The main priority for the day was that my sister and me check out how our
parents are. We haven´t seen them since the wave had hit. They told us that
dead bodies are floating in the lagoon where they live at. Consequently, we
decided that the water supplies of the house should be switched to rain
water only and supplied them with drinking water.
Along the way the same picture as the days before. Down at the coast still
no drinking water. More dead bodies are appearing and their smell harrasses
everyone passing through. Food and water is now arriving - mainly privately
organized.
When I passed Kogala airbase (main army airbase in the south) I was
expecting setups of NGO´s or other big projects rolling up - unfortunatly we
have not seen a single INGO operating here in the south.The base was guarded
by a few officers and one parked helicopter.
Amateur aid is big here and it is amazing to see the solidarity of the Sri
Lankan people who drive continously back and fro to Colombo. (Link to
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/south_asia/4132597.stm) Just giving people a lift
to find their relatives in another village makes people who have lost
everything suddenly smile. Still this Amateur help only covers basics -
specialists are needed.
Two Australian doctors who will arrive here today rejected working for the
Red Cross and made their way down here themselves as they said due to the
scale of the disaster across the region it is huge that things are "moving
slow and sometimes unorganized".
My sister has gone to Galle just now to see if the banks in the old fort are
open. She will open an account where strictly direct aid can be transfered
to.
For today another few vans from Colombo will arrive at my place loaded with
basic foods and petrol. After sorting and packing smaller packages we will
drive further south away from Galle to distribute it in the villages which
were hard to access in the past few days.
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