humanitarian response

Many people are returning to their homes in flood-hit Sri Lanka but the humanitarian challenge has only just begun. Oxfam will be scaling up its response to the disaster in the next few days to reach 120,000 people in the Eastern and North Central Provinces.

As the scale of the flood increases in the country, Oxfam continues to expand its rapid response in Eastern Sri Lanka, currently providing hygiene kits, tarpaulins, cooked food and bottled water to approximately 17,000 people in Batticaloa, Trincomalee and Ampara districts in the East.

In a report released today, Oxfam called on the Haitian authorities, with support from the international community, to move forward on plans to start rebuilding the shattered country and enable close to one million people still living in tents and under tarpaulins to resettle or return home.

In years of responding to disasters, the destruction and logistical challenges caused by Haiti’s earthquake which struck on 12 January 2010, were among the worst Oxfam has ever encountered.

Over the weekend Oxfam began chlorinating water for 300,000 people in a slum area of Cap Haitien. Recent violence spread across the city and Oxfam had to stop those activities. Other activities that have ceased are distributions of soap, water tablets and oral rehydration salts.

International agency Oxfam has doubled its cholera response since the first cases were confirmed in October in Haiti. Oxfam’s water, sanitation and hygiene education programs are now reaching over 700,000 people in the capital Port-au-Prince, Artibonite, and Cap Haitien.

On this one year commemoration of people who lost their lives in the devastating tsunami that struck Samoa and Tonga in September 2009, our thoughts are with families, friends and communities. We also extend our sympathies to the many survivors who experienced suffering and trauma.

Mobile water tanks, first aid, boats and local volunteers have been put on high alert by Oxfam as the worst floods in living memory surge south.

Local people are working around the clock to rescue families cut off by rising flood waters. Using wooden fishing boats, a navy of local fishermen known as "Malah" and volunteers are working with local groups, Oxfam, and the Pakistani authorities to evacuate more than 50,000 people.