Meeting the basic needs for day-to-day survival
is also most critical in the
short-term. Millions of dollars have been donated
to private and government
organizations. Yet, everybody who goes to the camps
and sees the conditions of the effected villages
questions where this money has gone.
There are organizations that are doing wonderful
work and to those we are
grateful. However, in most instances the reality
of the field is unfortunately
very sad and sometimes depressing. It is surprising
to see how few
organizations have set up effective programs to
help people.
For example one camp of fifty families had just
empty tents. No toilets. No
water. No electricity or night lamps and no cooking
utensils. Most of the time
the people get rice and lentils for all three meals.
We have taken over this
camp, which the people have now named the “Triple
Gem Refugee Camp”, and are assisting the families
in setting up real households.
We have built toilets in the camp and have given
each family lamps, utensils
and a 19-item set of kitchen tools and house hold
needs. We have gotten water tanks and now building
temporary shelters for them. I complained to the
police and invited the Senior Superintendent of
Police(SSP) to see the camp. His immediate actions
got electric connections to the camp.
Five weeks have passed since the Tsunami and many
families are still in limbo.
These tsunami survivors still haven’t gotten
a penny from the government nor
have ID cards been issued to them. We continue to
improve the conditions of the camp so that people
can live with dignity.
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