Monsoon rains in Sri Lanka have worsened conditions in some camps for internally displaced persons (IDPs) so dramatically that in some camps, World Vision is literally providing relief within a relief setting.

In the campsites most affected, more than 1,000 families have been flooded out of temporary shelters, cesspits are overflowing and communal kitchens have been closed down. Child-friendly spaces and temporary learning shelters are now serving instead as emergency housing.
World Vision has been working around the clock to provide relief, but workers are facing their own challenges. Stocks of dry rations stored in the community kitchens have been spoilt by flood water. The wheels of water trucks are stuck in the mud.

Still, World Vision staff found ways to respond immediately, providing tarps and food to more than 5,000 people. A hygiene program—crucial to preventing the spread of disease after a flood—is underway, providing 4,000 hygiene packs with sanitary items such as soap. World Vision is also distributing cleaning items such as disinfecting liquids.

World Vision’s response to rising floodwaters is only the latest step in our partnership with the Sri Lankan people.

In Sri Lanka:

• World Vision began working in 1977, six years before the start of armed civil conflict.
• World Vision stood by Sri Lankans throughout the 26-year conflict, investing more than $384 million in development projects throughout the country.
• The conflict ended in May, but displaced more than 280,000 people from conflict areas.
  • World Vision has provided more than eight million litres of water, 130,000 packets of cooked food and 75 metric tons of food for communal kitchens to IDPs.
  Here in Canada, World Vision has been advocating for our country’s involvement in Sri Lanka.
• In March, World Vision appealed to Canada’s Standing Committee on Foreign Affairs and International Trade, speaking up for the 150,000 people then trapped in the conflict zone and highlighting the plight of children.
• At the height of the crisis, World Vision recommended that Canada support global calls for a UN Special Envoy to be appointed and for a UN team to protect civilians and displaced people. 
• World Vision continues to engage with the Canadian government, asking for an increase in their commitments to the conflicted areas in the north of Sri Lanka.