Colombo – As floodwaters inundate the Eastern provinces of Ampara, Batticaloa, Trincomalee, as well as other areas in Sri Lanka, the UN and the government have asked IOM to coordinate the work of aid agencies providing emergency shelter and essential non-food relief items to over 1.1 million displaced people.

According to the Sri Lankan Disaster Management Centre (DMC) some 1,106,555 people have been affected by the floods in Eastern and Northern areas. Over 58,000 are now sheltering in displacement camps in Batticaloa, Trincomalee and Ampara.

Following a request from the DMC, IOM has also agreed to provide free transport and logistics for humanitarian supplies for flood victims donated by other aid agencies.

It is also providing transport in Batticaloa and Ampara for the regional health authorities to undertake health assessments, move health workers and implement public health activities in flood-affected areas.

IOM has maintained a strong presence in eastern Sri Lanka since the 2004 tsunami. Following the cessation of conflict in the area in 2007, it launched a number of other reconstruction and livelihood projects. Its Ampara sub-office has over 50 trained emergency staff and the Batticaloa sub-office has 15. More staff are being drafted in from IOM Colombo and other sub-offices country-wide.

Pending a major consolidated flash appeal for funds due to be launched later this week, IOM has already committed USD 24,000 to provide 400 kits of essential non-food relief items in eastern districts and in Anuradhapura, in the North Central Province, where almost 3,000 families have been affected by the floods.

It has also committed up to USD 200,000 to support 2,000 households with emergency livelihoods restart grants or home garden start up kits to enable them to replant crops when the flood waters subside.

In the consolidated appeal, IOM will ask for funding to provide emergency shelter and essential non-food relief items, to transport relief supplies, to help people to repair their flood-damaged homes and restart their livelihoods, and to provide emergency health referrals and public health outreach in flood-affected communities.

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For more information please contact: Lorena Lando, Tel: +94 (0)11 5325300, E-mail: llando@iom.int  or Nicola Rounce, IOM Colombo, Tel: +94 (0)11 5325300, E-mail: nrounce@iom.int