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There
is an urgent need to ward off outbreaks of disease among
the hundreds of thousands of Sri Lankan Tamil victims in
relief camps, an international Christian development
agency forewarned.
One of the UK's leading humanitarian and development
charities, Christian Aid, has cautioned that with
hundreds of new arrivals flooding into the camps
everyday, the camps are ‘an epidemic waiting to happen’.
Robin Greenwood, the director of Christian Aid’s Asia
programme, warned, "a combination of monsoon rains, poor
drainage and over-crowding is the ideal breeding ground
for diseases like cholera and typhoid.”
Greenhood fears that a "disease outbreak in northern Sri
Lanka is imminent if the government does not tackle the
problem of overcrowding and sanitation.”
According to the aid agency, there are currently 30
people living in tents designed for five people.
"Now that the Sri Lankan government has sovereign
control of all of its territory, it must live up to its
responsibilities to its citizens and put more into the
relief effort," says Greenwood.
Christian Aid has been working with its local partner
organisations to respond to the humanitarian needs of
those who have fled the conflict by providing
much-needed relief in the camps.
Another global humanitarian aid organization, United
Methodist Committee on Relief (UMCOR) says, "the
displaced population is living in extremely difficult
conditions and it is still uncertain when they will be
able to return to their home communities.”
"Many of the displaced spent months trapped in the
northern conflict zone, and they suffer from injuries,
malnutrition, and severe trauma, " the aid agency of the
United Methodist Church, said.
UMCOR is helping thousands at the Menik Farm camp by
providing "emergency shelters for 700 families as well
as 3,000 baby and hygiene kits, and 34,000 emergency
kits.”
Recently, after United Nations Secretary General Ban Ki-moon
called for greater international relief access to
internal displaced person (IDP) camps, the Sri Lankan
Government responded by granting “unhindered access” to
refugee camps.
Meanwhile, several human rights groups have called for
independent investigations into the number of civilians
killed in the final weeks of the civil war.
The calls intensified after The Times, London, reported
that 20,000 civilians were killed in the final phase of
military operation against LTTE.
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