Srilanka: Sambodhi shelter - Help Needed - Disabled lay in their beds as waters engulfed them

GALLE, Sri Lanka (AP) - Screaming with fear, paralysed children at a shelter for the physically disabled and mentally ill lay helpless in their beds as water surged into their dormitories during the tsunami that ravaged coastal areas of southern Asia.

Some desperate children gripped the rafters as the water level rose inside the one-storey Sambodhi shelter, while others floated away on mattresses to their deaths, witnesses say. Just 41 of the 102 residents of the home survived, caretaker Kumar Deshapriya said Saturday.

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SAMBODHI SHELTER NEEDS URGENT HELP
(Can You Help? please email rohan2@xs4all.nl)

(11 Jan) LankaLibrary contacted the caretaker of the SAMBODHI SHELTER Kumar Deshapriya to inquire about the current status and the plans.

CURRENT STATUS AND URGENT REQUIREMENTS:

They have started cleaning the place and remaining children are in a temple. They need about 50,000 (500 USD) Sri Lankan rupees immediately to provide daily food for these children.

Then they need about Rs 100,000 (10,000 USD) to repair the place and mend damaged parts. They need to find this money fairly quickly.

On long term, government has taken a policy decision to remove all buildings within 3000 meters from the sea front and Sumbodhi is well within this limit. Hence it needs to be relocated. This will need big money and the current rough estimate is around 10 million Sri Lankan Rupees (100,000 USD).

Before this tragedy, they received Rs 28,200 daily from the Social department. This was about Rs 10.00 for one person per day. Also they had individual donations from local and foreign donors they were not on a regular basis. There were no regular either local or international donors.

Can You Help? please email rohan2@xs4all.nl