The Department of Census and Statistics will be
conducting a census in districts affected by the Tsunami to
collate information on loss of lives and property and its impact
on the industrial sector.
In the census, when assessing the damage we
would especially consider the distance of the damaged buildings
from the sea, which would be helpful in processing the proposed
government policy for reconstruction, A. G. W. Nanayakkara,
Director General of Census and Statistics said last week.
The first step of the census, a list of
destroyed housing units and buildings would be prepared on each
Grama Sevaka area, using the 2001 census data. All the affected
GS divisions have been identified, he said.
The department would categorise houses destroyed
completely and partly. The possibility of re-using the partly
destroyed housing units would also be considered. The officials
would collect information on the present settlements of the
affected residents. The census would be conducted to estimate
the number of displaced people in the welfare centres and the
number of dead and missing persons.
Census department officials would also collect
data on the surviving members of the affected families, the
education levels of the children and students, their economic
status and information on destroyed household equipments and
vehicles, he said.
