Photo Credit:
Reuters/Darren Whiteside, courtesy www.alertnet.org

Refugees International has launched missions to Sri Lanka and Indonesia to focus on caring for displaced people and devising programs to help the displaced rebuild their homes and communities as quickly as possible.

The Dec. 26 tsunami has displaced approximately 500,000 each in Sri Lanka and Indonesia, but these current estimates may turn out to be conservative. Vast national and international aid programs are working to meet the shelter, food, water and sanitation needs of the displaced. Once the relief systems are in place, it is important to move quickly from relief to development, finding ways to help people rebuild their homes, businesses and communities.

RI consultant Eugene Carlson will work closely with local organizations in Sri Lanka. He will focus on responses to displacement, as well as the tsunami's impact on the long efforts to end the civil war in Sri Lanka. There are encouraging signs that a united response to the tsunami already is helping to build confidence between Tamil rebels and the government. Intelligent use of aid could strengthen the peace process.

Even before the tsunami, the civil war had displaced about 390,000 people in Sri Lanka. Now the Tsunami has displaced an estimated 500,000 more.

Joel Charny, RI's vice president for policy, and James McNaughton, an expert on Indonesia, are on their way to Aceh, Indonesia, the area hardest hit by the tsunami. Aceh also has been plagued by a civil war, and Jakarta's response to the tsunami could either exacerbate or calm that war. The mission will also look at the Indonesian government's role in relief and reconstruction. It will also assess the initial response from international agencies, non-governmental organizations, and the U.S. and Australian militaries.

In both Sri Lanka and Aceh, RI will look for ways to strengthen local capacity and press for a rapid transition from relief to reconstruction, so as many resources as possible finance the rebuilding of permanent structures-houses, schools, roads and incoming earning assets.

Read more about the tsunami on our regularly updated Tsunami Crisis Page.