Permanent housing

Caritas Sri Lanka is committed to empowering people to live a secured and dignified life. Bearing this goal in mind, we work with tsunami-affected households to provide quality permanent housing in keeping with best building standards. Because a house is also a home, we ensure families are involved in the decision-making process from design to construction. We believe in building back better and providing safe structures that include water and sanitation facilities.

The bulk of the post-tsunami reconstruction programme started in August 2005 after much effort was put into transitional shelter. We had an initial target of 700 permanent houses by the end of the year and we completed 641 . From 2006 onwards Caritas Sri Lanka is focussing on building and repairing about 12,000 houses.

In Sri Lanka , completion of such a mammoth programme depends on a number of external factors: the security situation, material supplies and weather conditions. We are confident we have the necessary expertise to achieve our targets having been active as a humanitarian agency in the country for over thirty years and having carried out several housing projects for internally-displaced and war-affected people in the North and East in the midst of the civil war.

Transitional shelter:

From February 2005 until the end of the year Caritas Sri Lanka provided 6,755 transitional shelters for families requiring shelter. Designed to last between two and three years, transitional shelters provide adequate space and opportunities for extension while ensuring a dignified living space. We are committed to the care and maintenance of families in transitional shelters. We ensure a safe living environment through upkeep of the shelters and site drainage systems.

On August 22 nd 2005, Caritas Sri Lanka was one of nine organisations recognised for constructing high quality transitional shelters. Her Excellency the former President Mrs. Chandrika Bandaranaike Kumaranatunga presented Caritas Sri Lanka with an award of appreciation for swiftly supplying 6,540 shelters in tsunami-affected regions.

Temporary shelters:

In the first days immediately after the tsunami struck Sri Lanka we provided rapid emergency relief and delivered 2,452 temporary shelters such as tents and plastic sheeting.