Children have been a group in the shadows. They had to face the traumaticexperiences of the war from their tender ages and while displaced they are beensubject to numerous abuses. They are being recruited as child soldiers and most of thetime deprived of their rights to education. A majority of them are malnourished butmostof all the psychological impact that they have gone through being displaced itself is irreparable.“ Tsunami” and the <strong>IDP</strong>s“Tsunami” tidal waves – 26 th December; the largest natural disaster in recent historyhas damaged the peaceful life of Sri Lanka and has displaced over four hundredthousand individuals along the coastal belt. Over thirty thousand people lost theirlives in 10 districts and over hundred thousand houses were damaged totally. Thesocio – economy structure and the life patterns have changed.There were no any unique authority to work in this situation and many differentauthorities worked within their mandates with out having any coordination. The 2000government prepared to established separate ministry for disaster management andit was not allowed due to political culture. But the Her Excellency President establisheda Disaster Management Unit under the Presidential Secretariat and it was empoweredto work on disaster management.Due to Tsunami 14 districts were affected and eight hundred thirty five thousandpersons were displaced.District Deaths InjuredPersonsMissing <strong>IDP</strong>sColombo 76 - 12 16,139Gampaha 7 03 1 32,000Kalutara 219 400 106 34,536Galle 4,193 2,500 120,000Matara 1,213 8,288 450 41,900Hambantota 4,500 -- 472 27,351Ampara 10,436 120 - 183,527Mullaitivu 3,000 2,500 1,300 24,557Batticaloa 2,794 1,622 1,081 203,807Trincomalee 1,077 - 337 51,863Killinochchi 560 147 56 49,129Jaffna 2,640 656 540 48,729Puttlam 4 - 1 1029Vavuniya - - - 641Total 30,718 16,236 4,356 835,028The Affected districts map<strong>Annual</strong> <strong>Report</strong> <strong>2004</strong>National Protection and Durable Solutions for Internally Displaced Persons <strong>Project</strong>Human Rights Commission of Sri Lanka9
Tsunami has damaged not only the life of the people but also socio - economy of thecountry. It has been displaced nearly half of the population of some districts.District No. of DS No. of GN Population No. of No of <strong>IDP</strong>s PercentageDivisions Divisionswelfarecentersof districtpopulationdisplaced.Colombo 13 557 2,234,289* 43 16,139 0.72%Gampaha 13 1,177 2,066,096* 11 32,000 1.54%Kalutara 14 762 1,060,800* 96 34,356 3.23%Galle 18 896 990,539* 154 120,000 12.11%Matara 16 650 761,236* 44 41,900 5.50%Hambantota 12 1,319 525,370* 19 27,351 5.20%Ampara 19 876 589,344* 125 183,527 31.14%Batillcloa 12 857 455,321** 100 203,807 44.76%Trincomalee 10 230 346,274** 76 51,863 14.98%Jaffna 14 435 955,165** 43 48,729 5.10%Killinochchi 03 95 115,553** 12 49,129 42.51%Mullativu 04 127 120,113** 19 24,557 20.44%Puttalm 16 548 705,342* 4 1,029 0.14%Vavuniya 04 102 - 5 641 -<strong>Annual</strong> <strong>Report</strong> <strong>2004</strong>National Protection and Durable Solutions for Internally Displaced Persons <strong>Project</strong>Human Rights Commission of Sri Lanka10