Visit to Madihe East, a small village on the coast about 10 klms from Matara Town.

A group of businessmen formed the Matara Trust, conceived of before the Tsunami but only made a reality after 26th December 2005. Their aim is to respond to the urgent need of the poor and the colossal damage wrought by the Tsunami kicked them into action. Seconded workers from participating businesses in the Trust have worked in Madihe and surrounding communities with the Intermediate Technology Development Group to help rebuild houses in an eco-friendly and affordable way. Wherever The Need, a West Country UK based Trust, has been working with MT and ITDG to build houses for the Tsunami survivors.

Here is the first of 15 houses to be built using the ITDG design. It is 580 square meters internally with a entrance hall/living room, two bedrooms, a kitchen and bathroom. The roof is concrete but with a special sandwich insulation of broken or terracotta roof tiles which acts as a shield from the intense midday heat. In fact as we entered the house after formal handing over of the keys to the new owners the cool air was testament to the success of the design. The flat roof and strong foundation enables the householders to build a further storey when they're own funds permit.

Rangit Liyanage is 31 yrs old and from Kunaragala in the centre of Sri Lanka. He is not yet married and came to Matara 6 months ago to assist in rebuilding following the Tsunami. He started as an assistant mason but with his months of experience he is now considered an experienced mason in the ITDG team. 'We have completed 15 houses so far and our target is 100 by end of December but it is slow because getting the land is difficult'. The three houses on this plot are all about 200 meters from the sea shore which means each family is still near to, or in some cases, on the same site as their original home.

I asked Ranjit what were the key problems he faced in this building project. 'One real problem for us workers is where to stay'. 'Most of us come from distant districts. We have constructed small huts but they are no protection against the heavy rains. We work for 25 days non-stop and then take 5 days holiday so we can visit our homes but now we face a problem from the heavy rain which has slowed down our progress'.

Rangit works with and teaches his assistant, Kasun 19yrs old and from the Matara District, showing him how to lay bricks leaving an air gap in the wall. This improves the insulation properties of the house. In this building team there are 36 workers; the masons are paid Rupees 650 per day (£3.70) and their assistants/trainees Rps 450 (£250). 'After the Tsuanmi reconstruction has finished I will certainly be able to get more work with these skills' said Kasun. The special techniques developed by ITDG in this building design will, in future, be spread to other housing projects.

Chamila Delrukshi is 30 years old and her husband was killed in the civil war nearly 5 years ago. She is the mother of Dishan 6 yrs old who wants to follow his father into the army, a key employer to Sri Lanka's rural youth. Her daughter Dilini is 7 years old and, although Buddhist, goes to the local Catholic convent school in nearby Matara and both children are collected each day by a school bus. Chamila said 'I am so thrilled with my new house, Before the Tsunami I lived in a small wooden shack next to my parents house now I have a new house of my own and still next to my parents'. 'I had a sewing machine before the Tsunami but that was washed away but I hope I will finally replace it and be able to supplement my army widows pension of 7,000 rupees per month.'

Chamila's father and mother live next door and their house was only partially destroyed and, with the Government compensation of 100,000 rupees, they have been able to rebuild. Chamila described the day of the Tsunami, 'I was in my parents house next door and suddenly a youth from the village came running from the beach saying a big wave is coming. We all ran so fast to the village temple which is about 1,000 yards in land. It was a narrow escape - that few minutes warning saved our lives'. 'We stayed in the temple for one month until my parents were able to make a small shelter in their damaged house but now that is fully repaired'.

Furnishings? Chamila said 'We have nothing really to put in our new house but we have floor mats and we can sleep on them and I am happy that we will slowly get what we need but on my pension that isn't easy'. My father was a deepsea fisherman and he lost his boats and nets but because he was not registered here in our village he hasn't had any compensation yet. He hopes finally to get a deep sea boat and to go back to fishing.'

The coral reef just off shore means Madihe is not best placed for boats so the fisherman from this village travel to Merisa and this has caused a problem in identifying real fisherman and ensuring that only those in need get replacements for their lost livelihoods. For inshore fishing a traditional practice is to stick a long wooden pole in the near shore and to fish with a rod on the in-coming tide.

The Beach Inn Hotel in Madehi, right on the edge of the shoreline, was damaged but survived the onslaught of the Tsunami waves. The owner, Mr Gunawardena said 'The water went straight though the restaurant which looks directly onto the seas, and took everything from the ground floor but the first storey survived and we have been able to rebuild, re-open and we're ready for the tourist season which begins when the rains begin to ease in December'. The initial prohibition on rebuilding homes within 100 meters of the sea shore means little rebuilding, other than hotels, has happened. Now the Government has eased that restriction after massive public pressure and the Matara Trust will be doing a new survey to identify homes and land 35 meters above the shoreline. 'We are confidant that now the rates of building and repairing homes and resettling families can be really stepped up' said Shirantha Herath. Shirantha comes from a Colombo based Cable TV company and has been seconded to the Matara Trust full time for 6 months. 'Only when you realise that in Sri Lanka we have to build 6 times our normal housing build in one year can you get an idea of the problem we face'.