ICRC provides shelter, water supply equipment to meet emergencies in Jaffna

The Jaffna office of the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) donated temporary shelters and water supply equipment to the Sri Lanka Red Cross Society (SLRCS), its primary partner, and the National Water Supply & Drainage Board in Jaffna to support their efforts to meet future emergencies in the peninsula.

The materials given to the SLRCS includ some 225 family tents and over 385 tarpaulins. More than 800 timber frames, 1000 kilos of cement, 925 kg of nails and various items such as handsaws, hammers, crowbars and mammoties to assemble the shelters were also included in the donation.

Around 250 families will benefit from shelter with this stock during an emergency. The SLRCS also received five water pumps to clean wells in the peninsula.

 

As part of this donation the ICRC gave the National Water Supply & Drainage Board 11 water tanks with a storage capacity of 34,000 litres. This will facilitate 2500 persons to have at least 15 litres of drinking water each day. The Board also received two water pumps from the ICRC.

“These emergency response materials will help the SLRCS, with whom the ICRC works in close partnership, boost its capacity to meet water and shelter needs in its disaster response programmes”, said Florence Gillette, Head of the ICRC Jaffna office.

“We also hope our collaboration with the Water Board will enable it to continue to provide more people with drinking water during emergencies with the equipment they received”.

The ICRC has wide experience of working in contexts around the world where hostilities have ended and needs remain. The organisation has been working in Sri Lanka since 1989. It continues to offer its services to support efforts, in agreement with the relevant authorities, to meet the humanitarian needs of individuals and communities.