By Dion Schoorman, World Vision Lanka

World Vision is gravely concerned that impending monsoon rains and inadequate sanitation will place tens of thousands of people at risk from disease in displacement camps in northern Sri Lanka.

The sanitation facilities in the largest camps where most of the displaced are living are woefully inadequate and at least 11,500 more latrines are needed in the camps to comply with international minimum standards. With the monsoon expected to arrive within the next two weeks, at least 2,500 are needed immediately to meet even the most basic needs and to prevent a potential health crisis.

Suresh Bartlett, World Vision Lanka’s National Director, said: “We are very worried about the outbreak of diseases. When the rains come in two weeks or so I can’t imagine what conditions will be like due to the lack of any proper drainage and toilet system.”

Unsafe drinking water and inadequate sanitation facilities can give rise to water-borne diseases such as typhoid, cholera and dysentery and promote mosquito-borne diseases such as malaria and dengue, with children among the most vulnerable.

“Camps further north in Jaffna have already experienced rains and there we have seen people trying to keep their things dry in overturned buckets and hanging their babies in saris to keep them off the ground and out of flood waters,” said Bartlett.

Although World Vision has access to work in the camps, it is now severely short of the funds needed to respond.

“I urge the international community to give freely. There are so many crises in the world at this time - a financial crisis, a crisis in Pakistan - but the needs of those who have survived the conflict are extreme. After surviving such a violent conflict, it will be extremely unfortunate for the children and babies to now succumb to disease.”

Bartlett said there were a number of needs in the camps, including access to clean water, food and shelter but added that the sanitation needs were among the greatest.

World Vision needs an additional USD 3 million to support a scaled up response in the displacement camps.

The 26-year-long conflict between the Sri Lanka Government and the separatist LTTE ended on May 17th, with the capture of the last strip of coastland occupied by the LTTE in north east Sri Lanka. Some 280,000 displaced persons are now accommodated in camps in Vavuniya, Mannar and Jaffna districts in northern Sri Lanka and Trincomalee in the East.

World Vision is working with other aid agencies to support and care for the displaced persons in the camps. The organisation is providing shelter, food, water and family packs of essential items and is supplying top-up food, and supplementary nutritional food to children under five and nursing mothers.

During the last six weeks, World Vision has trucked five million litres of water, distributed 100,000 packs of cooked food and supplied 60 MT of complementary food to the communal kitchens.