Nobody’s Child

Almost a year after the tsunami devastated Sri Lanka's costal communities, many are still languishing without permanent housing due to government inefficiency, under estimating of reconstruction cost and political interference according to a study.









Almost a year after the tsunami devastated Sri Lanka's costal communities, many are still languishing without permanent housing due to government inefficiency, under estimating of reconstruction cost and political interference according to a study. There is still a shortage of 10,000 houses for victims, of which, no work has started and 50,000 people who lost their livelihood are still to get back to work according to the study by think tanks and a donor.

A combination of underestimation of reconstruction cost, inflation, the appreciation of the rupee and the lack of donor coordination are also affecting the speed of the recovery.

In some cases cost inflation has meant that a house is 50 percent more expensive to construct since the tsunami because of the high demand for construction material and labor.

Work on 25,000 houses is continuing while another 5000 are about to start according to a local think tank that led the study.

The Institute of Policy Studies (IPS) said 10,000 houses a