaffna, Mullaitivu, Trincomalee, Batticaloa, Ampara, Hambantota and Galle have cash-for-work programs in progress while more will kick off in coming weeks.