In the village of Vaddavan, 200 families lost their houses and loved ones in the tsunami. Kurier Aid Austria is funding the construction of 200 houses and a multi-purpose hall. The implementing partners for the project are the families themselves with help from Sarvodaya.

Vaddavan is an isolated Tamil village. As it is over 1 km from the closest paved road and about 8 km from the closest town, the community is relatively cut off. The location of the village also makes it difficult to access water and electricity.

In a needs assessment survey, most villagers were concerned about having clean water. Currently they are receiving drinking water in tanks from Oxfam, but they are not sure how long this will be provided. For all other water needs, villagers have to walk to the well which is 1 km away.

In order to address this need, solar power systems will be provided for the village by funding from Verbund-Austria which can then be used to run pumps and a water tower, providing running water and electricity to each house.

One of he challenges of reconstruction is the shortage of quality bricks for construction. The beneficiaries of Vaddavan have therefore developed the capacity to produce their own bricks for the reconstruction project, using local clay which is very suitable for brick-making. These bricks have been independently tested and certified.  

To download general statistics about the impact of the tsunami on the district of Batticaloa click here.