Government Agents, (GAs), appointed by the central government, can trace their origins to the colonial era when the country was divided into nine provinces and they were the chief provincial administrators. December 16, 2005—One of the most famous government agents was Leonard Woolf, well recognized in Sri Lanka for his writings, and later as the husband of literary giantess Virginia Woolf. He started his British civil service career as GA at the Jaffna Kachcheri ([Government Office). With changes in the local government structure and the appointment of District Ministers, who are members of Parliament, the GA’s now do not normally have the power that Woolf had. However, in the aftermath of the tsunami, their status was upgraded by the Government and they became the Competent Authority, directing relief operations. As Chulie de Silva, the Bank’s external affairs officer in Colombo, discovered for many GAs it meant instant on the job learning about disaster management. The GA of Matara, Gamini Jayasekera, saw the wave coming. He got caught in it, but survived, only to set up a makeshift office within a couple of hours to start relief operations. His task was not easy. His only son was missing. While his daughter was safe, Jayasekera was faced with a destroyed town piled high with dead bodies. His Secretariat was demolished. Despite his own trauma, he sought to stay focused on the task at hand, rallying doctors, police, the army and his staff to begin the relief effort. “The army cleared the debris, doctors worked around the clock tirelessly, and our record is that no one died of injuries in the hospital, no one died of hunger and there were no follow on illnesses or epidemics,” Jayasekera says. The count in Matara was grim: 1391 dead, 6652 injured and another 508 missing. Seventy percent of those who died were women.  |  |  | | Government Agent of Matara, Mr. Gamini Jayasekera |
| |
As he recounted the events of the day, it was with a little bit of prodding that he said his son was found safe in a relative’s house two days later. “Money wasn’t a problem,’ says Jayasekera explaining the Government released about US$98,000 ( LKR ten million) to the GAs for the relief operations and made the GAs Competent Authorities under emergency regulations. “We fingerprinted and photographed the dead and had the information recorded on CDs, to enable identification. Every day there were meetings, with the police, army, and staff to review the progress of their work and analyze shortfalls. “The community was very supportive. Even the poorest brought a kilo of sugar as their contribution, “Jayasekera says. “We had a shortage of heavy duty vehicles. Residents from towns as far away as Panadura offered us their vehicles for use, and this has forged new useful relationships,” he adds. In the Public Service On the northern tip of Sri Lanka, K. Pathmanathan, an experienced senior member of the administrative service, was serving the last days of his tenure in Jaffna when the tsunami hit. “I rushed to the scene when I heard about the tragedy. The sea had come in about one kilometer,” He took a map and said: “This coastal belt from here to here” – pointing to the land strip from Point Pedro downwards was completely washed away. “ People had no way to get to safety on this side or on that side. There were no police officers, no army officers -- a large number of soldiers too got caught to the tsunami while on guard duty in the coastal area.” “True we are in the public service, but if we follow rules and regulations we can’t do anything,” he said, explaining how he galvanized the community to respond to the tragedy. What stood him in good stead was first hand experience of carrying out rescue and relief operations in Jaffna during the war years. “When the army and LTTE geared for war, we were preparing to safeguard the people.” In 1995, when some 400,000 people were displaced, Pathmanathan led the rescue and relief operation, providing temporary shelter, food and other necessities. | |  | | K. Pathmanathan, senior member of the administrative service in Sri Lanka |
| |
“I trained the people. They know now where there safe havens are; how to help others; to react immediately, -- not only the officers, but also non government organizations and cooperatives too,” he said. Pathmanathan rounded up the Grama Sevaka’s , the village level officers of the local government system now, and closed the road preventing looters from entering the area. The Fisheries Cooperative Society was the main community group leading the immediate relief effort. He grouped the volunteers into clusters of five to 10 people and started combing the devastated areas to ensure no injured person was left unattended. Using the tuk tuks for Help As relief operations were underway, Sri Lanka’s rich community traditions of sharing and giving food and helping each other in times of need played a vital role. There was a well-established system in Jaffna, because of the conflict years. To activate the system was easy. Pathmanathan sent messages via the three wheeler tuk’tuks calling for food and clothing for people being housed in schools. The response was as expected. People sent cooked food, clothing and help for victims through the tuk tuks, back to the temporary relief shelters. In the low lying Jaffna coastal belt, houses were wiped away. There were only a few people left with injuries - the majority, more than 2000 were dead or missing. For those who survived, there was a total sense of loss. Some had no clothes – their garments had been ripped away by the force of the powerful waves. They had no money, no possessions and no identification. Most people had though an important task - carrying out the final religious rituals for their dead loved ones. Understanding this need, Pathmanathan did not wait for the banks to open or for government approvals. He moved swiftly to raise money from shop owners to give US$98 (LKR10, 000) to every family member removing a dead body from the hospital, so to cover funeral costs. The tsunami left more than six thousand families shattered in the Jaffna and Mullaitivu areas. Batticaloa, the worst affected area had over 54,000 tsunami survivors who were housed in 100 welfare centres . | |  | | Emelda Sukumaran, Government Agent of Mullativu |
| |
Huge Task “It was a huge task of starting anew,” says Emelda Sukumaran, GA of Mullativu. Assertive and dynamic Sukumaran lost her brand new house. But she was lucky. Her family survived as they had left the house earlier in the morning to visit relatives. In Mullativu, 80% of the internally displaced people were being resettled when the tsunami stuck. For the war returnees this was a huge set back. Sukumaran waves a pencil in her hand and says expressively:“ I didn’t even recover a pencil from my home, but our assistance to the tsunami affected was well coordinated.” But she was faced with another blow. It was the loss of 12 of her responsible staff members. . “Money we had, but what we lacked was the capacity for implementing a speedy recovery plan, “she says. Despite the obstacles, Sukumaran spearheaded a program which saw people were accommodated in 22 camps, and food and safe drinking water provided expeditiously. Schools even opened on time in January after the December vacation. It’s through the work of the GAs and staff that people in the transient camps were moved. All families in the initial camps have now been moved to transitional shelters. Some have been able to resume their livelihoods. In Matara the program of “getting people back into their homes” (the Government’s title for that reconstruction program) has been making good progress, according to officials. However, reconstruction programs elsewhere have had their share of problems. Pathmanathan, now the Project Director of the Bank’s North East Housing Program says “the program is stalled at present.” The difficulties have been put down to delays in getting the non state sector housing program going, as well as the scarcity of land to relocate people who lived within the 100-200 metre zone – the area declared a no go zone for re-building by the Government of Sri Lanka as a protective measure. The buffer zone rule has now been relaxed, prompting a fresh need to reassess donor funding for housing within the buffer zone. Some say the lack of technically trained staff to speed up the release of the grant tranches has also hampered the progress of the “getting people back home,” program. Government and the donors also recognize the need to involve beneficiaries more in the implementation process and review grant allocations to include the increases in cost of construction. As the first anniversary approaches, the aim of the government and the development partners is for all households who lost their home to know by the first anniversary or very soon after, where their new home will be, how it will be financed, and their role in its realization. |
RSS