Tsunami clean-up could take months

The clean-up operation on the stricken island of Sri Lanka could take months, aid agencies warned today.

At least 79,000 houses have been completely wiped out across the island and a further 20,000 partially destroyed.

Whole villages and communities have been demolished, leaving a devastating wreckage of buildings, telephone wires and people’s personal possessions.

The village of Dutchbar near Batticaloa on the east coast, was razed to the ground, with houses and schools flattened.

Mangled bicycles, dented pots, remnants of Christmas trees and torn clothing lay strewn about.

A string of Christmas fairy lights stood out – wrapped around the concrete remains of the house they once lit up.

Wandering among the ruins, there was the distinctive pungent smell of death, as many bodies have yet to be discovered.

A team of search and rescue dogs arrived at the village to start the grim task of finding the dead who have laid in tombs for almost a week.

According to government figures, 4,800 people are still missing, feared to have either been washed away or buried beneath the rubble but whilst hundreds of thousands are still desperate for clean water, shelter and food, the clearing up process is not the number one priority.

Vasuki Jeyasankar, an aid worker who lives in Batticaloa, said the rebuilding process would take time.

“Even if we could focus on the clearing up, we do not have the equipment or the people to do it,” she said. “We are not organised for such a thing.”

Anjali Kwatra, from Christian Aid, said although it would take time to rebuild the communities, the need for supplies was still important.

“In the immediate aftermath and in the coming days, the immediate priority is to make sure all these people who have been made homeless have food, clean water and that disease does not break out,” she said.

“We have also got to start thinking about long-term plans to rehabilitate, we cannot leave it as it is. We really need to get these people back into their homes or where they want to live.”

Ms Kwatra said the people did not want to stay in the camp and would rather start with rebuilding their lives.

“It is going to take an extremely long time – this tsunami has affected the whole of the coast,” she said.

There are also problems with the political situation, with the long-running dispute between the separatists in the north and east and the government of Sri Lanka which has run for 20 years.

A ceasefire was declared only three years ago, which means the infrastructure in the north and the east is still very poor, making it hard for relief organisations to get supplies through.

There is also a shortage of administrative staff and government officials in the north and the east, which means that there are not the qualified officials needed on the ground to help combat the effects of the disaster.