O 180547Z DEC 08
FM AMEMBASSY COLOMBO
TO SECSTATE WASHDC IMMEDIATE 9068
AMEMBASSY BANGKOK PRIORITY 
AMEMBASSY NEW DELHI PRIORITY 
AMEMBASSY DHAKA PRIORITY 
AMEMBASSY JAKARTA PRIORITY 
USMISSION GENEVA PRIORITY 
USMISSION USUN NEW YORK PRIORITY 
INFO NATIONAL SECURITY COUNCIL WASHINGTON DC
CDR USPACOM HONOLULU HI//J3/J332/J52//
CDRUSARPAC FT SHAFTER HI//APCW/APOP//

UNCLAS COLOMBO 001145 
 
 
AIDAC 
 
DEPARTMENT FOR SCA/INS AND DFA 
STATE ALSO PASS TO USAID 
AID/W FOR ANE/SAA and LPA 
AID/W FOR DCHA/AA MICHAEL HESS 
AID/W FOR DCHA/OFDA FOR KLUU AND RKERR 
USMISSION GENEVA FOR KYLOH 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: PGOV PHUM PREF EAID CE
SUBJECT: USAID TSUNAMI RECONSTRUCTION PROGRAM IN SRI LANKA 
SUCCESSFULLY ENDS ON HIGH NOTE 
 
Summary 
 
¶1.  USAID /Sri Lanka has completed all projects related to the 
tsunami disaster of 2004, and funds of $134.6 million have been 
fully expended.  The initial response to the tsunami during the 
first few months immediately following the disaster focused on 
emergency relief, providing basic necessities in communities across 
the South and the East.  To help communities return to normalcy, 
USAID later funded small grants to open small businesses and put 
people back to work.  Small-scale infrastructure projects improved 
the quality of life for communities and created economic 
opportunities focused on providing more immediate results.  Large 
infrastructure projects, including nine vocational training centers 
and the Arugam Bay Bridge, will have a lasting economic and social 
impact on the country.  Woven throughout these efforts was USAID's 
strong commitment to working with local communities by encouraging 
their participation in all aspects of the projects.  Finally, while 
the immediate objective was to restore tsunami-affected communities, 
USAID also endeavored to bring together the three ethnic communities 
(Sinhalese, Tamil, and Muslim) in the East, in an effort to build 
better understanding and cooperation amongst the groups.  End 
Summary. 
 
Background 
 
¶2. On December 26, 2004, a tsunami caused tremendous destruction to 
coastal communities across thousands of miles in South Asia.  In Sri 
Lanka, 30,000 people were left dead, almost 4,000 were missing, and 
nearly 800,000 were displaced and left without basic shelter, food, 
and water.  Coastal regions of the South and East were affected, 
while the North and much of the West were untouched. 
 
¶3. An outpouring of assistance from international NGOs and donors, 
together with that of the Government of Sri Lanka and domestic NGOs, 
addressed the immediate emergency needs of affected populations. 
Once emergency needs were met, the focus shifted to reconstruction 
and community building activities.  USAID was given a budget of 
$134.6 million in relief and reconstruction assistance for Sri 
Lanka. 
 
Activities: Relief ($40.6 million) 
 
¶4. USAID provided $40.6 million in emergency relief to help 
communities deal with the immediate aftermath of the disaster. 
USAID distributed 553 rain water harvesting tanks and 312 latrines; 
constructed 24 dug wells and 13 tube wells to improve local 
sanitation conditions; and conducted two workshops for government 
health officials on hygiene, water quality testing, and food 
quality.  Consistent with USAID/Sri Lanka's commitment to working 
collaboratively with local communities, USAID surveyed local 
populations on hygiene and sanitation, and then trained skilled 
laborers on proper construction techniques and the local community 
on personal hygiene and sanitation.  Using funding from USAID, 
UNICEF constructed 15 water treatment plants that benefited 550 
families living in permanent shelters.  USAID funding also helped to 
build capacity within the Auditor General's Department to handle the 
large influx of international funds that Sri Lanka received for 
rehabilitation and reconstruction activities, while limiting the 
opportunities for corruption. 
 
¶5. Recognizing that long-standing animosity between the three ethnic 
communities has been an impediment to building a more stable and 
prosperous Sri Lanka, USAID sought innovative ways to encourage the 
communities to work together during this rebuilding process.  USAID 
mobilized more than 4,600 volunteers in the cross-cultural Sri 
Lankan tradition of 'shramadana,' in support of livelihoods-related 
projects that helped tsunami-affected communities to build back 
better.  This included an estimated 1,500 volunteers, many of them 
youth, who supported activities that kick-started traditional 
agriculture-based livelihoods in adjacent Muslim, Tamil, and 
Sinhalese communities in an area of the diverse eastern district of 
Ampara, which has been prone to ethnic conflict. 
 
Activities: Transition from Camps to Communities ($20.7 million) 
 
¶6. Realizing that people displaced by the tsunami could not return 
to their homes until the local community was able to absorb them, 
USAID focused on short-term activities to help people get back to 
work quickly.  USAID funding restored nearly 2,000 local businesses 
to operation, and the small grants program trained nearly 4,000 
tsunami-affected men and women in a variety of job skills needed in 
local communities including animal husbandry, desktop publishing, 
entrepreneurship, information technology, personal finance and 
credit, and disaster management planning.  USAID also built one 
public market and rehabilitated two others, including the 
Anuradhapura Junction Market in Trincomalee, a project that united 
diverse members of a violence-prone section of the northeast 
seacoast town, leveraging $350,000 from Hellenic Aid to double the 
project budget. 
 
Activities: Infrastructure/Small-Scale ($14.8 million) 
 
¶7. Funding was used to improve small-scale infrastructure that 
directly benefited local communities and helped improve economic 
opportunities.  USAID built or rehabilitated nine public markets, 13 
libraries, 14 community centers, 31 schools, three bus stands, two 
health centers, 14 irrigation reservoirs, and 11.5 miles of 
irrigation canals.  USAID focused on creating economic opportunities 
by constructing or rehabilitating six vocational training centers 
and 16 community buildings that contributed to the local economy, 
including a rice mill, a handloom center, and a government 
agricultural extension center.  To further support local economic 
opportunities, USAID resurfaced more than 35 kilometers of rural 
roads, connecting agriculture-based communities with larger markets, 
schools, and health infrastructure. 
 
Activities: Infrastructure/Large Scale ($47.8 million) 
 
¶8. To help communities recover from the effects of the tsunami in 
the short-term and to enable Sri Lanka to meet the challenges of a 
competitive business environment in the long-term, USAID funded 
large-scale infrastructure projects that will have a significant 
impact on communities for many years to come.  The Arugam Bay 
Bridge, destroyed by the tsunami, was rebuilt, linking diverse 
communities in this coastal area.  Nearby, the Ulla/Pottuvil Water 
Treatment Plant will bring clean drinking water to 40,000 families, 
businesses, and hotels.  Together, these projects make it possible 
for the area to reclaim its status as a popular tourist destination, 
helping to revive the local economy.  In another effort to spur 
economic growth, USAID rehabilitated three fishing harbors that were 
damaged by the tsunami, improving harbor conditions and providing 
sanitary and attractive locations for customers and fishers alike. 
 
¶9. Recognizing that economic growth is linked to the availability of 
a skilled labor force, USAID constructed nine vocational training 
centers in the South and East.  Working with local employers, USAID 
helped to create training curricula that will give students the 
skill set they need to be successful in jobs where skilled workers 
are in high demand.  Training in information technology, apparel, 
small engine repair, and the construction trades are most popular, 
with strong demand for graduates in the local areas.  USAID was able 
to leverage nearly $2.5 million in private sector funds to 
supplement the funding for the vocational education schools. 
 
¶10. Though the vocational training centers have only recently 
opened, we are already seeing the impact of our investment in 
several ways.  First, the number of applications received by the 
vocational training centers is more than four times the available 
openings, with computer information technology generating the 
strongest interest from students.  In addition, private sector 
employers in the apparel industry in the East have already indicated 
their interest in hiring the first graduates from the programs. 
Finally, two of the vocational training centers were built to a high 
level of energy efficiency and environmental design standards, 
significantly reducing operating costs for electricity and water 
services for those buildings.  This has inspired Sri Lanka's largest 
apparel manufacturer, Brandix Lanka Limited, to construct its new 
manufacturing complex using these same materials and design 
elements, earning the company a rare platinum rating for Leadership 
in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) certified buildings by the 
U.S. Green Building Council.  Further, the engineers, architects, 
construction companies, and trades contractors who worked on the two 
LEED certified vocational training centers now have the training and 
experience to bring those new skills to future projects.  USAID 
hopes that these construction professionals will transfer this 
technology to create additional energy efficient and environmentally 
friendly projects in Sri Lanka, helping the country reduce its 
overall energy consumption. 
 
Activities: Technical Assistance/Good Governance ($10.9 million) 
 
¶11. To assist Sri Lanka in addressing a wide range of community 
issues, USAID funded programs that provided technical assistance to 
government representatives and trained local people in 
community-building skills.  USAID trained local government officials 
in a range of needed skills such as participatory planning and 
disaster management, citizen participation, conflict mitigation, 
auditing, and accounting techniques to prevent bribery and combat 
corruption.  Local citizens participated in many of the trainings 
above, as well as community consultations to gather feedback, a 
national symposium of planning hosted by the central government, and 
a network of citizen committees aimed at facilitating dialogue 
between tsunami-affected communities and the local authorities who 
served them.  USAID tracked the effectiveness of these efforts 
through the Local Authority Development Scale (LADS), a tool 
designed specifically to measure the capacity of local government in 
22 tsunami-affected areas.  In 2005, LADS measured local government 
performance as 20.09 (out of 100); in 2007, performance was measured 
at 56.26 - suggesting that with support, local governments were 
better able to meet the needs of their citizens. 
 
Donor Coordination 
 
¶12. USAID ranked number three in Sri Lanka, behind Japan and 
Germany, for bilateral donor-funded disbursements to tsunami-related 
programs.  In an effort to maximize USG investment and to avoid 
overlap, USAID was fully engaged in regular donor coordination. 
USAID regularly participated in several types of meetings (i.e. 
those that focused on bilateral donors, on all donors, on specific 
themes) and in joint field monitoring visits.  Meetings were based 
on themes (Eastern development, small-scale infrastructure, etc.) as 
well as geography (Arugam Bay, Batticaloa, etc.) to identify all 
potential areas of collaboration. 
 
¶13. Further, this regular networking has proven useful in planning 
conflict-related responses as we go forward.  As USAID shifts focus 
toward the East in its new development strategy, it will continue to 
be important that donor agencies work collaboratively to identify 
opportunities and minimize challenges. 
 
Public-Private Partnerships (PPPs) 
 
¶14. 14.  Responding to the tremendous needs of tsunami-affected 
communities encouraged USAID/Sri Lanka to build relationships with 
other funders, both corporate and charitable.  Following are the 
PPPs we have developed under the tsunami programs ($4,915,011):  $1 
million from the Bush Clinton Foundation for playgrounds; $500,000 
from the American Jewish Joint Distribution Committee (AJJDC) for 
playgrounds; $1 million from AmeriCares for a water distribution 
system; $1,405,011 from Mellon Foundation for vocational education 
commodities; $500,000 from Prudential Insurance Company of America 
for vocational education commodities; $100,000 from Chevron-Caltex 
for vocational education commodities; and, $410,000 from AJJDC for 
the Hikkaduwa vocational training center. 
 
 
Comment 
 
¶15.  The post-tsunami assistance provided by the U.S. Government has 
made a tremendous impact, particularly in the areas of livelihoods 
and infrastructure, and continues to be deeply appreciated by the 
people and government of Sri Lanka.  In communities such as 
Trincomalee, the capital of the Eastern Province, rebuilt facilities 
ranging from a market to a playground, from a bus station to a 
library, are an enduring testimonial of the U.S. Government's 
support for the people of Sri Lanka in the aftermath of the tsunami. 
 
Blake