A SECOND mission of the Cypriot branch of the Doctors of the World arrived yesterday at the tsunami hit area of Galle in Sri Lanka, carrying 2.5 tonnes of humanitarian aid and medicines.
Speaking to the Cyprus Mail from Colombo, photographer and volunteer Katia Christodoulou, who accompanied the team, said that although the capital had not been affected, the scenes she had witnessed at Galle were “catastrophic”.
“Everything has been wiped out by the tsunami,” she said. “We are staying in Colombo tonight, and tomorrow we will depart for the area close to Galle where we are stationed.”
The first team of three doctors went to Galle last week and have been assisting and assessing the situation in terms of what kid of aid would be needed so that subsequent teams could bring the necessary aid with them.
The Cypriot team currently in Sri Lanka (Doctor Yiannis Taliotis, nurse Lenia Lambrou and biologist, epidemiologist and genetist Matheos Demetriades) informed the local branch about the need for anti-diarrhoea drugs and cortisone.
President of Cypriot Doctors of the World, Elias Papadopoulos, said that the first mission had reported that there were no cases of cholera, as far as they could tell.
He also said that another two missions, and possibly a fifth one, were planning to go later this month to Sri Lanka on January 9 and 13. The first mission is due to return home on Thursday. Each mission plans to stay a week.
The current team has also been accompanied by two other volunteers from Kykkos Monastery, which has also donated substantial humanitarian aid.
Cyprus, along other EU member states, will observe a three-minutes silence tomorrow while flags will fly at half mast in commemoration of the victims of the disaster.
“Cyprus joins in the international grief and mourning for the loss of thousands of people in Southeast Asia as a result of the disaster in that region,” said Government Spokesman Kypros Chrysostomides.
He said that the current EU presidency, Luxembourg, in consultation with its predecessor The Netherlands, had called on member states to observe at noon tomorrow three minutes of mourning in silence and to fly flags at half mast.
“Cyprus, as on past occasions, will participate in the mourning of the people in the stricken areas and will show its solidarity with those who are suffering by observing the three-minute silence, as requested by the EU,” he added.
On Sunday, another six Cypriots who had been holidaying in Thailand returned home. One couple told reporters of their lucky escape after deciding to have a lie-in following a night on the town. Andreas and Rita Christofi said they had been tired from the night before and decided not to go early to the beach in Phuket as they had done on previous days. They slept right through the tragedy, only awakening an hour after it had happened. It was the couple’s fifth visit to Phuket. Their hotel was far back enough from the beach area not to have been affected by the waves.
The couple, and the other four Cypriots who were on the same package deal at the same hotel said, they had not returned sooner because they had wanted to stay behind and help the victims of the tragedy.
