The Red Cross has launched a three-month relief operation in the Vaharai region of Sri Lanka.

The operation, which is targeting around 14,500 people, is intended to help people returning to their homes in the region after heavy fighting forced the entire population of Vaharai to flee at the end of 2006.

Returning residents are already receiving important items, including cooking pots, hurricane lamps, and hygiene kits. The British Red Cross is also setting up bank accounts and monthly deposits for households instead of distributing food.

Destruction

Vaharai was hit by the tsunami in 2004, and the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies began to build shelters for people who had lost their homes. The escalation of hostilities in September 2005 prompted the Sri Lanka Red Cross to organise food distributions in the region on behalf of the World Food Programme.

However, by last September heavy fighting in the area made it too dangerous for builders to reach the building sites, and the entire population of Vaharai fled the area.

To make matters worse, when people began to return to Vaharai in the past few months, they found their shelters had been destroyed and their livelihoods looted.

Recovery

The Red Cross conducted an assessment of household economies in Vaharai after residents started making their way back to their villages when fighting ceased.

The assessment has led to the launch of the three-month operation, including setting up bank accounts. Ben Mountfield, country coordinator with the British Red Cross, stated: "The area is cut-off on three sides, so it's almost completely isolated. There is no local market to speak of, so there is an urgent need to bridge the food gap for a few months until people can re-establish their livelihoods.

"If we start distributing food aid, we will only make it more difficult for people to re-establish their livelihoods. By depositing money for them into their own bank accounts, we hope to help kick-start the local economy."