AID worker Nick Cooper reports from Sri Lanka where he is helping the relief effort following the tsunami. Nick, 39, from Old Town, is working with fellow members of Goal - an international humanitarian organisation. The ex- soldier gives a first-hand account of the scenes in the Ampara district in this second report

THE people in tsunami affected Sri Lanka show remarkable resilience when dealing with the after effects of disaster, their normal behaviour only rarely giving way to ill feeling over shortages of water and food, this more through frustration than anger.

The efforts of the government and support agencies in providing temporary accommodation for those made homeless by the disaster must seem very slow to families now living in schools, public buildings or with friends and relatives until something may be constructed to house them on a longer term basis.

Housing is a contentious issue here, the government guidelines demanding no re-construction for up to 300 yards from the coast making usable land very difficult to find.

The area in which I am working is not blessed with an excess of space.

More than 75,000 live sandwiched on a narrow strip of land measuring only half a mile by a mile and a half in cramped and squalid conditions.

Disease due to the lack of adequate sanitation and drainage remains a high risk, as does the risk of contaminated water supplies, wells being affected by salt water and refuse, many of which will not be usable for some years, causing long-term problems with families returning to their homes, even if they were spared by the tsunami.

Organisations such as GOAL and others are making strong inroads into these problems, but due to the enormity of the task solutions will take a long time, which is difficult to endure for the people of this area who are used to houses of a good standard and employment.

Suddenly life has become an extreme struggle, the nature of day to day life being an endurance when once it was reasonably good and safe, the shock of events being even more pronounced for this reason.

The programmes operated by outside agencies vary in both size and scope.

Our own programmes run from body and rubble clearance to preventative public health projects such as clearing stagnant water to prevent malaria and other diseases.

The regeneration of the fishing industry, to provide income, and the distribution of clothes and household goods to those in refugee camps, all of which assist in the slow reconstruction of peoples lives to a point where they may make their own decisions about their futures.