News
|
||||
Hassles
of life under tents These tents that were donated by many foreign countries including Italy, Norway, England and other foreign NGOs are meant to be only places of temporary shelter until the displaced peoples houses were rebuilt. Though it has been two months since disaster struck the country, they still continue to live in canvas tents that are too small for a large family and are hoping to go back home soon. The people who live in these tents complain about several problems they face such as the heat inside the tent during daytime and how these tents are not suitable for small children to stay in, as it is hazardous to their health. When The Sunday Times journalists went inside a tent just for a few minutes to see how it's like inside the journalists found how difficult it was to breathe as it was very stuffy and humid. These tents are highly inflammable and had caught fire several times. Recently six tents at a camp in Rathgama caught fire before the people around managed to put out the fire. Fortunately no one was injured due to this unfortunate incident. Since that incident nobody cooks inside the tent. They are now forced to cook outside in the open. K. Ranjan an inhabitant of the Rathgama camp told the Sunday Times that it was very hard to stay cramped up in a tent all day, specially in the afternoon. "I have a two-year-old daughter and the humidity inside the tent is not very good for her. So I have made a hut, which is covered with thatched cadjan. This is very cooling during the afternoons", he said. "When it rains the grounds gets water logged and water gets into our tents so at times we don't sleep because there is water all over the floor. However we are lucky these days because it is the dry season. But when the monsoon starts we won't have a proper place to stay due to the wearing out of these tents", he said. |
||||
Copyright © 2001 Wijeya Newspapers
Ltd. All rights reserved. |
