Sri Lanka “on top of disaster” as aid flood lifts tsunami relief

Sri Lanka said it had managed to bring the tsunami disaster under control as its foreign military-backed relief operations picked up and the central bank offered cheap credit to survivors to help foot a 1.







3 billion dollar damage bill. Sri Lanka said it had managed to bring the tsunami disaster under control as its foreign military-backed relief operations picked up and the central bank offered cheap credit to survivors to help foot a 1.3 billion dollar damage bill. "I think we're on top of the disaster," Tara de Mel, director of the government's Centre for National Operations (CNO), told AFP.







"We at least know where the gaps are and what to do to fill those gaps.

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Some 25 percent of those affected by the devastation had yet to be reached by relief workers, she said, adding however, the number was being reduced daily as rescuers penetrated remote jungle areas on the east coast.

De Mel said a bottleneck which had seen relief supplies arriving from international donor agencies piling up at the airport on the outskirts of Colombo had been cleared and the distribution system had now been streamlined.

After being disrupted by heavy rain on Tuesday, relief operations in the eastern district of Ampara were stepped up aga