Sri Lanka - Over 250,000 Internally Displaced

Muslim Aid needs YOU to raise £200,000 for the people of Sri Lanka.

Since February 2008, fighting between the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (the LTTE, also known as the Tamil Tigers) and the Sri Lankan government reached a climax leaving 250,000 people stranded in refugee camps as they attempted to flee the fighting.

The 26-year old insurgency which has killed over 70,000 people and injured thousands more, has uprooted communities from their homes and forced them to take refuge in the more densely populated areas of Vavunia, Jaffna and Trincomalee that are unable to cope with the huge influx of internally displaced people (IDPs).

In Vavunia, 53,000 people arrived since Sunday May 3rd 2009; the overwhelming numbers of injured and malnourished putting pressure on hospitals and medical facilities due to poor infrastructure and inadequate resources. 

In the camps, thousands are without access to clean water and adequate sanitation facilities increasing the threat of illness from waterborne diseases. Children, who make up about 30% of the displaced population, are especially at risk from chicken pox, ring worms and diarrhea due to dehydration and contaminated water supplies.

Local and international NGOs are working together to deliver emergency relief. Food, clean water and medical supplies are still desperately needed as more displaced persons arrive in the camps every day.

Muslim Aid’s response:

Muslim Aid has allocated £55,000 to provide emergency relief to the people of Sri Lanka. Since February this year the Muslim Aid Sri Lanka Field Office has provided:

• 100 hospital beds to facilitate the rehabilitation of the injured in overwhelmed hospitals. 
• A mobile field hospital in Vavunia refugee camp providing medical treatment to 2,000 patients a day. 
• With our partners Kuwait Hospital and Al Shabab, we are supporting the provision of ambulances and medical supplies.
• Muslim Aid will provide clean drinking water using our trekker water purification equipment, water purification tablets and water bowsers that are currently waiting to enter the region.  Each water purification system can supply 144,000 litres of water per day.

Please help us to give more to those with nowhere to turn.

We need to raise £200,000 for emergency relief.

Donate Now. They need your support.

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> Read Al-Jazeera's coverage on the crisis, with comments from Amjad Saleem, country director for Muslim Aid Sri Lanka.