Million’s  affected by flooding in Sri Lanka January and February 2011

In January 2011 prolonged heavy rain caused extensive flooding along the east coast of Sri Lanka, although this flooding did not receive the same level of media coverage as other natural disasters happening at the same time the suffering was every bit as real ,

Over 1 million people where affected and many where living in refugee camps or in flood damaged buildings , these are low income rural areas that had already been affected by the Tunsami and the war. Nearly every household owned at least 1 animal who were also struggling to survive

A disaster response team from WSPA and Humane Society International carried out field visits to assess the situation, once the situation was clear a team from Dogstar Foundation headed into affected areas with colleagues from Odel’s Embark to join with TAPA and Habitat for Humanity. Dogstar donated urgently needed veterinary supplies as the teams on the grounds where running low of basic items such as cattle wormer , mineral supplements and ivermectin

As well as dogs and cats we treated livestock , animals that survived the initial flooding who had been standing in water for many days and were suffering from foot root and other injuries . The Odel Foundation  also donated large amounts of clothing to be distributed via Habitat for Humanity who were providing support for the human population , this was very much a  joint effort on behalf of the agencies involved and we all intended to help both people and animals affected by this dreadful natural disaster