A Comparative Study on Post Tsunami Economic Recovery: Sri Lanka Country Study

Eighteen months on from the devastating impact of the December 2004 tsunami, Sri Lanka has progressed to the more difficult and challenging phase of reconstruction and recovery. The emergency-relief effort in the immediate aftermath of the tsunami was a notable success but the transition to reconstruction has gone less smoothly. Only a minority of the affected families so far has been offered permanent housing while the recovery in livelihoods has also been uneven with the tourism sector yet to pick up fully. The current project is aimed at following up on the work already carried out by the IPS on post-tsunami economic recovery. Comparative studies will also be conducted in Indonesia and Thailand. An integral part of the Sri Lanka study is a proposed tracking survey of 620 households previously carried out by the IPS in April 2005. The survey will be designed to address issues of permanent housing paucity, recovery in livelihoods, etc. to get a clearer picture of where Sri Lanka stands in the reconstruction process one and a half years on.