GTZ emergency aid in Sri Lanka

From the start of the crisis, some 230 GTZ employees have been providing emergency aid to the coastal regions devastated by the tsunami. On behalf of the German Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development (BMZ), GTZ has been active for decades in the Sri Lankan districts of Batticaloa, Trincomalee and Jaffna, which have been heavily affected by the tsunami, and is cooperating with regional and local partners. “The fact that the infrastructure was already in place is making it possible for us to provide effective aid to the victims,” as Roland Steurer, GTZ Country Director in Colombo, noted.

In the days following the tsunami, GTZ, working on behalf of the BMZ,  has been sending supplies to survivors, and is providing logistical assistance. GTZ staff in the individual project locations are acting as coordinators, and in the German embassy they have been helping advise those needing help, tracing missing people and assisting incoming tourists.

GTZ staff are also assisting the German embassy in Colombo as an information and coordination centre for German aid. This centre has set up a common information base, which makes it possible to find out quickly what aid institutions are providing, and where. The centre is also coordinating aid from Germany.

“Since the disaster our employees have been working round the clock to supply communities in the affected project regions with emergency supplies such as food, drinking water and shelter,” Steurer explained. In Jaffna in the north of the island, the project to promote rehabilitation and reintegration of refugees and displaced persons in the North Province (NRP) has been helping women in particular with clothing, hygienic supplies, baby clothing and food. This is being done in cooperation with UNICEF and the World Food Programme (WFP). An emergency programme has just started to construct emergency shelters in Dadamaradchi East. Affected fishers and their families are being helped with basic supplies.

In Trincomalee the project for rehabilitation measures in the North-Eastern Province (NECORD) is a member of a newly-created working group, and is coordinating information management in close consultation with the local administration and other international organisations. Aid is focusing primarily on transport infrastructure.

In Batticaloa the project promoting food security and conflict resolution (FSCTB) is coordinating activities to supply drinking water and construct emergency shelters. Together with a team from the German civil defence agency Technische Hilfswerke (THW), wells for drinking water are being cleaned and the water supply restored. GTZ is cooperating with Terre des Hommes on health services. The FSCTB project has a survey team in place, and is providing the necessary technical equipment, such as water pumps and vehicles with clearing equipment, or funding for these.

In Tangalle, in Hambantota District, and Galle, in the south of the country, the Tangalle fishery project (FCDRMP) helped with food and other supplies, which were distributed to survivors jointly with local authorities. In cooperation with the responsible ministry, the project will provide special assistance to the heavily affected fishery sector in Hambantota District and Galle, by repairing boats, supplying material and equipment, and restoring the infrastructure. With financial and logistical support from the project, a team of 13 emergency nurses from Germany’s lifesaving association “Deutsche Lebens-Rettungs-Gesellschaft e.V.” (DLRG) is providing emergency medical services along the coast between Weligama and Tangalle and to the east of Tangalle.

In Thailand too, GTZ has been assisting the German embassy and aid organisations from the start in coordinating aid. In Indonesia a GTZ survey team is moving into the disaster area. GTZ did not have any project locations in either of these countries in the regions hit by the tsunami.