Over 26,000 tsunami houses by Red Cross

The Sri Lanka Red Cross Society acted within the first hour of the tsunami of 26/12, 2004 realizing the enormity of the devastation and appealed to the world for immediate assistance for the recovery program, a press release of the SLRC said.

The International Federation of the Red Cross worked with the SLRC to implement the mammoth recovery program and due to the cooperation of the International Federation of the Red Cross it was possible to build 26,709 houses at a cost of over Rs. 12.81 billion for the tsunami affected people in twelve districts, the release said.

Accordingly 6,364, houses in Ampara District, 6,712 in Batticaloa District, 364 in Colombo District, 3,503 in Galle District, 72 in Gampaha District, 229 in Hambantota District, 432 in Jaffna District, 1,424 in Kalutara District, 264 in Kilinochchi, 507 in Matara District, 517 in Mutur District, 826 in Mullaitivu District and 6,002 in Trincomalee District were built by the Sri Lanka Red Cross, the release also said.