The struggle for memory

ELIL RAJENDRAM-on 05/22/2016

I went to the place on May 18^th around 10am, where we had the commemoration last year thinking that security would be eased and space given for people to commemorate the tragedy of May 18^th. To my surprise there was no arrangement done and just a few who had braved the harassment were trying to fill in the low ground after it had rained the previous night. I asked them why people were not there to organise the event and they replied in chorus, ‘people are sacred to contribute due to the recent abductions’. I had to join them organising the event though there were multiple events organised by various groups to mark the massacre. Youth, after my arrival, reluctantly came to prepare the event thinking that my priestly presence would give them security though I am not sure that’s the case. I recall that Fr. Frances Joseph who facilitated the surrender on 18^th May 2009 disappeared, Fr. Praveen was arrested under PTA, and Fr. Jim Brown was abducted and killed. As in 2015 we had the intelligence groups photographing us and asking various questions from those who organised the religious observance.

A few security personnel provided security without our permission, reporting to headquarters about our movements. It took me a while to understand why the intimidation happened again and why people were prevented from reaching Mullivaikal where the wrecked ship is. Erecting a monument had to be done at last moment and I had to request some clergy and friends from the South to be with us in order to reduce the harassment.  It was dark when we erected the monument and we had unwanted visitors immediately, who appeared in the vicinity asking queries about the monument. The three uninvited visitors took photos to report back on us.

Those who were deployed seemed to have had the details of everyone who was there. They already knew what I was planning that day. They also requested the local Gramma Sevaka official to provide all the details of those clergy who attend the religious observance in order to file an intelligence report.

‘Does collective remembrance of a troubled past impede reconciliation?’ is the debate taken forward by the International Centre for Transitional Justice in which Pablo de Grieff, the UN special rapporteur on the promotion of truth, justice, reparation and guarantees of non recurrence, states that an  ‘unacknowledged past breeds manipulation and fear’.

Seven years after the end of war, victims who undergo daily threats and harassment do not have space to mourn their dead but braved the monitoring, surveillance and intimidation to commemorate May 18^th. The day was polarised as everything else. For the South it is a victory day and for the North and East a day that marks immense loss of lives though the numbers are contested.

Past abuses and crimes need to be acknowledged. The quest for justice is a path they victims will take however long it proves. Rawlinian justice is not even taken into account where the parity of power is highly polarised in Sri Lanka’s post-Mullivaikal history. The space for memory in the post-Mullivaikal world is dominated by the triumphant discourse, which deny space to an alternative narration making truth the looser. Men who perpetrated crimes at the expense of the lives of Tamil civilians are praised as heroes without realising that history will not forgive them.

The victory monuments erected along the A9 road and inside the former war zone promote the justification of the killing of civilians trapped in ‘No Fire Zone’ declared by the GoSL. The holocaust, the Rwandan genocide and the Bosnian genocide are commemorated annually and these commemorations help the victims rewrite history and give space for victims to have their stories expressed as they endured untold suffering in the 21^st century. Similarly in Sri Lanka the UN failed to protect when the GoSL refused to protect its own citizens.

The ‘memory entrepreneurs’ are the victors who have their own project of building a collective memory. It is crucial to understand who articulates the collective memory project in a given time and space so as to understand what motivates them and what they do to try and achieve their aims by erecting victory monuments in the former war zones. They promote triumphalism, exuberant about the defeat of the Tamil people and paint our struggle as terrorism.

Remembering is not only re-writing  history from a victim-centric perspective as opposed to a triumphalist construct but deconstructing  the tainted picture, to gain a ground where victims articulate the truth as they witnessed it in order to pursue justice, to regain their dignity and individual and collective identity that was shattered due to torture and so called “rehabilitation”.

The debate goes back and forth between these binaries of triumphalism and defeat. Mobilisation of commemoration in the pursuit of justice and truth needs to be endured individually and collectively. Shrinking space for commemoration of the victims even  seven years after the end of war is a manifestation of the state’s denial of atrocities. It is monopolizing the space of commemoration with its unitary narrative and doesn’t want to move forward.

Erecting the first monument at Mullivaikal is the beginning of the rewriting the history by the victims.

Resisting the state’s version of truth is another struggle victims wage; there should be space for victims’ narratives that help in constructing truth and eventually historical memory. Historical memory is collective. The monument portrays the suffering and perhaps more importantly the struggle people endured for their rights and hegemonic resistance.

Today victims still need to struggle to remember their dead ones in spite of intimidation and surveillance. Why would there be extra deployment of military, police and other intelligence services on the day of mourning. The previous regime did the same and the current has not changed. On the verge of national consultations if people have no space for memorialisation, how would there be a  space for free expression of what people need in terms of a justice mechanism.  Civil societies especially from the North and East have already raised concern over the process of transitional justice and the content of the offices being set up without the participation of victims and organisations that are working with the victims. They are worried that the transitional justice project itself has been hijacked and led by the state, divorced from the victims.

Army fails to show up in court over case of surrendering Tamils

 22 May 2016

A Sri Lankan army commander has failed to show up in court this week, where he was ordered to submit a list of surrendered Tamils that his unit had allegedly kept from the final stages of the armed conflict in 2009.

The General Officer Commanding (GOC) of the 58th Division of the Sri Lanka Army, Major General Chanakya Gunawardena, was ordered by the Mullaitivu magistrate to submit a list of all those that had surrendered, after an army brigadier testified the military had kept a list earlier this year. Amongst those to have surrendered is the husband of Northern Provincial Council member Ananthy Sasitharan, a political leader in the LTTE.

After failing to submit a list last month, the commander failed to show in court at all this week. The commander’s advocate was not present either.

The Mullaitivu magistrate adjourned the case to July 14th and warned that if the commander fails to be present before the court again, an arrest warrant would be issued.

See our earlier posts:

Army fails to submit list of missing people (22 Apr 2016)

Sri Lankan army has a list of surrendering Tamils – Brigadier (18 Feb 2016) 

The Tamils & Official History

By Rajan Hoole –May 21, 2016

Dr. Rajan Hoole

Antecedents Of July 1983 & The Foundations Of Impunity – Part IV

In the preceding section we found it necessary to place clearly some of the basic facts concerning the final day of the IATR (International Association for Tamil Research) conference in Jaffna. This is because among Tamils their partial knowledge of events has over time become overlaid by biases and wrong information derived from others. The question whether Janarthanan was in Jaffna legally or illegally would elicit several contradictory answers. Writing about the incident by talking to contemporary witnesses soon becomes a nightmare. In contrast, there are the police records and magistrate’s inquest records, which were largely influenced by police versions, as will be seen below. Too often, these tend to become authentic history. The State that is anti-Tamil in its ideology and articulation continually uses its apparatus to record a history in service of its ideology.

Then there is also the Tamil nationalist version of history that is also very powerful in a destructive way, although the academic historian will readily have problems with its authenticity. The LTTE bears ample testimony to this power. To the Tamil nationalists, the police action at the IATR conference which resulted in 7 deaths became the ultimate expression of the malignancy of the State which led to the adoption in May 1976 of the goal of separation as the only viable option for the Tamil speaking People. It resulted in Sansoni writing the official history of the incident.

Fortunately, however, upon the government of Mrs. Bandaranaike rejecting the request for a commission of inquiry, some in Jaffna had the presence of mind to appoint an unofficial citizens’ commission comprising retired supreme court judges O.L. de Kretzer and V. Manickavasagar, along with Bishop Kulandran. Several copies of the report were printed and circulated, but are indeed rare documents today. Many valuable historical materials pertaining to the Tamils were destroyed with the burning of the Jaffna Public Library by the Police in 1981, the communal violence of July 1983, the civil war and during the forced exodus from Valikamam in 1995.

We were fortunate to receive a copy of the de Kretzer Commission Report from Mr. George Gnanamuttu, a former deputy commissioner of labour, who is now aged 90. Comparing its findings with Sansoni’s throws some light on judicial mores in Sri Lanka and how political power influences even sound persons, when it comes to making official history.

Mr. O.L. de Kretzer, a member of the Burgher community, was a notably independent judge. Mr. M. C. Sansoni, also a Burgher, rose to the highest judicial position of chief justice. Following the communal violence of August/ September 1977, Jayewardene (then prime minister) appointed Sansoni to a one-man commission of inquiry on 9th November 1977 to go into the violence.

The Commission commenced sittings on 8 Feb.1978 and wound up on 10 Dec.1979, having heard witnesses in Jaffna, Anuradhapura, Colombo, Kandy and Trincomalee. The evidence on record is quite exhaustive. The final report was submitted to President Jayewardene on 22 July1980 and published as a sessional paper on 4 Nov.1980.

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Successive Governments Have Cheated Tamil People – Annamalai Nadesu Sivasakthi

By Camelia Nathaniel-Sunday, May 22, 2016

TNA MP Annamalai Nadesu Sivasakthi, is of the view that the successive governments have cheated the Tamil people and only made use of them to gain votes. However he says that once they come to power, the government simply ignores the plight of the Tamil people and forgets the promises made to them. He warned that Rajapaksa did the same and thought after winning the war that he would be able to run the country without any opposition at his own will. However he said that it was a mistake that Rajapaksa made in not winning the hearts and minds of the Tamil people. Sivasakthi in an interview with The Sunday Leader warned that if this Maithripala, Ranil government too failed to acknowledge the Tamil people, they too will realise their mistake in time. He said that seven years after the conclusion of the war, the Tamil people are still in a sad situation where they have not been able to rebuild their lives. He said that while the rest of the country is rejoicing the victory of war, the Tamil people who suffered the most during the war are still suffering and celebrating war victory is only rubbing salt in the Tamil people’s wounds.

Following are excerpts of the interview:-

Q: Seven years after the end of the war how do you see the transformation in the country especially the North?

A:  Nothing great has happened seven years down the line. However there are small democratic privileges that have been given to us where people are free to talk, write or express their feelings without any fear. Other than that nothing significant has taken place and the Tamil people are in the same predicament they were back then.

Q:  How far has the releasing of lands progressed under the Maithripala-Ranil government?

A:  As far as the releasing of the lands are concerned some portion of the lands have been released everything that is happening now are the same that was being done during the Rajapaksa regime and nothing new is happening. The white van disappearances and the prisoner’s issues are still the same. There is no development taking place in the North today. The Tamil people had a great deal of confidence in the Good governance regime, but considering the manner in which this government has gone back on the promises made to the Tamil people this confidence  is diminishing rapidly.

Q: How far has the demining progressed?

A: Demining is continuing and might take another ten years. The government is snail pacing on this process to keep the Tamil people from occupying the lands. If they complete the demining fast then they have to release the lands to the people. Only a small portion of land has been released in Jaffna. In Sampur and waligamam people’s lands are not released yet. For the past 25 years people are still in displaced camps and they cannot return to their own lands.

Q: How many are still displaced and have not been resettled?

A: I don’t know the exact numbers but there are people in Jaffna, Vavuniya and many other areas in the North still suffering in displacement camps and unable to return to their lands. They have to give back the Tamil people’s lands.

Q:  Why is the resettlement process taking so long?

A: Resettlement is very slow and nothing is happening meaningfully. Just to resolve these basic problems the government is taking so many months. It’s been 16 months since the government came to power and at least by now they should have released the land to the people but the government is saying they don’t have the money, but without money there are a lot of things that could still be done. For example to give back the public‘s land you don’t need money. Today President Sirisena is the commander in chief of the armed forces and he has control over the North or east. But to date the lands have not been released and the government does not need money to do that. During Mahinda’s government they released 12,000 ex cadres but Maithri’s government has not even released 200 cadres. You don’t need money to release these people. Today seven years are over and 20,000 persons are reported missing in the North and East.  We don’t know if they are alive or not and you don’t need money to give a proper answer. This government has much they can do without money but they are just hiding behind this lie of not having money and absconding from doing what they promised the Tamil people to do.

Especially the 65,000 houses deal the government is not paying attention to what we have to say. Swaminathan wants to build container type houses. We asked the government to build 130,000 houses out of normal cement for the displaced people. But the people are today disgruntled with this government and their confidence they had in the government is diminishing by the day.

The same thing happened to Rajapaksa where after winning the war he failed to win the hearts and minds of the Tamil people.

Q:  Currently what are the challenges facing the North?

A: Mainly the missing persons is the biggest problem. Today the people who surrendered to the Army in Omanthai are still missing. According to the information we have, the army took them by bus and that was the last that was seen of them. The government should say if they are alive or not. The government should give us a word immediately. Or if Rajapaksa has killed everyone, then still we need to know. The people who committed these crimes should be given proper punishment. What sort of punishment should be given to them has to be revealed. The compensation for those who were killed or dead should also be given. The government has to be very open and tell us honestly. Secondly regarding the political prisoners there is no decision so far. The president promised Sampanthan but that promise has not been fulfilled. A lot of people are remanded without even having any charges filed for the past seven years. They should be released as they have suffered enough.

Q:  How do the people feel about the war victory celebrations in the South and what has been planned in the North?

A:  This kind of situation is like adding insult to injury. Even Mahinda was doing the same and today he is nowhere. The Tamil people have suffered and the people in the south are digging the same old wounds by having these celebrations. Mahinda acted like he went to war and conquered another country and today it’s the same. This government too should first help the war affected before they celebrate victory. If this government too does the same as the ones before there is no difference between the two parties. There was an internal war and these are all people of the same country.

Q:  It has been reported that gangs operate in the North and are creating a fear psychosis among the people. Is this true?

A: Yes there are gangs in the North. After the end of the war drugs are freely available in the North. Ganja and other narcotics are freely available. These come from India and Pakistan through sea routes. The people are saying that the government and military are supplying drugs to the North indirectly. Drugs are a huge problem in the North now. The government needs to control this and cannot be ignored. Police courts and civil authorities should stop this. They should be responsible for this.

Q:  There is talk that the threat of the LTTE still remains. Do you agree?

A: This is an utter lie. This is a story they are making in order to run the government in the south. For the last 30 years the government has been saying this same thing and now they are doing the same for political purposes. They are using this slogan in order to run the country and gain political supremacy and divert the attention from their weaknesses. This is a ploy that is used to hoodwink the Sinhalese people. For the past seven years there have been no incidents and this is a lie made up by the government.

Q: The Tamil people played a big role in bringing this government to power. However despite the many promises made to the Tamil people, has this government delivered on their promises?

A. This government came to power based largely on the support of the Tamils. The government has done nothing to fulfill the promises they made to the Tamil people. They have only hoodwinked the Tamil people.

Torrential floods hit Tamil North-East

Flooding in Jaffna this week

21 May 2016

Heavy rain and flooding battered the Tamil North-East this week, following torrential rains across much of the region. 

Floods have hit Kilinochchi and Jaffna, affecting hundreds of families in the Tamil North-East, who have had to abandon their homes.

Meanwhile more than 68 people have died from lightning strikes, drowning, falling trees and landslides triggered by the rains in the south, according to government updates. 

Hundreds of thousands have also left their homes as torrential rains continued.

Flooding in Kilinochchi this week

Hundreds are still feared to have been killed following a landslide in the southern Kegalle district.

The deaths have triggered an outpouring of international support for the Sri Lankan government, with India sending two naval ships with relief supplies and disaster assistance materials from the USA.

The government also lifted taxes on relief supplies sent by foreign donors, a practise which was in place during the massive 2004 Boxing Day tsunami (see here and here).

As Sri Lanka Unites, Human Vultures Prey On The Misery Of Flood Victims

May 22, 2016 

As millions of Sri Lankans united in an overwhelming show of solidarity, to support at least 420,000 of their countrymen affected by the floods and landslides, there were a few human vultures who tried to prey on the misery of the displaced by looting homes in some flood affected areas.

Amidst isolated reports that in some houses jewellery and other valuables had been stolen, the Army apprehended a group of some 16 looters, and suspected looters and handed them over to the police on Saturday. The incident also brought back very unpleasant memories, where during the 2004 tsunami several reports of similar human vultures robbing jewellery off dead women were reported.

However despite this isolated incident, Sri Lankans continued to band together extending a helping hand in a show of compassion and unity, offering the flood and landslide victims food, clothes, to other basic essentials. Social media continued to play a significant role in flood relief management, as many took to social media crying for help to be rescued or to rescue their near and dear. Both, Facebook and Twitter were the primary channels of communication mode to broadcast requirements of food availability, food shortages, and other flood related issues.

Shelves across supermarkets in Colombo were empty, as people rushed to make purchases to donate to the flood and landslide victims. By Friday evening, the total number of deaths increased to 71 people, while 127 continued to be missing from the Aranayaka landslide in Kegalle. The Army also ended the search on Saturday for more survivors from the landslide, four days after the landslide. Another landslide was reported from the same area on Saturday evening, however no casualties were reported.

By Saturday evening, the number of displaced stood at 319,507 people from 64,308 families, while a total of 427,918 were affected by floods and landslides. According to the Disaster Management Centre, 474 houses were fully damaged, while 3674 houses were partially damaged.

Over the past week, Sri Lankans, both young and old were seen in an overwhelming show of compassion, with some even going to the extent of donating their lunch packet brought for their afternoon meal to the victims, while children were seen donating their collection off piggybanks, for the almost half a million victims.

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Flood and landslide death toll climbs to 82



May 22, 2016

Floods and landslides caused by torrential rains with gale force winds in Sri Lanka have left 82 people dead, 111 missing, and over 242,000 displaced from homes while over 348,000 people are affected by the adverse weather. 

According to the government assessments, 348,476 people belonging to 86,910 families are affected by floods and landslides, according to the situation report issued by Emergency Operation Centre of Disaster Management Center for today (May 22).  

Out of the affected, 242,927 people from 57,590 families have been evacuated to 399 safe locations. About 476 houses are reported to be fully damaged and 3,699 houses partially damage by floods and landslides. 

Minister of Disaster Management Anura Priyadarshana Yapa has assured that the government will take necessary measures to respond to the catastrophic situation by correctly identifying the extent of the damage the nature of the disaster.  

The DMC is coordinating response activities and rescue operations with the tri-forces, and the Police through District Secretariats and District Disaster Management Coordinating Units. 

 Currently flood levels are receding in highly affected areas, however the immediate relief requirements still remains high. 

OVER 500,000 FLEE HOMES AS SRI LANKA FLOOD MISERY WORSENS

by Amal Jayasinghe/AFP.-21/05/2016

Desperate Sri Lankans clambered onto rubber dinghies and makeshift rafts Friday to escape monster floods in the capital Colombo as officials said half a million people had fled their homes across the island.

 The heaviest rains in a quarter of a century have pounded Sri Lanka since last weekend, triggering huge landslides that have buried some victims in up to 50 feet (15 metres) of mud.

More than 60 people known to have died so far amid fears that number could spike with many more reported missing.

President Maithripala Sirisena urged people to provide shelter and donate cash or food as offers of assistance came in from overseas.

“We have already got some assistance from our friends in the international community,” he said in a televised address.

“Now I want to ask private individuals, companies and non-governmental organisations to help in anyway you can to help the victims.”

The national Disaster Management Centre (DMC) said 21 of Sri Lanka’s 25 districts had been affected. Around 300,000 people had been moved to safe shelters while a further 200,000 were staying with friends or family.

“Our information is that about half a million people have been driven out of their homes,” Finance Minister Ravi Karunanayake told reporters.

“The (state-owned) Insurance Corporation alone received claims against flooded cars and home appliances amounting to 1.1 billion rupees ($7.5 million). The actual loss is much, much more.”

Diluka Ishani, who was being looked after at a school where the military provided meals and bedding, described how her family managed to escape the floods but had lost virtually everytng.

Sri Lankan rescue workers evacuate residents following flooding in the Kolonnawa suburb of Colombo,  …

“We started moving to higher ground as the water level went up and then we found we had no other place to go to,” the mother-of-two told AFP in Colombo’s Kolonnawa suburb.

Her family had first fled to higher ground near their home but became marooned and had to be plucked to safety on a small navy boat.

“The navy saved our lives, but we lost all our belongings. The house is ruined as the water went above our roof.”

Private taxi hailing company PickMe added an “air lift” button to their app so that marooned users can give their coordinates to the airforce. It was not clear how many had used the free airforce lift.

India said it was sending two naval ships and an aircraft loaded with emergency supplies, including medicine, tents and mobile toilets.

 

More than 60 people known to have died so far in Sri Lanka following the monster floods (AFP Photo/L …

Sri Lanka’s cricket team, who are on tour in England, announced a donation of one million rupees (around $7,000) for victims and wore black armbands during the first Test at Headingley.

The meteorological department says the rains have been caused by a depression in the Bay of Bengal, ahead of the arrival of the southwest monsoon.

After escaping the worst of the flooding in the earlier part of the week, large swathes of Colombo had to be evacuated overnight in an operation led by the military, involving boats and helicopters.

The DMC said around 200,000 people had been moved from the low-lying capital which has a population of about 650,000.

The worst-hit areas were in Colombo’s northeastern suburbs along the Kelani river, which began bursting its banks on Thursday evening.

 

Sri Lankan rescue workers evacuate residents following … Sri Lankan rescue workers evacuate residents following flooding in the Kolonnawa suburb of Colombo, …

Residents in the Kolonnawa district built jury-rigged rafts using plastic barrels to ferry marooned residents to high ground while the navy used rubber dinghies to rescue others.

Three people have been killed in flood-related incidents in Colombo but the national toll now stands at 64 dead and 29 injured.

The district of Kegalle, about 100 kilometres (60 miles) northeast of Colombo, has been worst-hit, with the toll from two separate landslides rising to 34.

A local police officer said 144 people, including 37 children, had been reported missing since Tuesday’s landslides.

“We can’t definitely say if all these missing people were actually in their homes at the time of the disaster,” said the officer, who asked not to be named.

The officer said there was no realistic hope of finding any survivors in landslides that buried two villages in up to 50 feet (15 metres) of mud.

“This is turning into a recovery operation.”

AFP

Sri Lanka Floods 2016: Avoiding the Mistakes of 2004

Featured image courtesy SBS

AMJAD MOHAMED-SALEEM-on 05/19/2016

Sri Lanka is experiencing its worst natural disaster since, arguably, the tsunami. Thousands have been displaced and hundreds killed by the floods and landslides caused by the unprecedented rain (ironic in itself given that many for weeks before had been praying for rain to bring some relief to a heat wave that had been plaguing the country).

While the attention is understandably on immediate search and rescue, it would be wise as well to remember the lessons from the tsunami, where we had so much initial help which stopped in the days that followed. While there is immediate need like food and non food items it is probable that everyone will forget the medium and long term. We can not afford to forget the medium and long term because this is where the needs of the affected people should not be neglected.

People at the center of the crisis will need to be empowered to cope and recover with dignity in the coming days, months and years. Thus it is not just about the provision of goods and services but the rebuilding of services and structures to cope and resume their livelihoods on their own. This will include restoring infrastructure to help people communicate and connect them to the markets, the creation of employment opportunities, to make sure remittances flow and to help to stimulate the local private sector. It is important to understand the market dynamics and establish and adjust priorities for the most appropriate time of assistance. Often the increased use of cash or vouchers (as opposed to relief items) would be preferable as it is a flexible response tool that supports the autonomy and choice of these people particularly those affected in and around Colombo, whilst making humanitarian aid more accountable to the affected people. It allows them to recharge their phones for example to communicate with loved ones or even to look after their own specific businesses. It also gives them agency at a time when you have lost everything. It helps them to get engaged.

The first responders (those most closest and most invested) need support and there has to be coordination with and between them and all players on the ground including the government, private sector and NGOs. The voices and choices of the affected people and the first responders should guide our response even when outside actors are called upon to provide assistance and protection. It is all very well for us who from outside talk about the provision of food or non food items but we have to take into account that surveys consistently show that many affected people do not believe the aid they receive is relevant or meets their priority needs. Even when we are able to meet those needs we need to ensure we do not create additional problems. For example, I have seen pictures of food being distributed in plastic bags and plastic water bottles being distributed. However if there is no process for garbage and waste management, then we will create environmental issues in the future.

We need to close the gender gap in our response to those who have been affected. Religious and cultural norms in Sri Lanka will mean that women and girls often are unable to claim their rights and fulfil their needs in a crisis. This has to start with an effective information management which includes 

disaggregated data and other key relevant indicators. In addition to gender, age is a crucial factor. Both young people and the elderly as well as the disabled are also often neglected in any response. Psychosocial and health responses have to take this into account.

Lastly those affected will need support in getting back to their homes so cleaning and return kits are essential. This is where we often fail. They will need help to restart their businesses and rebuild their shattered lives. How can we ensure that we have programmed this in our fundraising as well as our time and resource allocation? What provisions do we have for livelihood support? When the crowds die down and the interest declines, how can we ensure that people are still remembered?

Moving forward there has to be greater investment in managing shocks differently especially on disaster risk. We need to innovate in disaster resilience and reconstruction. Could the impact of the flooding have been mitigated had people been better prepared and their capacity built to expect this? Or had there been a better early warning system in place?

We know that Sri Lanka over the last few years has suffered from rain causing flooding with every year becoming much worse. Yet, we are in a scenario where every year, it seems as if we are responding for the first time. Surely there should be some contingency planning put in place through the local government, schools and faith based institutions (for example, storing copies of ID cards and pass books at the local temple or mosque which is not known to suffer from flooding or some stock piling of non essential items close to areas known to be at risk of flooding). Local authorities (as well as first responders) need to be better trained and equipped in areas of preparedness and response to disasters and crisis. The government needs to strengthen national legislation on emergency preparedness including contingency planning and early warning systems which also identifies the roles and responsibilities of various actors including the private sector (the work of the CBI and APAD Sri Lanka are good models to follow). As international aid for humanitarian and development work declines for Sri Lanka due to its middle income status classification, it is left on the shoulders of the national NGOs, Government and Private Sector to respond. There has to be innovative ways for financing. The concept of risk finance mechanisms to provide rapid resources when triggered can help to provide a safety net at such times of crisis .

We have to strengthen local capacities including collaboration with private sector and the military for resilience preparedness; response to disasters in accordance with humanitarian principles and peace building. There needs to a be a more inclusive, disciplined and coordinated action to disaster response. We also need investment in the capacity of formal and informal local systems (including private sector based resources) to respond to in advance of crisis events, following the preparedness principle of Disaster Risk Reduction.  There also means innovation in data collection, Geographic Information Systems (GIS) and mapping in order to get and share data.

We have to ask serious questions about urban planning and haphazard developments which have contributed to deforestation, diverting natural rivers and flood plains and poor drainage. In our quest to urbanise and become rapidly developed, we have taken short cuts in our approach. If left unchecked, we will have these recurring with a great cost to the country. We have to prepare for the new generation of the risk of crises in cities. This requires better planning processes and development

Much of these recommendations have all come out of the Consultation Processes for theWorld Humanitarian Summit, scheduled to take place for discussion in Istanbul next week. The discussions at the summit are designed to try and gain commitment and consensus from the international community for a much more responsive humanitarian structure and system to be developed to address the changing complexity of needs. The work done in preparation for the summit and the summit itself should afford an opportunity to really reflect on how things need to be changed for a more effective response. Tragically, though Sri Lanka has largely been a passenger for the past two year in this process with very little Government interest being shown to get engaged. The government delegation to the Summit is currently being led by the Minister for Transport and Aviation (hardly an authority on humanitarian responses and disaster management) with a couple of civil servants and a few civil society activists. The absence of many local NGO and Civil society participants from Sri Lanka is due to the fact that sponsorship is not available for the summit since Sri Lanka is a middle income country. There has also largely been little appetite for any comprehensive discussion in country (sadly by the UN country team itself) prior to the Summit or in the consultation phases to get a Sri Lankan perspective. The sole ‘national’ consultation carried out for Sri Lanka was done by a few national CSO’s and INGOs, and ironically pointed out the following as things to be considered:

• The need to improve coordination in humanitarian response involving a central body at the country level coordinating all humanitarian agencies working in the country
• The empowerment of local communities
• The use of GPS and drones for the location of victims
• The use of mobiles for with a recommendation for telecom operators to operate specialized cross network channels to allow for ease of communication
• The stockpiling of food and non essential items.
• The involvement of young people in humanitarian responses

All of these recommendations to the World Humanitarian Summit should be reflected in the stance of the government as it also makes its commitments to the WHS. However more than the commitments, there is a ready made framework for action, which should be the foundation for any action of the government moving forward. Given the scale of the disaster, it can’t afford not to.

The rains and floods itself also serendipitously occurring on the seventh anniversary of the end of the conflict in Sri Lanka perhaps serve as a reminder from Mother Nature. Nature will rebel if the natural equilibrium of the law of inter-connectedness and interdependency is broken. Nature reacts when human atrocities become unbearable, and go out of control, flouting the laws that it (nature) has laid down to maintain stability. By being non discriminatory in its actions, we are reminded about what our relationship should be. The sacred responsibility of looking after nature by respecting laws governing it, can not be left to one group of people. It is a collective responsibility. The reminder once again of the momentary meeting of hearts during this crisis is an opportunity. An opportunity perhaps to re-address this imbalance. As we remember those affected by the current crisis, we can not forget those affected by the previous crises. From the sharing of our dhansals this weekend with those who have been affected by the crisis, to the opening up of places of worship for people of all and no faith, to the remembering and praying for all those who lost their lives in the run up to May 2009, to creating a path of healing for the past; herein is the opportunity to be seized to realize that very valuable lesson of the sanctity of life.

Not Just Climate Change & Global Warming

By Emil van der Poorten –May 22, 2016

Emil van der Poorten

As one who believes that climate change driven by man’s insistence on refusing to accept that his behaviour is responsible for global warming, I have little doubt that the catastrophic weather we have experienced and are continuing to experience as I write this could have been avoided, to a significant extent, if we lived up to our boast that we Sri Lankans are more intelligent than the ”lesser” mammals!

That said, let’s look at what factors other than willy nilly industrialization, with the attendant indiscriminate use of non-renewable fossil fuels, have contributed to what has been happening in Sri Lanka in the past couple of weeks.

Many in our neck of the woods who are in no danger of being engulfed by floodwaters are living in fear of boulders above their very modest habitations coming loose and burying them in the houses that they occupy. Interestingly, in an area that is extremely rocky, this was never a concern in the past. Why? Because there was vegetation that would have stopped any errant boulder before it could do any damage. Not only are those “guard trees” gone but the steep hillsides have suffered very serious erosion since the clearing of this land. You might well ask, “How did this come about?”

Well, in the “bad old days of Empire” and for several years after Sri Lanka became independent, the hilltops were “Crown reserves,” if I remember the terminology right. It was an offence to, in any way whatsoever, try to change the vegetation there. Similarly, the road (now Highway A10 connecting Kandy & Kurunegala) , had a “Crown road/river reservation” between it and the Dik-Oya, one of the two source streams of the Deduru Oya. This used to be leased to an adjacent land-holder who could only “enjoy” whatever the leased land produced. On no account was the existing vegetation to be changed and that included an absolute prohibition on any type of construction. This prohibition has, seemingly, disappeared because there is a string of habitations and an even more substantial number of eating houses (“hotels”), inclusive of one locally- famous establishment which straddles the Oya concerned! Now isn’t that a “first:” being able to sit down to a meal with a river running under one?!

You would be hard put to find even one of these establishments that has waste disposal of any description. Why should they bother because guess where garbage goes? As for toilets and human-wastes ………..

A little vignette might be appropriate at this point.

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