Tamils in northeast are also human beings’

Tamils in northeast are also human beings’

“The Sri Lankan government should not look at this as a Sinhala or Tamil issue. It should see it as a human tragedy and help. We should now ensure that the people rescued from the Tsunami devastation are protected from diseases rather than let the enormity of the tragedy make us inactive. The government of Sri Lanka should consider our people also as human beings," said Col. Soosai, Commander of the Sea Tigers who is directing rescue and relief operations on the southern coast of Jaffna and in Mullaithivu, said in an interview .

“No one should think in terms of Sinhala or Tamil in dealing with this disaster. “We asked for heavy vehicles from the Sri Lankan government for the rescue work here. We are now using all our vehicles round the clock to retrieve bodies buried under buildings and trees flattened by the Tsunami. Even if we deploy all our resources for the rescue work it won’t be enough," Col. Soosai said.

This is not adequate to deal with the crisis of this proportion.If Colombo really wanted to help our people in this crisis, it would have done so much Col. Soosai said.

“The Sri Lanka army (SLA) in Jaffna rescue only its soldiers using its helicopters to search who are missing in the peninsula,Why not using its helicopters rescue the civilians there, pointed out.

The Refugees are crammed in public building and churched in the interior. They desperately need food, clothing and medicine, in the North and East of the island said.

Ms. Vaitheki, the head of the LTTE's political division for Kallapaadu told that she struggled with the rushing waters to save some children at the Senthalir orphanage. "

I heard the children scream as they were pulled by the waves force while I was struggling to revive children who were choking", Ms. Vaitheki said.

"There were more than hundred and fifty orphans in the Senthalir Home. Only twenty children have been rescued. Sixty five are dead. Some were away from the Home when the Tsunami struck. The toll might be higher when we account for the children who were not there on Saturday", she said.

The parish priest of St. Josephís Church in Mullaithivu said that many refugees are suffering without shelter as the few structures in the coastal region that survived the Tsunami are already congested with the thousands who have lost their homes and all belongings.

He said more than thousand five hundred people would have been killed by the Tsunami if the waves had hit the Mullaithivu town during mass at the St. Josephís Church.

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