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World Worst Natural Disaster - Tsunami 2004
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Maitreya
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 26 Dec 2007 22:21:10 GMT Report for Abuse
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Rs. 53 billion of disbursed tsunami funds missing ? TISL
by Zacki Jabbar
Over Rs.53 billion of disbursed tsunami donor funds has gone missing,Transperancy International Sri Lanka(TISL) said yesterday.
Implementing agencies were given Rs 122.2 billion but they are unable to account for Rs 53.6 billion of that money, the transparency watchdog said.
'While certain officials are reluctant to divulge information,there were some responsible bodies which implied that the government had utilized the funds for other purposes.'
Donors initially committed Rs 241.5 billion but did not disburse the entire amount since project deadlines were not met,TISL said.'Some of them withdrew from their commitment after paying the first instalment,because they were not satisfied with the progress of certain projects.'
The first year Tsunami Report was issued jointly by the Sri Lankan government and development partners (multi-lateral donors, international financial authorities, bilateral and other donors and civil society).However the second year report appears to be issued under the hand of the Sri Lankan government,TISL observed.
'The Ministries of Finance,Reconstruction, Resettlement and Rehabilitation, Urban Development, Food,Health and Foreign Affairs collaborated with the donors in obtaining funds and their subsequent disbursement.Hence it is the duty of these ministries to declare the current status of financial information to the people.Although there was a supervisory body called 'Centre for National Operation' under the President's scrutiny,its role is unclear.'
The overall picture on finances is ambiguous and left for speculation since there is no audit report after 2005,it added.
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Priyanthy
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 27 Dec 2007 00:32:41 GMT Report for Abuse
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| But all tsunami aid is now inside Modapakse's belly. |
Aani
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 27 Dec 2007 00:37:26 GMT Report for Abuse
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| During the aftermath of the Tsunami the BBC showed a Srilankan policeman commandeering a water bowser meant for providing drinking water to the affected people and using that drinking water to wash his house:)) |
Bonggo
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 29 Dec 2007 18:41:24 GMT Report for Abuse
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Mighty,
I wonder how many of those who were running for their lives managed to escape.
The saddest part of all is people did not learn lessons from this and siphoned out money that are meant for rehabilitation. |
Maitreya
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30 Dec 2007 20:57:56 GMT Report for Abuse
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Priya, Aani and Bonggo :
The money were donated for the rehabilitation of Tsunami victims was mishandled and stolen by the ones who supposed to protect them.'This is worse than Tsunami itself.
Sri Lanka's recovery from the devastating tsunami of December 2004 has been uneven. Rehabilitation work has notched up significant successes in the Sinhalese-dominated and more peaceful south, but it has suffered greatly in the war-torn northeast, which has a preponderance of the minority Tamils and Muslims.
And it was the northeast, which took the brunt of the killer waves on Boxing Day, which destroyed about 121,000 houses and killed over 30,000 in the island.
Cabinet spokesperson Anura Priyadharshana Yapa said that 99,497 permanent houses had been built and that work on 19,791 units was in progress. Rebuilding has been 100 per cent in the south, especially Humbantota district, which is the home of President Mahinda Rajapaksa.
In fact, in Humbantota, nearly 3,200 excess houses were built, and these are now occupied by those not affected by the tsunami.
'The northern province still requires completion of more than 9,000 houses and the eastern province more than 12,000 houses,' Jeevan Thiagarajah of the Confederation of Humanitarian Agencies told IANS.
'Not even 12 per cent of fully damaged houses in the north have been rebuilt, and only 26 percent in the east,' says NGO Action Aid in its report titled 'Voice from the Field'. This is so even though 60 per cent of the damage wrought by the tsunami was in the east, especially Amparai district in the southeast. |
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