SRI LANKA: Habitat Aid and Reconstruction

The task ahead: "Core" Habitat homes need to be built urgently In Sri Lanka

In Sri Lanka, an estimated one million people have been displaced. Habitat affiliates in Galle
and Batticaloa, on the east and southern sides of the island, plus others north and south of the
capital Colombo on the west coast, were directly affected.

The exact number of Habitat homeowners killed or left homeless is still hard to determine.
Many affiliate staff and volunteers were personally affected by the tsunami and focused their
rescue and reconstruction efforts close to home. Initial indications are, for example, that at least
24 Habitat families need rehousing in Battticaloa, The affiliate manages 99 Habitat home partners
and numerous savings groups in communities south of the city. Of the 99 homes, four were
destroyed and one damaged in Kallaru, some 30 kilometers away; and at least seven destroyed
and six damaged in and Thirukovil, 55 kilometers beyond.

Rebuilding of Habitat homes has commenced in some instances in Batticaloa and Galle.
These are mainly rebuilding on existing foundations that are deemed secure. Where possible,
they utilize undamaged blocks, tiles and other materials. However, the majority of constructions
and the materials will be new. Meanwhile, in Batticaloa, some 300 families – most of them
non-Habitat families – have applied for a new home with the affiliate. A second inland site,
covering one-and-a-half acres, has been donated by a Habitat supporter; the first donor provided
a two-acre site where at least 45 homes can be built. The affiliate’s existing building and training
center is producing 3,600 concrete blocks a day.

Overall, HFH Sri Lanka is part of a collaborative response from C-Net, an alliance of ten
Christian-based NGOs. Other alliance members are Christian Children Fund of Canada, Christian
Reform World Commission on Relief, LEADS, Mennonite Central Committee, World Concern,
World Vision, Shelter for Life, Y-Gro and ZOA.

Initially the aim is to build 20,000 core houses and to move 100,000 people out of displaced
people camps. HFH Sri Lanka is the largest homebuilder in the country after the government,
and may well be directly responsible for at least 10,000 of these.

Implementing a comprehensive response depends on government. The tentative policy
is to prevent housing within 300 meters of the affected coastline. This seems to imply that
affected homeowners (including Habitat homeowners) cannot repair or rebuild on site. It is
not clear how plots further inland will be acquired.
 
A large amount of money is flowing into Sri Lanka. The World Bank is reported to be committing
US$260 million that could see each of the 130,000 displaced families given US$2,000 for a
house. The money would be deposited into government-opened individual bank accounts.
Such an amount would build larger houses than those proposed by HFH Sri Lanka. It is not clear
how the money would be monitored once families receive it or how the families would be
expected to actually build.

HFH Sri Lanka is proposing “core” houses comprising a permanent structure with roofing,
a single room with a verandah or covered living/work space with a 250 sq.ft. footprint. It would
include basic sanitary facilities. In a second building phase as funds become available, another
room could be added later to enlarge the home. The construction-only costs for each basic
shelter would be about up to US$500.

HFH Sri Lanka plans to create disaster response technical or building and training centers in four
locations, to ensurelong-term sustainability for any reconstruction project.

More than US$2 million may be available to finance this first phase in HFH Sri Lanka. Local
businesses in Sri Lanka and foreign companies have pledged as much as US$750,000. Overseas
donors, many of them Sri Lankan expatriates in Europe and North America, are also making
pledges. Habitat for Humanity is expecting to match funds for some aspects of the construction.

You can help the efforts of the Habitat for Humanity Disaster Response Office by a donation to the Asia Tsunami Response Fund.