
IDPs created by SLA attacks continue to suffer further due to floods
"They are extremely uncomfortable in waterlogged camps and depending almost entirely on international aid for food….It is basic as it can be. I haven't seen anything so basic since when I was in Somalia," John Campbell, of World Food Programme (WFP) speakingfrom Vanni afterarriving with the foodconvoyon Wednesday.

The more than 250,000 IDPs in Vanni, created by the deliberate and incessant shelling of the SLA for more than 12 months, are presently suffering the floods in makeshift shelters that remain flooded. Their situation is the direct result of, harsh restrictions imposed by the Sri Lanka Government on humanitarian supplies and the expelling of humanitarian agencies from Vanni three months ago. Many of the IDP families from all walks of life have set up shelters with floors at ground level and all of these shelters are either flooded or are very muddy. Any kind of floor spreads would assist to prevent the living areas of these families, most of whose members are very young children, from being flooded or muddy. But the restrictions imposed are such that even tarpaulins, an essential item wherever there are large number of IDPs, are blocked from reaching Vanni by the Sri Lanka Government. The conditions are such that families with young children and near term pregnant mothers are living in very poor flooded conditions unable to even complete their daily bodily needs.
10 December 2008
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