Little kids getting their brains melted. The old people didn’t look so good either
I’ve been bitching about the government banning reconstruction for a while, but this is seriously getting ridiculous. IT IS SO HOT IN MATARA. The tents are like bloody ovens. These people needed houses with some ventilation, please please please. To quote the excellent free elections people report:
The issue of the 100 metre and 200 metre limit has become politicized to the extent that it is causing grave hardships to the tsunami victims. One of the most urgent needs at present is the provision of transitional shelter to displaced victims who were within the 100 metre/200 metre zone. In many instances people have begun constructing temporary and semi-permanent homes within the protected zone and authorities recognizing the desperate circumstances of the victims have turned a blind eye on their actions. In implementing the policy regarding the 100 metre/200 metre limit government ought to consider a transitional phase where temporary and semi-permanent shelter is permitted for a specified period until permanent alternative housing is available. The present problems which are causing acute hardships to the victims could be resolved through dialogue and persuasion while government implements its policy for safety and coastal protection in a phased manner. This is crucially important as the limit uniformly applied around the coast includes a vast number of homes and buildings which have not been damaged by the tsunami and it would be difficult to justify differential treatment only in the case of persons whose homes have been destroyed.
Or, as I like to paraphrase it
You crazy bastards! It’s been three months and these people are still in tents! Queen Bitch has a house within the 100 meters, are you moving her? Are you listening? Stop hurting Sri Lanka!
I don’t know if this is news to anybody, but living in refugee camps sucks. I can’t even stand visiting because it is so unbelievably hot lately. I don’t know how to describe it and I don’t understand Celcius or Fahrenheit anymore, but it makes me want to die. If Matara is a Sauna then March is about the time you’d get out. Speaking of Saunas, some of the tents are designed for Winter. Seriously.
… So I’m sitting listening to some event at a refugee camp, but I just can’t take it anymore. I get up and walk 20 meters to – horror of horrors – the beach. Standing on the rocks is like being in full-on A/C and it is lovely. If somebody wanted to build me a house, at this point I would ask for it to be in the ocean. As I walk back to camp the heat opens a faucet of sweat down my back and I’m miserable again. I listen for a while but I get uncomfortable and go back to the beach.
This is only a small problem, however. When the Monsoon comes in a few months the camps will be completely unlivable. The tents with bottoms will get flooded, and the other campers will be sleeping on mud. People will seriously be sleeping underwater. We have to build houses, but people can only build a few until the government allots land – on government time. That means 18,000 employees taking 40 tea breaks a day and getting in each others way. Aaaaah, you suck. When the Tsunami hit you disappeared for days, why can’t you just stay down!