World Vision workers unload packages of relief supplies for displaced families in Sri Lanka's conflict-weary north.
Photo ©2009 World Vision staff

More than 25,000 civilians have fled Sri Lanka’s war-torn north, seeking safety in temporary displacement camps, while World Vision staff members warned that the need for medicine, food, and shelter is growing.

“Tens of thousands of people have been flooding into government-controlled areas. We know from those who have fled earlier that these new waves of internally displaced survivors will be in great need, having been caught in the middle of a war zone for weeks,” said Suresh Bartlett, World Vision Lanka’s national director in Sri Lanka.

“There is great need for medicines, food, and shelter. Humanitarian agencies want to be ramping up their responses to help.”

Tens of thousands in need of assistance

Even as Asia’s longest-running conflict seems to have reached a conclusion, the humanitarian needs of the displaced civilians — especially children — will continue to require support.

Prior to this most recent exodus, more than 65,000 people were already in camps in the Jaffna, Mannar, and Vavuniya districts of Sri Lanka. The majority of these people are housed in 16 camps in the Vavuniya district, and World Vision is currently working in all these sites.

Additional resources required

In recent weeks, our team has provided food packets to more than 25,000 internally displaced people and hospital care packs to 700 families. On a daily basis, World Vision is distributing nearly 70,000 liters of water across various camp locations.

World Vision has also set up tents to accommodate nursing mothers in every campsite across the Vavuniya district, and we are working to set up temporary learning spaces with activities for hundreds of war-affected children.

More funding is urgently needed to meet the growing needs of the displaced. World Vision is appealing for an additional $1.5 million to reach its target of 60,000 beneficiaries in Sri Lanka.

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