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| Sunday, 24 April 2005 |
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UNDP pays for tsunami clearance Tsunami survivors are cleaning the debris- strewn coast and getting paid for it under a project administered by the United Nations Development Program. Some 5,500 people affected by the December 26 sea waves have participated in the cash-for- work program funded by the Japanese government. Young and old workers, paid 300 rupees per day, sort through piles of rubble, which have hindered the return to normalcy in the tsunami hit Southern and North-Eastern coastal belt. The cash-for- work effort costing a little under a half a million US dollars is providing much needed temporary employment and has speeded up the tedious task of clearing tsunami debris before the construction of permanent houses. Much of the work is done manually or with rudimentary implements like hammers and axes. A good proportion of the debris is material that can be recycled to build new houses and repair roads and irrigation channels while the other waste is used to bolster retaining the bunds along the sea shore. Several cash-for-work projects got under way in March after the major jobs, such as the clearing main roads were completed by the government and others. At least 13 cash-for-work programs are now in progress in Jaffna,
Mullaitivu, Trincomalee, Batticaloa, Ampara, Hambantota and Galle districts. |
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