1st 100 Wells Completed!

The 1st 100 out of the 500 Wells Sponsored by Stretchline (Private) Limited, for De-Contamination due to the Floods have been successfully completed.

District - Batticaloa

DS Division - Vellavelli

GN Division - Porathivu

Tsunami in Japan

We would like to offer our thoughts and prayers to the people and victims of the Tsunami in Japan.

Acknowledgement - Stretchline!

We wish to Thank and Acknowledge the receipt of the following Cheques from Stretchline (Private) Limited towards the de-contaminating and cleaning of the 1st 500 wells in Kalmunai/ Batticaloa:

HSBC Cheque #'s - 048032 & 048033

Cleaning of 500 Wells!

RCCR together with Stretchline (Private) Limited will commence a Project to Clean & Purify 500 Wells in the Kalmunai/ Batticaloa areas that were contaminated due to the recent floods on Monday, 7th March 2011.

The 500 Wells will require an estimated 25 days to complete. We are grateful to Stretchline and its staff for the full sponsorship extended towards this Project.

Project estimate is LKR. 1.2 Million!

Update on Contributions Received

We have now reached LKR 3.35 Million in Donations and Pledges thanx to Rotarians and Friends of Rotary.

RCCR Releases More Funds to RCK

RCCR Flood Relief Effort Committee just authorized and released a further LKR 200,000/- to Rotary club of Kalmunai to purchase emergency relief items.

We felt the funds released to RCK would speed up relief efforts as sourcing and transporting from Colombo would delay our efforts by 2 days minimum, which we cannot afford to incur due to the urgency of the requirement!

Death toll rises!

The death toll due to the latest wave of floods has gone up to 16 while an estimated 1.2 million people had been affected and 172,535 people were displaced as of today.

- http://www.dailymirror.lk/news/9666-death-toll-goes-up.html

Update re. Floods from Rotary Club of Kalmunai

Pictures sent in by the Rotary Club of Kalmunai (RCK), who are actively coordinating on-site Relief Efforts in Kalmunai areas show the results of a sudden shower that resulted in the surrounding areas.

The submerged Jeep is the RCK vehicle used to distribute the Relief items, which according to RCK needed rescuing.

Current round of rains have resulted in many people being left homeless and in-need of urgent assistance. The rains have damaged and destroyed many retaining walls of lakes and damns releasing large volumes of water towards un-suspecting residents.

Sat Image Update

The above Sat image of Sri Lanka clearly shows the permanent cloud formation over the Island.

Temperatures range from a high of 31C to a low of 24C with specific areas in country dropping to much lower levels!

Storms and Thundershowers are forecasted for the next couple of days!

- www.weather.com

Relief Distribution at Valathapitty Refugee Camp

The Rotary Club of Kalmunai distributed Lunch Parcels, Mineral Water Bottles and Used Clothes for the Refugees accommodated in Valathapitty Vidyalayam. These peoples are displaced from Mallikaithivu, and Valathapitty low land areas.

Valthapitty is approximately 20Km from Kalmunai Town. RCK members generally pass through Sammanthurai, however, yesterday they we could not travel through Sammanthurai or through Malkampitty route due to floods. They reached this School through Akkaripathu, which is almost 60 Km from Kalmunai town.

More 350 Members from this Refugees Camp were benefitted by this relief distribution at Valathapitty Refugee Camp.

RCCR donated Mineral Water Bottles and Used Clothes towards the distribution at this Refugee Camp.

Floods reach dangerous level!

As of Friday, 04 February, 2011 "The flood situation in the country reached dangerous levels with the number of affected families increasing by over 100,000 within hours, bringing the total of affected families to 230,000, causing six deaths, official said.

The number affected stood at 100,000 late Thursday evening. Bad weather took its toll in 17 districts while it was reported that those affected were kept in 322 camps.

Spill gates were opened in all tanks in the Anurdhapura, Polonnaruwa, Batticaloa, Ampara, Vavuniya and Trincomalee Districts as almost all the tanks reached spill levels.

Director General Department of Irrigation G. G. Godaliyadha said that the Anurahapura and Polonnaruwa Districts posed the most danger as gushing waters of Nachchiduwa, Padaviya and Rajangana and several other tanks inundated all low lands in Anuradhapura while many areas in Polonnaruwa was also submerged. Medirigriya area was also submerged as the gates of Kavudulla tanks were opened." (YP)

http://www.dailymirror.lk/news/9551-floods-reach-dangerous-level.html

Thank you Stretchline!

Stretchline (Private) Limited - Sri Lanka, together with their Staff have come forward towards the complete sponsorship of cleaning 500 wells in Batticaloa/ Kalmunai.

RCCR would also like to acknowledge the receipt of Clothing and Mineral Water Bottles by their staff towards the flood affected in the East Coast of Sri Lanka.

Thank You!

Acknowledgement - SIRC

RCCR would like to take this opportunity to acknowledge and thank the Stockholm International Rotary Club (SIRC) for their valued contribution of LKR. 33,380/- towards the flood relief efforts of our Club.

Donation of Rations at Pandirippu

The Rotary Club of Kalmunai distributed Dry rations and Bed Sheets for the Flood affected people from Pandiruppu Tsunami village around 2 Km from Kalmunai town.

This is also a small village Constructed for Tsunami affected people who lived 65m from the sea.

These houses were constructed in very low-land paddy fields after filling earth to a minimum required level. During the flood all the villages were displaced and had to be accommodated in a refugee camp at Pandiruppu.

Around 36 families benefitted by this relief distribution at Pandiruppu Tsunami Village. RCCR contributed Bed Sheets towards this effort.

Relief to Students in Aligambe

The Rotary Club of Kalmunai (RCK) distributed Exercise books and Biscuits (Contributed by RCCR) to the flood affected students from Aligambe village around 45Km from Kalmunai town.

according to RCK, prior

to 1948 this area was completely under forest cover, and these people lived without clothing/ dresses. Rev. Fr. Kook (an American) entered this area and helped improve this forest into a small village. The villages even to this date use a deferent language/ dialect apart from Tamil.

C

urrently, a small Church and a School up to grade Eight for around 300 students can be seen.

H

owever, there is still no electricity since not many people are aware of their plight or for that matter, their existence.

RCCR together with RCK would like to request a willing donor/s to assist us towards providing these villages the basic necessities to help to improve their living standards.

Cleaning of 500 Wells

The Rotary Club of Colombo Regency is looking at cleaning 500 wells in the areas of Batticaloa. Once the cleaning is complete, residents will be able to use the well water for drinking purposes and other livelyhood

More Dry Rations being Donated

The Rotary Club of Kalmunai distributed Dry Rations provided by the Rotary Club of Colombo Regency to the flood affected Media persons from the areas of Thuraineelavanai and Kalmunai Kudi areas.

24 Flood affected Media staff received Relief packs worth of minimum LKR. 1000/-

Contamination of Wells

With the rains coming to an end and the flood water levels receding, a lot of mainstream attention has moved away from the people who were affected by the floods.

We have been received ground reports that out of a total of 64,000 wells in Batticaloa District alone, about 15,000 have been contaminated due to the severe floods.

Since, the contamination of these wells result in residents not being able to use the well water for drinking or any other purposes, it has drastically affected their livelihoods as well.

RCCR is looking at working with the Rotary Club of Kalmunai towards cleaning much of these wells, so that the water is fit for human consumption.

We will update details pertaining to the requirements and logistics pertaining to this project as soon as we get feedback from Site, with regards to Costs etc.

Rotary Medical Camp at Annamalai

Today the Rotary Club of Kalmunai (RCK) members arranged a Medical Camp at Annamalai where one death registered during the flood. It is a village far from Kalmunai town and no medical facilities available. This medical camp treated 358 patients from that area and villages around Annamalai.

Medicines valued at over LKR. 350,000/- was contributed by the Rotary Club of Colombo Regency and the Rotary Club of Colombo Fort.

We wish to take this opportunity to thank the Doctors who contributed their time and efforts on a voluntary basis, whist acknowledging the untiring efforts of the Members of RCK who coordinated this Medical Camp.

Distribution of Dry Rations & Bed Sheets

The Rotary Club of Kalmunai distributed Dry Rations and Bed Sheets donated by the Rotary Club of Colombo Regency, to the Flood affected peoples from Thiravanthiyamedu, and Karithivu Tsunami Housing scheme.