Four months have passed since Cyclone Ditwah hit Sri Lanka, yet the cry of a woman continues to echo in the mountains of the cyclone-affected plantations of the hill country. The cry is not, in fact, on account of Ditwah having taken people’s lives; more shockingly, it is on account of the cyclone not having taken the lives of the people who have been left behind by the disaster. 

This formed the focus of attention during meetings to assess the present status of those affected by Cyclone Ditwah in the plantation areas and the impact of relief work carried out so far.  

Major points highlighted in the experiences of a few of those affected, expressed through video documentary and presentations made by researchers, are summarised below. 

A community in crisis

In the initial stage, affected families were given shelter in schools, temples, churches, cultural centres, etc. They were given food, clothes, and other essentials using the contributions of those living within the country and abroad, collectively as well as individually. On the other hand, the Government and estate management responded to the immediate call for the needs of affected people, including rescuing and providing for medical requirements.  

In the next stage, the task of resettling the refugees commenced, although the people were not ready for it either physically or mentally. However, the process commenced mainly because schools had to be vacated to continue educational activities, the estate management was compelled to start plucking and processing tea, and estate workers had to return to line rooms in order to avoid losing their employment, etc.  

The resettlement process involved moving people to line rooms and individual houses that were considered to be in liveable conditions, in accordance with recommendations of National Building Research Organisation (NBRO) officials. Some pointed out that no such inspection had taken place in their own areas by the relevant officials. In fact, it was the grama niladharis and Samurdhi officers who had instructed people to return to their line rooms and houses.  

The estate management also encouraged workers to return to line rooms in order to recommence estate work. However, people had no option but to move to their line rooms and continue living there despite the nightmarish possibility of their roofs crashing down on their heads. 

Residents of fully damaged line rooms and houses were given two types of shelters, namely, tents and cubicles. Single tents are made out of canvas and have an extent of approximately 10x10 feet. The other type of shelter is a huge hall made out of tin sheets, divided into several cubicles with an extent of approximately 10x10 feet each. The floors of both types of shelters are  covered with plastic sheets, through which water seeps when it rains. There have also been reptiles and insects. Furthermore, on sunny days, people find it hard to live in these cubicles due to the unbearable heat.  

Drinking water is provided by the estate management, and for other purposes, people depend on nearby streams; if they are lucky enough, they are likely to find such sources of water near their dwellings. Since most of the existing latrines were damaged and unusable, people had to look for secluded spots in surrounding areas to answer calls of nature. 

Cooking is not possible inside these rooms due to a lack of space and safety. The residents cook on a makeshift stone hearth by the roadside; it is impossible to cook when it rains.  

The plight of women living in these houses is worse than that of men. Young women, especially, undergo agony when they are left without privacy to change their clothes or have a nap during illness. Safety of women is a significant issue when they venture to fetch water from streams, bathe, and find secluded places for calls of nature both during the day and at night. 

Women with small children face even more vulnerable situations. Looking after the children, feeding them, and making them study are not easy tasks in such living conditions. Some of these women do not go to work in order to safeguard their young daughters. Whereas they would previously have left their children in the custody of unemployed residents in the house or with elders in the neighbourhood, they are now disconnected because only estate employees and their immediate family members are accommodated under the new shelter system. 

Health conditions are likely to be disastrous in the future. At the moment, residents depend mainly on food rations provided to them. Almost all are compelled to eat rice and dhal or wheat roti and coconut sambol for all three meals; the addition of vegetables is a rare event. It is even said that they cannot contemplate cooking chicken or fish simply because it is not possible to cook in the open air or eat without sharing with others, since they are also unable to afford such food items in large quantities. 

The demand of the affected 

What those affected by the cyclone demand is a piece of land with a house in order to lead a dignified life. They also state that they have been unable to benefit from the relief package granted by the Government. They face additional hurdles such as gaining access to the grama niladhari, who is the sole authority to deal with relief packages and other grassroot-level matters.  

Furthermore, people are also in need of grama niladhari services related to obtaining new documents such as National Identity Cards, birth certificates, school certificates etc. that they lost. They are compelled to spend an entire day travelling because of the distance to the grama niladhari’s office from their residence; this implies the loss of a day’s work. 

Even in the event of successfully meeting such officials, explaining their cases or demands to them becomes considerably difficult on account of the language barrier. Supposing they overcome all these obstacles, they eventually get stuck when they are asked to submit documents to prove their eligibility for the relief package.  

The cry might come through 

Civil societies representing the Malaiyaha community and others have taken some action to expedite the recovery process. A set of demands have been handed over to the President, Prime Minister, and the relevant ministers. The demands include mainly land, housing, infrastructure arrangements, access to Government services, relief, and the reconstruction package which is already being implemented in Ditwah-affected rural and urban areas.

Among the demands, some are related to policy issues while others are related to processing issues. The complexities involved may be politically, administratively, or even socially oriented, and implementing reconstruction and rehabilitation activities for the Ditwah-affected plantation worker community seems to be a multifaceted and time-consuming process. It has been mentioned that finding a solution to the land and housing issue alone would require at least two years.

Should the prevailing situation continue for a few more months, these people will undoubtedly be pushed to face another disaster such as extreme health issues and social crises. People are already on the edge of frustration and depression, a fact that is well captured in the cry of the woman already mentioned. 

Need for immediate action 

Taking this situation into consideration, what is required is immediate action aimed at implementing an intermediary arrangement for the affected people, at least in order to prolong their lives until an amicable solution is arrived at. With this in mind, a few recommendations are given below for consideration. 

• The relief package provided by the Government is not applicable to the plantation worker community for the basic reason that they do not own their land or line rooms despite having lived there for generations. The ownership of individual houses constructed under various schemes is also not legally ensured.  
• Therefore, a new set of relief and rehabilitation packages should be drawn up with input from relevant stakeholders. 
• Implementation of the new package should be with Government machinery, at least at the divisional secretariat division level and below.  
• A separate unit should be established for dealing with the affairs of the Ditwah-affected plantation worker community parallel to the existing arrangement for implementing ongoing relief activities for those affected by the cyclone in general. 
• The human resources of the unit could be increased in proportion to demand, considering barriers such as language and distance.
• Such a unit may be a temporary arrangement by nature until a sustainable solution is arrived at.  

This is a plea, therefore, to all those who start their day with a cup of tea, all those who release their tension or fatigue with a cup of tea, and all those who enjoy their evenings with a cup of tea.  

Regardless of who they may be – the President, ministers, Members of Parliament, Government officials, politicians, trade unionists, personnel of plantation companies and estate management, civil society members, social activists, or the general public – the plea is extended to them all to consider the seriousness of the issues at hand and take action one way or another according to their capacity in order to expedite the recovery process without any further delay. 

(The writer is a social researcher and former Lecturer at the Department of Sociology of the University of Colombo)

(The views and opinions expressed in this article are those of the writer and do not necessarily reflect the official position of this publication)