By Akane Furukawa and Dilanthi Jayamanne

"We appeal to the general public to give to organisations who have structures to allow them to distribute appropriately according to need." said Mr. John Gwynn, the Resident Representative of the Sri Lanka Mission of the International Federation of Red Cross (IFRC) at a press conference yesterday on the drought relief operation being carried out in the Hambantota district. He stated that many other organisations’ efforts were not co-ordinated enough in the distribution of aid. "The next 4-6 weeks are a critical time for the affected areas" Gywnn said. Now the public sympathy is pouring in, however when it does die down, there needs to be an organised plan to sustain these people through to February, their next harvest.

"Not many of the institutions have conducted a house to house survey to try to identify the most vulnerable households," said Mr Bulathsinghala of Sri Lanka Red Cross Society (SLRCS). They have actually visited the households, counted the number of children, surveyed their land and income to pin point the most vulnerable and needy families. SLRCS have concentrated on food aid as other organisations are dealing with health and water. Since the 13th August, when the relief started till 31st August, 1293 families have received aid. Aid is in the form of food packages which includes 25kg of rice, 20kg of flour, 10kg of dhal and 4kg of sugar. This package is to support a family of 6 for 45 days, after which they will be revisited and the situation reassessed. The calculations are based on the international standards of energy considered to be necessary for daily life and the packages contain 50% of this requirement, with the intention that the other 50% is made up by the family themselves. The total number of targeted families stands at 6,500 and even only when supplying them with 50% of their daily requirements, the calculated cost is Rs 77,000,000.

It was stated however by Mr Hasenoehri, the Disaster Response Delegate of the IFRC of Delhi that, "The drought in Sri Lanka does not qualify as a full scale disaster." He elaborated that there were pockets of extreme vulnerability and the situation may change if there were to be no rain for another prolonged period but with effective well targeted relief, the situation should improve.