Catholics, UN appeal for aid to Sri Lanka’s flood victims
(January 24, 2011) Churches, media organizations and civic groups in Sri Lanka are
collecting relief items to meet the needs of people affected by the flooding in Sri
Lanka. The floods are the worst natural disaster to hit Sri Lanka since the 2004 tsunami
and have caused 43 deaths. The government has estimated flood and landslide damage
at some $500 million. The United Nations has launched an appeal to raise $51 million
to meet the urgent needs of more than one million people and enable international
partners to support the government to help them over the next six months. Parishioners
of the Sacred Heart church at Katugastota in the diocese of Kandy have collected relief
items to help the victims. Sri Lanka is still rebuilding after the catastrophic Indian
Ocean tsunami in 2004, which killed roughly 40,000 people and left 2.5 million homeless.
The country also continues to struggle with the aftermath of a violent decades-long
separatist rebellion in the north of the country, which ended in 2009.