DEPUTY HUMANITARIAN CHIEF VISITS FORMER CONFLICT AREA IN SRI LANKA

(Colombo/New York, 20 January 2011): On the second day of her three-day visit to Sri Lanka, United Nations Assistant Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs and Deputy Emergency Relief Coordinator Catherine Bragg travelled across the country to get a better understanding of humanitarian priorities.

First, Ms. Bragg travelled north to Theravil in Mullaitivu District, which has only recently been cleared of landmines, allowing its former residents to return and begin rebuilding their lives.

A decades-long conflict in northern Sri Lanka ended in May 2009 and saw more than 300,000 people displaced and housed in Government-run camps. Currently only 20,000 people remain in the camps, unable to return home due to the risk of land mines and lack of basic services.

Today, there are 263 families who have returned to Theravil, which was one of the last battlegrounds in the conflict, after their release from the largest camp, Menik Farm, in November 2010.

"Significant progress has been made in meeting the needs of the displaced and promoting return processes. However, those who have been released now face a daily struggle to rebuild their lives, and have to start from scratch," said Ms. Bragg. "There is nothing left. They are going to need schools and teachers, hospitals and doctors, and basic social services."

During the visit, aid organizations expressed their wish to be able to help provide the sort of support needed to address the range of vulnerabilities that people face whether physical, social or psychosocial.

"We are here to support them. It is good that the Government has invested significantly in infrastructure, but this should be combined with investing in the people as well," said Ms Bragg.

Ms. Bragg then travelled to the Batticaloa in the flood-ravaged eastern province where she heard from local government and aid organizations about the extent of the damage especially in the agricultural sector, which has lost 80 per cent of this season's harvest in some places.

Ms. Bragg wrapped up her second day by launching the Flash Appeal for the flood, which is appealing for $51 million dollars to meet the urgent needs of one million people for the next six months.

During the launch, Ms. Bragg announced that a $6-million grant from the Central Emergency Response Fund (CERF) has been allocated to jumpstart key life-saving projects listed in the Flash Appeal.

For further information, please call: Kirsten Mildren, OCHA-Asia Pacific, mobile +66 819151276,mildren@un.org;

Stephanie Bunker, OCHA-New York, +1 917 367 5126, mobile +1347 244 2106, bunker@un.org;

Nicholas Reader +1 212 963 4961, mobile +1 646 752 3117, reader@un.org;

Elisabeth Byrs OCHA-Geneva, +41 22 917 2653, mobile, +41 79 473 4570, byrs@un.org.

OCHA press releases are available at http://ochaonline.un.org or www.reliefweb.int.

For more information about CERF, please see http://cerf.un.org