Department of Census and Statistics, Sri Lanka

Housing and Non Housing Building Units Damaged by the Tsunami 2004
Hambantota District

This report consists of 2 parts. Part 1 presents the housing characteristics of the damaged housing units and characteristics about the people who lived in those damaged housing units at the time of the Tsunami Census. Housing section covers height of the submerged sea water, condition of the toilet, availability of drinking water, material used for construction, number of rooms, floor area, ownership of the land, monthly income of the housing unit, economic activities existed within the unit and the loss incurred. In addition, demographic characteristics such as age, sex, education, injuries and deaths of the people who lived in the damaged housing units at the time of Tsunami Census are also covered in this section. Part 2 presents the characteristics of non-housing units such as ownership, type of activity, number of employees and loss incurred. Following Table 1.1 shows the total number of building units (housing and non-housing) damaged due to Tsunami in Hambantota district of the southern province

Part 1
Characteristics of Housing Units and Persons Living in the Damaged Housing Units
Hambantota District

GND is the smallest administrative unit in Sri Lanka. In order to conduct Censuses these GN divisions were sub divided into 2 or 3 Census Blocks (CB). In the Tsunami Census, affected CB was identified if at least one damaged building unit was found in a CB. Listing forms which contained all the housing and non-housing units in those CBs, were updated after Tsunami to identify the number of building units which were completely damaged, partially damaged (unusable) and partially damaged (usable). Following table 1.2 shows the percentage of housing units surveyed and listed which were identified as damaged units in the affected DS divisions of Hambantota district. It should be mentioned that the number of housing units was slightly less than the number that was listed in the Tsunami Census. To avoid complexities when analyzing data, the total number of housing units were obtained from those listed whereas percentages were computed using the surveyed number of housing units in this report wherever applicable.

As a result of the Tsunami, most of the housing units which were located along the coastal belt were submerged by the sea water. This section covers the highest height of the submerged sea water into the damaged housing units which were located in the affected DS divisions of Hambantota district. Tables 2.1a, 2.1b and 2.1c present the height of the submerged sea water for completely damaged, unusable partially damaged and usable partially damaged housing units in Hambantota district respectively

This section covers the condition of toilet facilities of the damaged housing units in the affected DS divisions of Hambantota district. Tables 2.2a, 2.2b and 2.2c present whether the toilet facilities were destroyed or not by affected DS divisions for completely damaged, unusable partially damaged and usable partially damaged housing units respectively.

This section covers the availability of drinking water facilities of the damaged housing units in the affected DS divisions of Hambantota district. Tables 2.3a, 2.3b and 2.3c present whether the drinking water facilities are available or not by affected DS divisions for completely damaged, unusable partially damaged and usable partially damaged housing units respectively.

This section covers the main reason for not having drinking water for the damaged housing units in the affected DS divisions of Hambantota district. Tables 2.4a, 2.4b and 2.4c present the percentage distribution of the housing units by reason for not having drinking water facilities at the time of the Tsunami Census by affected DS divisions for completely damaged, unusable partially damaged and usable partially damaged housing units respectively.

This section covers the material used for construction of the damaged housing units in the affected DS divisions of Hambantota district. Table 2.5 represents materials used for roof, walls and floor for all types of damaged housing units in the Hambantota district. Materials used for the construction of housing unit was considered permanent, if the roof, the walls and the floor were constructed using permanent material. Roof is considered permanent, if constructed using tiles / asbestos etc. Roof is considered temporary, if constructed using cadjan /tin sheets etc. Walls are considered permanent, if constructed using bricks /cement blocks etc. Walls are considered temporary, if constructed using mud, wood / tin sheets etc. If any combination of materials other than ‘Permanent’ is considered as 'Temporary' in these tables.

This section covers the number of rooms and floor area of the damaged housing units in the affected DS divisions of Hambantota district. Tables 2.6 and 2.7 present the percentage of damaged housing units by number of rooms and the floor area of the all types of damaged housing units in affected DS divisions respectively

This section presents information about the ownership of the land where the damaged housing units were located in the affected DS divisions of Hambantota district.

This section covers the monthly income of damaged housing units in the affected DS divisions of Hambantota district. This includes the total income of all income earners of the housing unit from all sources, before the Tsunami. Tables 2.9a, 2.9b and 2.9c present the monthly income of the damaged housing units in the affected DS divisions for completely damaged, unusable partially damaged and usable partially damaged housing units respectively.

This section covers the information about functionality of economic activities which operated an economic activity with in damaged housing units, value of loss incurred to those activities and number of workers engaged in those activities in the affected DS divisions of Hambantota district. Tables 3.1, 3.2 and 3.3 present this information respectively

This section covers the demographic characteristics of members who are living in the damaged housing units in the affected DS divisions of Hambantota district. A person was considered as a member of the housing unit if he/she was a usual resident of the housing unit when the Tsunami disaster occurred. They may be presently living in the housing unit or elsewhere such as a welfare center or a friend’s / relative’s house. Table 4.1 presents all the persons living in the damaged housing units in the affected DS divisions by sex. Children living in the damaged housing units who were below 5 years and below 10 years by sex are shown in tables 4.2 and 4.3 respectively. Age distribution of the people living in the affected housing units by sex is given in table 4.4 while women in the reproductive age group is shown in the table 4.5. Table 4.6 presents the economic activity of the people who were engaged in before the Tsunami and ability to continue the same at the time of the Tsunami Census. Table 4.7 presents the distribution of children below 18 years of age at the time of the Tsunami Census by whether their parents are alive or not.

This section covers the information of children below 19 years of age whose parents are alive or not. Some children are fortunate to live with their parents while some children have lost one or both parents. It should be important to mention here that those parents who have died may have died due to any other reasons than Tsunami.

This section inquires whether there was any disruption of education of the people due to Tsunami who were in the age group between 3 to 34 years and living in the damaged housing units of affected DS divisions. Since the event occurred at the end of the school year for 2004, there may be some new children who have just enrolled in the year 2005, during the period of Tsunami Census. Table 5.1 presents this information

If a person was disabled or injured or had a sickness due to Tsunami, information on such persons was collected at this census. This section covers the information about those injured people who are living in the damaged housing units in the affected DS divisions of Hambantota district. The information on main injury occurred was collected if there were more than one type of injury. Table 6.1 shows the percentage distribution of injured people by age and sex while the table 6.2 presents the distribution of injured people by type of injury and sex

This section covers the number of people dead/disappeared who were living in the damaged housing units. There could be certain amount of under-reporting errors when collecting these information if there was no reliable respondents in those damaged housing units.

This section covers the information about damages occurred to non-housing building units in the affected DS divisions of Hambantota district. There are 9 tables from 8.1 to 8.9 to show the percentage distribution for type of damage, distance from the sea to the building, type of unit, economic activity carried out prior to Tsunami, number of employees, material used for construction, floor area, ownership and estimated total loss by DS level in this section.