CONSORTIUM OF HUMANITARIAN AGENCIES

EDUCATION
• ‘School-in-a-Box’ kits have been distributed to the most severely affected areas of the country. Each kit has educational supplies for more than 80 students and 2 teachers and contains such items as exercise books, pens, crayons, blackboards, chalk, scissors, tape and school bags. 500 ‘School-in-a-Box’ kits have been distributed to the severely hit areas of Batticaloa, Ampara, Trincomalee, Mullaitivu, Jaffna, Hambantota, Galle, Kalutara and Gampaha, providing school supplies to 40,000 children. 3,000 more ‘School-in-a-Box’ kits will be arriving at the end of the week and will be distributed on a priority basis, providing supplies for a total of 240,000 children and 6,000 teachers.
• Over 100 schools damaged by the tsunami are being cleaned and refurbished so that they can open before the end of January. Rubble is being cleared, minor repairs and white-washing is being carried out, and latrines and water points are being established.
• UNICEF and GTZ are working together to provide urgently needed psychosocial support to children through teachers trained as counsellors
• Desks and chairs for students of different age groups, and teachers, are being ordered and made in Colombo and elsewhere throughout the country. This will boost local employment and ensure that schools have furniture as soon as possible.
• Uniform fabric has been ordered, cutting arranged in Colombo, and stitching is being carried out locally so as to reach children quickly, meet local needs, and contribute to local employment efforts.
• The construction of temporary schools using locally sourced materials and voluntary labour is also underway.

HEALTH & NUTRITION
• Within 72 hours emergency health kits containing essential drugs and equipment capable of servicing up to 150,000 people for three months were provided to all affected areas.
• UNICEF immediately produced and distributed 200,000 leaflets in both Tamil and Sinhalese with health messages to mitigate the spread of communicable disease, accident prevention and safe hygiene practices
• An initial batch of water purification tablets, oral re-hydration salts and intravenous fluids were distributed to affected families to help prevent disease outbreaks in camps.
• 200,000 leaflets have been developed for the protection and promotion of breastfeeding.
• A nutrition survey has been developed and will be conducted in affected areas from the beginning of next week to understand the nutritional status of women and children and track subsequent changes and the effect of interventions.
• In order to improve referral of emergency cases and to provide outreach services, 19 double cabs and 7 ambulances have been ordered for the Ministry of Health.
• Restoration of the Cold Chain through provision of vaccine carriers, cold boxes, refrigerators and deep freezers as well as 5 vaccine transport vans and 3 drug/vaccine transport lorries.

WATER & SANITATION
UNICEF staff were immediately seconded to the water and sanitation desk at the government’s Centre for National Operations (CNO) to provide technical assistance for the government’s response to the crisis. UNICEF is also the lead agency for coordinating the UN’s water and sanitation response to the tsunami disaster. Key activities include supporting the construction of latrines in camps, schools and communities; providing hand washing facilities and hygiene education, and constructing bathing facilities in camps.

CHILD PROTECTION & PSYCHOSOCIAL CARE
The Government of Sri Lanka, UNICEF, Save the Children in Sri Lanka (SCiSL) and the ILO are working together closely to ensure that these children remain in safe environments, protected from violence, exploitation and abuse.
As one of the lead agencies for child protection and psychosocial care, UNICEF is supporting a national coalition to trace & care for unaccompanied and separated children; training psychosocial workers in 10 of the 12 affected districts and is procuring and distributing recreation kits for temporary camps so that children can regain a glimmer of normalcy.