US embassy cable - 05COLOMBO880

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 05 COLOMBO 000880 
 
SIPDIS 
 
STATE ALSO PASS TO USAID 
USAID/W FOR A/AID ANDREW NATSIOS, JBRAUSE 
DCHA/OFDA KISAACS, GGOTTLIEB, MMARX, RTHAYER, 
BDEEMER 
AID/W FOR DCHA/OFDA 
DCHA/FFP FOR LAUREN LANDIS 
DCHA DEPUTY ASSISTANT ADMINISTRATOR WILLIAM 
GARVELINK 
ANE DEPUTY ASSISTANT ADMINISTRATOR MARK WARD 
BANGKOK FOR OFDA SENIOR REGIONAL ADVISOR TOM DOLAN 
KATHMANDU FOR OFDA REGIONAL ADVISOR WILLIAM BERGER 
GENEVA FOR USAID KYLOH 
ROME PASS FODAG 
NSC FOR MELINE 
CDR USPACOM FOR J3/J4/POLAD 
USEU PASS USEC 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: EAID, AEMR, PREL, PGOV, CE, Tsunami 
SUBJECT: SRI LANKA - EARTHQUAKE AND TSUNAMIS: 
USAID/DART SITREP #24 - Shelter Assessment of 
Southern Coast 
 
------- 
Summary 
------- 
 
1.Following an assessment of the east coast, 
the USAID/Office of U.S. Foreign Disaster 
Assistance (OFDA) Shelter Specialist, 
USAID/Disaster Assistance Response Team (DART) 
Information Officer (IO), and USAID/Colombo 
Project Management Assistant traveled to 
Hambantota and Galle Districts on May 6 and 7 to 
monitor USAID/OFDA-funded transitional shelter 
programs and review the progress of the shelter 
sector in tsunami-affected areas on the southern 
coast of Sri Lanka.  The USAID team met with 
representatives from USAID-partners GOAL and 
Community Habitat and Finance International (CHF) 
during the field visit.  While problems remain 
with labor and supply shortages and local 
government regulations, construction of 
transitional shelter is progressing steadily on 
the southern coast, with USAID partners playing a 
key role in coordination and planning.  End 
summary. 
 
--------------------------------------------- --- 
Hambantota - GOAL - Upgrading temporary shelters 
--------------------------------------------- --- 
 
2.  According to U.N. High Commissioner for 
Refugees (UNHCR) May 2 statistics, 14,523 persons 
were displaced in Hambantota District and 4,030 
homes were damaged or destroyed.  According to the 
Government of Sri Lanka's (GOSL) Transitional 
Accommodation Project (TAP), 1,283 of the 1,762 
transitional shelters (73 percent) had been 
completed as of May 6.  USAID/OFDA provided 
$1,280,423 million to GOAL for the construction of 
transitional houses, repair of homes, and 
construction of latrines in Hambantota, Ampara, 
and Matara Districts. 
 
3.  GOAL is the official lead shelter agency in 
Hambantota District and the only agency providing 
transitional shelter in Ambalantota Division.  To 
date, GOAL has completed 145 shelters in 
Ambalantota and Kirinda Divisions of Hambantota 
District, 780 in Ampara District, and 250 in 
Matara District.  In March, when GOAL began 
constructing the structures, housing standards 
required a total cost of $300 per shelter but that 
standard has since increased to $400 a shelter. 
As a result, GOAL is now retrofitting the shelters 
with separate kitchens. 
4.  These cost limits are important for 
coordination in the shelter sector because they 
allow for certain standards to be followed and 
limit competition between agencies working in the 
shelter sector.  Unfortunately, some agencies are 
reportedly not following the cost guidelines and 
are trying to attract beneficiaries with shelters 
that cost more than the agreed upon standards.  In 
Hambantota, the total cost per shelter increased 
because some agencies stated that they were having 
difficult designing and constructing quality 
shelters within those price limits.  However, as 
cost guidelines increase, organizations must 
upgrade previously constructed shelters and 
decrease the number of shelters that they are able 
to construct under fixed funding. 
 
5.  Prior to constructing the transitional 
shelters, GOAL conducted a detailed assessment of 
the area including damage assessment, land use, 
inundation line, and services in order to 
understand how transitional and permanent shelter 
options would affect the entire community.  GOAL 
has also actively promoted community awareness. 
For example, GOAL took beneficiaries to a site for 
permanent shelters that the GOSL is building so 
they could make an informed decision about whether 
to move into those shelters.  In addition, GOAL 
worked with the community in Ambalantota to ensure 
that residents could construct transitional 
shelters in the community, either on their own 
land or with friends and relatives.  According to 
GOAL, residents will remain in the transitional 
shelters for approximately 18 months. 
 
6.  Although the government has stated that 
construction of transitional shelters will not be 
allowed in the buffer zone, enforcement of these 
regulations has been weak.  During the visit to 
Hambantota, the USAID team observed a large number 
of transitional shelters - frequently of very poor 
quality - built by both private individual donors 
and national and international NGOs within the 100 
meter buffer zone.  USAID-partners are not 
building transitional shelter within the buffer 
zone. 
 
7.  During the visit, the USAID team went to the 
local government's coordination office and met 
with a TAP official.  According to the TAP, more 
than half of the fully and partially damaged homes 
(1,478 total) are outside of the 100 meter buffer 
zone in Hambantota District.  In total, the 
tsunami affected 14,344 families in Hambantota 
 
SIPDIS 
District. 
 
8.  According to the TAP, the GOSL has already 
constructed 681 permanent houses in Hambantota 
District and is working on an additional 500 on a 
site 8 kilometers from Hambantota town.  The 
government has announced plans to encourage 
government and retail buildings at the site so it 
will not be so isolated.  The USAID team visited 
this site and noted that the houses appeared to be 
poorly constructed.  In addition, the houses were 
laid out in long straight rows, instead of 
communal groupings.  The entire site had been 
graded and cleared making the site hotter and more 
prone to drainage problems.  According to GOAL, 
local officials in Hambantota District may be 
overlooking transitional shelter in the desire to 
advance quickly with permanent shelter 
construction. 
 
------------------------------- 
Galle - CHF - Building capacity 
------------------------------- 
 
9.  USAID/OFDA provided $2.0 million to CHF for 
the construction of transitional shelters, repair 
of homes, and construction of latrines in Galle 
and Matara Districts.  CHF explained that although 
Sewalanka is officially the lead for coordinating 
shelter in Galle District, CHF has become the de 
facto coordinator due to Sewalanka's lack of 
capacity.  CHF estimates that 30 to 60 percent of 
all the transitional shelters in Galle were built 
by small agencies and 15-20 were built by the 
families themselves.  CHF has completed 
approximately 450 shelters in Galle District and 
128 in Matara District to date. 
 
10.  In order to provide livelihood opportunities 
and increase the pool of skilled laborers, CHF 
conducted a skills training in masonry and 
carpentry.  Participants were paid and received 
new tools and a certificate of completion 
following 10 days of training.  Initially, CHF 
could only complete 6 shelters a day but now due 
to increased training, CHF is able to complete 30 
shelters a day.  CHF will hold some transitional 
shelter materials in reserve while affected people 
decide what they would like to do and in order to 
repair shelters built by other organizations.  CHF 
plans to continue its transitional shelter program 
through the end of the monsoon season at the end 
of July. 
 
11.  The USAID team visited a tent camp in 
Hikkaduwa Division which CHF had been upgrading. 
CHF had begun a program to improve the camp by 
adding shade to the tents and digging drainage 
ditches.  However, the residents informed CHF that 
they had other shelters and were just using the 
tents during the day in order to collect 
assistance.  CHF stopped the program to improve 
the site. 
 
12.  The USAID team also visited a site in 
Halwathura, Ambalangoda Division, Galle District 
where CHF had relocated approximately 19 families 
in February.  This was a squatter community of 
poor fisherman that had been camping next to a 
crematorium following the destruction of their 
homes in the tsunami.  The residents showed great 
pride in their shelters, planting gardens, drying 
fish, and inviting the USAID team inside to see 
the other improvements they had made.  The men in 
the community rent boats twice a month, paying 
half of their catch to the boat owner.  Following 
the recommendation of the USAID team, CHF will 
move the two water tanks servicing the camp away 
from the road closer to the latrines so that the 
community can more easily access the water and 
women will have more privacy for bathing. 
 
13.  In Patabandimulla, Ambalangoda Division, the 
USAID team visited a site where CHF had provided 
transitional shelters on beneficiaries own land. 
Some residents constructed the shelters on the 
foundation of their old houses, while others 
constructed them next to the old foundation 
depending on their reconstruction plans.  This 
situation, in which residents are able to rebuild 
on their own land, is an ideal situation for 
transitional shelter.  Because beneficiaries are 
already on their own land, they can immediately 
begin the process of transforming and making 
investments in their shelter, integrating the 
transitional shelter into their permanent 
structure. 
 
14.  In a meeting with the Divisional Secretary 
(DS) for Balapitya Division in Galle District, the 
DS reported to the USAID team that the government 
has not yet decided whether people can build 
businesses on their land in the buffer zone, but 
the DS thought that preference would be given to 
larger tourism-oriented businesses.  The DS 
estimated that all permanent shelters in Galle 
would be finished in nine months, even with delays 
caused by the coming monsoon. 
 
------- 
Comment 
 
15.  The transitional shelter sector has advanced 
progressively on the southern coast despite the 
high levels of damage in the area.  Although 
agencies are having difficulty finding land for 
transitional shelter, the situation is better than 
the eastern coast where the buffer zone is twice 
as large (200 meters versus 100 meters).  However, 
the increased land area available on the southern 
coast does not mean that relocation of residents 
will not continue to be a major problem.  The 
higher level of development and population density 
on the southern coast greatly limits the 
availability of suitable free land.  In addition, 
similar to the eastern coast, competition between 
NGOs, weak local government decision making, and 
poor construction and design continue to afflict 
transitional sector activities.   However, the 
USAID team notes that USAID shelter partners on 
the eastern and southern coasts continue 
progressing steadily while constructing high 
quality structures, following agreed-upon 
standards for cost, materials, and design. 
LUNSTEAD