Sri Lanka Library Association - Rebuilding Tsunami Affected Libraries

Tsunami tidal wave destruction occurred on 26 December 2004. A large number of schools in the northern, eastern and southern coastal belt have been completely destroyed by the tsunami. The libraries in these areas also could not escape from this tragedy. Many Public Libraries, School Libraries, Religious Libraries as well as private libraries lost their collections while a few libraries were totally destroyed. As reported by the Centre for National Operations (CNO), Ministry of Education (MOE) and Sri Lanka National Library and Documentation Services Board (SLNLDSB) 52 public libraries, around 177 school libraries and 68 libraries attached to religious institutions were damaged by the tsunami.

As the only professional organization in the field of LIS in the country, Sri Lanka Library Association launched a project to rebuild four libraries as model libraries. The four libraries included two school libraries from Galle (South) and Ampara (South East) and two public libraries from Balapitiya (South) and Batticaloa (East) namely:

Lakshman Thabrew Memorial Public Library in Balapitiya
Vidyaloka Vidyalaya School (Science) Library in Galle
Thambilivul Maha Vidyalaya English Library, in Thirukkovil, Ampara
Batticaloa Public Library (Children's Library) in Batticaloa District

References

1. SLLA Report on tsunami library rebuilding project. http://www.nsf.ac.lk/slla/tsunami-slla.htm

2. SLLA proposal for developing model libraries in Tsunami affected areas. http://www.nsf.ac.lk/slla/tsunami-project.htm

3. Amarasiri U. Tsunami affected Libraries in Sri Lanka. CDNLAO Newsletter. No. 52, March 2005. http://www.ndl.go.jp/en/cdnlao/newsletter/052/521a.html

4. Photographs of Tsunami Affected Libraries. http://www.ndl.go.jp/en/cdnlao/newsletter/052/521b.html

5. Bowden, R. Tsunami Report and Further Developments. IFLANET. January 2005. http://ifla.queenslibrary.org/V/press/tsunami-SriLanka-report2.htm

6. Amarasiri, U. Whats happening in Sri Lanka; post Tsunami activities. January, 2005. http://ifla.queenslibrary.org/V/press/tsunami-SriLanka-report5.htm

7. Baba, Zawiyah. Redevelopment of Library and Information Services after Tsunami; A Comparative Study of Aceh and Sri Lanka. Proceedings of the First International Conference of Aceh and Indian Ocean Studies. Asia Research Institute, National University of Singapore & Rehabilitation and Construction Executing Agency for Aceh and Nias (BRR), Banda Aceh, Indonesia. 24 – 27 February 2007. Accessible from http://www.ari.nus.edu.sg/docs%5CAceh-project%5Cfull-papers%5Caceh_fp_zawiyahbaba.pdf

8. News on National Safety Day, 2009.

9. Video 'Rising from the rubble'.

10. Tsunami Affected Libraries of the world (Wikipedia article)