Jayasuriyagama, Atapattugama for tsunami victims

Elmo Rodrigopulle

HOUSING: It will be a day of rejoicing for those who lost their homes due to the tsunami, when Sri Lanka Cricket in association with World Vision hands over 99 new houses to the Matara community today.

The new villages are to be named the Sanath Jayasuriyagama and the Marvan Atapattugama. Both are former Sri Lankan cricket captains and it is also a great honour to them.

When the tsunami calamity hit the country, at the helm of Sri Lanka Cricket at that time was Thilanga Sumathipala. Sumathipala immediately set up what was then known as Cricket-Aid, in aid of victims.

Cricket-Aid realising the critical need of having people capable of trauma and awareness made immediate contact with Green Cross in the USA through Ranjit Fernando, the well-known TV personality.

Calling it the Cricket-Aid Housing Village Project, SLC set up four villages in the North, South, East and West of the country.

Realising the damage that the tsunami had done, ICC, World Vision and Cricket Australia joined together to play a match at the Melbourne Cricket Ground between a World XI and an Asian XI and guaranteed a pre-match collection of A$ 500,000 to Sri Lanka through World Vision.

The day's collection brought in A$ 2 million with phone messages spinning in an unbelievable sum of A$ 21 million. A few days after the tsunami, Sumathipala got the team to spread out to the four corners of the island with their wives, partners, former cricketers, cricket officials and others to gain insight and first hand information.

Cricket Aid also provided opportunities for some of the Matara folks in the camp to return to their livelihood of fishing, providing them with a deep sea vessel worth over Rs. 300,000.

Hashan Tillekeratne, the former Sri Lanka Captain was then in charge of this gigantic and laudable project.

The Interim Committee of Sri Lanka Cricket that took over when the Sumathipala administration was dissolved, have continued the good work initiated by the Sumathipala administration, and today sees the culmination of that good work.

Those who contributed to Cricket-Aid: Emirates Cricket Board US$25,000, West Indies Cricket Board US $20,000, Adelaide Friends of SL Au $ 3,550 David A. Cruse US $ 3,130, Melbourne AU$ 16,580, Northern Territory Cricket AU $ 11,145, World Vision Australia AU$ 500,000, FICA New Zealand US$ 130,000. New Zealand Cricket NZ$ 100,000, Queensland AU$ 6,840, Lord's 75,000 pounds and Surrey CC 75,000 pounds.

More aid has been received by the Interim Committee led by Jayantha Dharmadasa and these monies have been well utilised to see to the dawn of these two villages.