Sri Lanka

A Brief History

Sri Lanka has been suffering from the effects of both manmade and natural disasters for the past two decades.

The civil war between the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) and the Sri Lankan Government has lasted almost 23 years, and was responsible for the deaths of almost 150,000 civilians.

A further 800,000 civilians were displaced, with the conflict causing significant harm to the economy of the country.

Tsunami

More recently, Sri Lanka was one of the worst affected countries when the tsunami hit in December 2004. Approximately, 80% of the countries coastline was damaged, and led to the deaths of almost 50,000 people and the displacement of round about 1 million.

Coupled with this is an increase in flooding and other natural disasters which means that poverty, child malnutrition, unemployment and so on are on the rise.

Muslim Aid Field Office in Sri Lanka

Muslim Aid was operational in Sri Lanka via local partners before the tsunami for about 10 years prior to the tsunami. Our first field office was set up in 2005 in the capital Colombo.

In November 2006, following the resettlement of displaced people, a sub field office was opened in the town of Mutur.

To date, Muslim Aid has 28 staff in Colombo and a further 10 staff in Mutur.

Muslim Aid's work in Sri Lanka