At the start of December 2005 there was an increase in the level of violence in the Jaffna Peninsula, Trincomalee and other regions of the NorthEast of Sri Lanka. The NGO Consortium and local NGOs have stated that, “Many families in the Jaffna peninsula and Trincomalee felt that due to escalating violence that there was a threat to their personal safety from the Sri Lankan Security Forces and paramilitary forces. Many of these families identified the Vanni region as a place where they could temporarily move for safety.”
Over 3,325 families (approximately 14,500 individuals as of 16/01/06) have left their permanent housing, taking only what they could carry on their backs, and have crossed the checkpoints and lagoon into LTTE controlled areas of the Vanni.
In light of this influx of IDPs TRO is making an “URGENT APPEAL” to the Tamil Diaspora and the international community for desperately needed funds to build temporary shelters, provide food and water, non-food relief (NFR) items, medical treatment and transportation to meet the needs of these families.
Due to TRO’s extensive work with the post-tsunami internally displaced persons (IDPs) and the continuing work with conflict affected populations the demand placed on TRO is so great that the funds received to date are inadequate to deal with this crisis. TRO has the staff, structure, and expertise to effectively serve these IDPs if adequate funding is found. It is only through the immediate, generous support of the Tamil Diaspora and TRO’s other international partners that we will be able to deal with the impending humanitarian crisis.
In the present acute circumstances we call upon the well wishers of the Tamil community to urgently contact their local governmental, non governmental agencies, humanitarian agencies and religious institutions in their countries of residence and apprise them of the grave humanitarian crisis that will only get worse as the numbers of IDPs continue to increase. The situation is critical and the people of the NorthEast require the urgent assistance of these agencies and institutions to alleviate the suffering.
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