Operation USA is collecting funds and pushing the US Government and the UN to take firm action to help re-open humanitarian corridors, enabling our partners on the ground to provide goods and services to the affected Internally Displaced People (IDP's) and to ensure the safety of tsunami development programs.

Please contact us if you are able to donate medical supplies or nutritional supplements, are interested in sponsoring children in our Schools and Orphanage program, or are looking for ways to assist the tsunami-affected populations in Sri Lanka who have also recently been displaced by political violence.

Why respond NOW:

· A contributing factor to the current tension between the Sinhalese and Tamils is the inequitable distribution of tsunami relief aid by the Government of Sri Lanka. A recent survey found that in the predominately Sinhalese south, 75% of temporary shelters have been dismantled and the families moved into permanent housing. In contrast, only 25 % of the population in the Northeast have been relocated to permanent housing, leaving 77% in deteriorating temporary shelters.

· Due to the recent increase in violence between the Government forces and the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam. 201,800 civilians have joined the existing population of 312,000 Internally Displaced People within Sri Lanka. In addition 15,000 civilians have made the dangerous journey across the Palk Strait into Tamil Nadu, India. At present, 600,000 people in the Jaffna peninsula do not have access to food and medication due to the closure of a key access road.

· 43,000 civilians (9,000 families) from the tsunami-affected regions of Muttur, Sampur, Eechalampattai, and Trincomalee Districts are currently in Vaharai, with minimal access to the region for humanitarian relief.

· There is an immediate need for food, nutritional supplements, medication, relief supplies, and funds to support the growing refugee population in the NorthEast. Despite Operation USA's advocacy efforts, led by Nimmi Gowrinathan, this aid is not reaching the refugees. This is because the Government of Sri Lanka is not allowing humanitarian access to affected regions.

For more information and to help, please contact: ngowrinathan@opusa.org - Nimmi Gowrinathan and/or sfassig@opusa.org - Susan Fassig

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