11/29/2005

More aid needed for Tsunami victims

Nearly a year after the devastating tsunami in South Asia, Oxfam is calling on Sri Lanka and Indonesia must provide more appropriate land on which to build permanent shelter for survivors.

Rebuilding in both countries was too slow, Oxfam said, adding: "New land must be granted to those who lost it."

The tsunami killed more than 200,000 people in 13 countries - 130,000 in Indonesia and 31,000 in Sri Lanka.

The appeal came as UN special envoy President Bill Clinton arrived in Sri Lanka to review recovery work.

As well as those killed and injured, millions were made homeless along Sri Lanka's southern and eastern coasts. Despite billions of dollars in assistance, the government has been criticised for being too slow to help. Reconstruction is going on, but along the shoreline many destroyed homes have not been rebuilt because under coastal "buffer zones" they are too close to the sea.

Oxfam says that while Sri Lanka has made efforts to provide more, the organization says the land is not appropriate, such as fishing communities being offered land too far away from the sea. Indonesia, on the other hand, has yet to make any policies about land distribution.

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