By Kelly Bauer American Red Cross Information and Reporting Delegate and Winnie Romeril American Red Cross Press Officer, in Colombo, Sri Lanka.
The Red Cross Red Crescent is moving quickly to install water and sanitation systems for 78 families who have resettled near the southern city of Galle after losing their homes in the December 2004 tsunami.
The arrival of the families in Walahanduwa placed pressure on the village's existing sanitation infrastructure, with conditions around homes deteriorating to the point where residents faced a renewed threat of illness and disease.
When local officials from the government of Sri Lanka's Reconstruction and Development Agency (RADA) appealed to humanitarian agencies for help, the American Red Cross and the Sri Lanka Red Cross Society stepped up to address the community's emerging health and hygiene needs.
"While the American Red Cross has many long-term projects underway to restore tsunami-affected communities, we cannot forget the basic needs of people like those in Walahanduwa," explained Ricardo Caivano, Senior Field Representative in Sri Lanka for the American Red Cross. "This project will have a quick impact, helping to reduce illness and improving the environment for these families."
When American Red Cross experts made their initial assessment of the village, they found that many women and children were suffering from rashes and open sores on their feet and legs that came from simply walking around the village or playing outside.
The November 2005 monsoon rains flooded Walahanduwa, a village built at the base of surrounding hills, overflowing the streets and yards with black water and raw sewage. Besides the obvious health hazards, stagnant pools of unclean water serve as an ideal breeding ground for disease-carrying mosquitoes, an especially dangerous situation in Sri Lanka, where thousands of people suffer from illnesses such as dengue, chikungunya fever, malaria and japanese encephalitis each year.
"When it rains, we can't even send our children to school," said Mrs. S.K.G. Chandrika, a resident of the village. "The roads flood with dirty water and sometimes pests like snakes. How can we send our children out in such conditions?"
In response, the American Red Cross and the Sri Lanka Red Cross Society have begun revamping the shallow drainage ditches along the roadsides by installing a proper and lasting concrete drainage system. This system will extend between rows of homes to remove the stagnant water and prevent further flooding. The houses will receive larger septic tanks, each with a natural filter system and five-year capacity, to clean the water before it is drained. In addition, residents will be encouraged to plant gardens over and around the underground tanks to soak up contaminants already in the soil.
"We knew we had to act quickly in a situation like this to help protect people from disease and illness," said Leigh Burgess, water and sanitation expert in Sri Lanka for the American Red Cross. "At a community meeting, we asked for a committee of residents that the Red Cross would train in how to maintain the drainage and sanitation systems so these problems wouldn't happen again in the future."
According to Burgess, the very next day, community leaders came to the Red Cross office with a petition signed by all their neighbors, asking the Red Cross to move ahead with the project.
"We broke ground on the project one week later," said Burgess.
The American and Sri Lankan Red Cross Societies have also signed up a number of residents to assist with construction, supporting local incomes and giving people a sense of ownership over the work.
T. L. Wilson Shantha (known as "Raju") is one such resident. "I want a better life for my family," said Raju, pointing to the mark on his home, left over from flooding following a recent downpour. The water had entered the house, forcing his wife and toddler son to take refuge next door at his sister's house.
Soon, Raju and his neighbors will have new, long-lasting water and sanitation systems to improve the conditions in this community.
The American Red Cross has water and sanitation programs underway in five districts in Sri Lanka that will assist more than 250,000 people. These programs include restoring or building new wells and tanks to provide clean water, connecting houses to the rural water system and installing new toilets and septic systems. Together, the American Red Cross and the Sri Lanka Red Cross Societyy - and indeed the wider Red Cross Red Crescent - are addressing the emerging needs of tsunami-affected people, while working on long-term programs to restore their communities and improve their lives.