Sri Lankan Tsunami Rehabilitation Plan Under Fire

The plan is not only aiming at housing the some one million people left homeless by the killer tidal waves but also providing an example of integration among the three communities, said The Independent.

The foundation stone of the new town, to be known as Siribopura, was laid last week by Sri Lankan President Chandrika Bandaranaike in virgin jungle territory two miles inland.

It will house 6,000 families from the southern coastal town of Hambantota who lost their homes to the tsunami, triggered by a 9.0 magnitude undersea quake that struck deep in the Indian Ocean off the west coast of Indonesia’s Sumatra Island.

According to the plans, the town will be multi-ethnic, mixing Muslim, Tamil and Singhalese communities in three-storey blocks of flats, said The Independent.

It will also contain a “multi-ethnic religious center”, the first of its kind to be built in the country.

In theory, Siribopura will set the standard for the other 60 towns to be built around the country.

Serious Consequences

The government’s plan triggered a wave of controversy and drew criticism from almost all parties.

“There will be serious social and culture differences which can’t be overcome,” said Gamini Jayaratne — a local Singhalese with four children – who lost his brother and sister to the tsunami.

“At the moment we all live in harmony, but separately. In addition the new settlement is right in the middle of a Singhalese-dominated area. You can’t suddenly move 10,000 Muslim people there.”

Even local officials seemed to ridicule the plan.

“People don’t want to live on top of each other. We’re used to having our own homes with gardens. You just have to look at Colombo to see the social consequences of living in flats,” said Nisam Shyiam, a local government planning officer.

He charged that the move was another attempt by the government to save money.

Beleaguered Sri Lankan Muslims of Hambantota were equally furious.

The government is now planning to demolish Hambantota’s mosque, which remarkably survived the tsunami, said The Independent.

“This is where we’ve always worshipped,” said one local Muslim who has lived in the now destroyed village for 44 years.

“We don’t want that to change. The mosque is still there so we want to live near by. It forms the center of our community.”

Mohammed Khalid, 55, a local fisherman living in a tent near the beach, weighed in describing the Siribopura idea as “absolutely ridiculous”.

“Everything about it is wrong. It’s going to turn into a slum within a year.

“We really don’t want to go but what choice do we have? What’s annoyed us the most is not once have we been asked how or where we want to live.”

At present, Khalid and his neighbors are living in donated tents.

He told The Independent that on arriving in the area to lay the foundation stone of the new town, President Bandaranaike went straight to the new site and carefully avoided stopping off at the refugee camps near the beach.

“If she’d come down here, she’d only be met with fierce opposition. Hambantota is supposed to be the flagship for the reconstruction of this broken country. If the others are handled like this, it’s going to be a disaster.”