THE Sri Lankan Government has allocated to The Salvation Army two parcels of empty land in the area of Sri Lanka hardest-hit by the Boxing Day tsunami. The two sites, totalling 344 acres (140 hectares), are near the village of Galgodawatte. This is in the Galle district, where 53,000 people were left homeless by the tidal wave. The 1,000 homes to be built on the land by The Salvation Army will ease the suffering of many who lost everything in the disaster.
In the next the two weeks The Salvation Army will move the homeless families, who are currently living in crowded schools, into hundreds of tents erected on the land, where they will live while plans are finalised to build permanent housing for them.
‘It took our breath away when the government publicly announced we were to be given such a large parcel of land in the hardest-hit district,’ says Captain Ted Horwood, the Army’s international emergency relief team leader in Sri Lanka. ‘We’re looking forward to building long-term relationships with the people we will soon be welcoming to Galgodawatte. The Salvation Army has been in Sri Lanka for 125 years and will help disaster survivors recover hope.’
Members of The Salvation Army’s international emergency relief team inspect a part of the 344 acres given to the organisation by the Sri Lankan government on January 18.
