Sri Lanka Crisis

Heavy fighting between government forces and the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) has displaced an estimated 300,000 people.

The situation

An estimated 300,000 people have been placed in camps and welfare centres in the northern and eastern districts.

While the government and aid agencies continue to struggle to ensure camp conditions meet basic humanitarian standards, conditions are expected to worsen with the onset of the monsoon season.

Although the government has begun to implement its resettlement plans, close to 250,000 of the people remain in camps and welfare centres across Vavuniya. Another 7,000 are in Jaffna, and 1,400 and 7,000 are in Mannar and Trincomalee respectively.

Oxfam's response

Oxfam has been carrying out both development and humanitarian projects in Sri Lanka’s northern districts for the last 20 years. We are currently working with local partner organisations to deliver aid to people in camps in Vavuniya and Trincomalee.

In pictures: providing clean water supplies

In Vavuniya, where Oxfam is supporting 80,000 people, we are providing safe water, sanitation facilities and promoting good hygiene practices – running training sessions and distributing materials with hygiene promotion messages.

Recognising that tens of thousands of people from Vavuniya’s largest camp, Menic farm, will be the most severely affected by the monsoon rains, we have been working with camp volunteers to construct surface drainage and carry out latrine maintenance.

We are also constructing sewage treatment plants to minimise water pollution, and water-settling tanks to ensure people have clean water, even during the rainy season.

20,000 rainy season kits – consisting of umbrellas and plastic storage buckets – have also been distributed. In Trincomalee, we are constructing latrines and distributing latrine-cleaning kits. Based on the results of a recent assessment, we are also supporting the Health Department in hygiene promotion initiatives.

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