Jan. 28, 2005

Going home to help rebuild

Within the next week, Ramesh Ramanathan, MD, expects to return to his native Sri Lanka to help rebuild lives that were devastated by the recent tsunami disaster.

Dr. Ramanathan, associate professor, Division of Hematology/Oncology, University of Pittsburgh Cancer Institute, has volunteered to provide medical care in a refugee camp run by the Chinmaya Mission in Vakarai, which is located in the eastern part of Sri Lanka. He plans to leave Pittsburgh on Thursday, Feb. 3, and remain at the camp for about a week.

“I expect to be working long hours providing basic medical care, mostly for infections, cuts, bruises, and diarrhea. There have been a lot of medical supplies coming in. A part of my duties will be to assess what additional needs have to be met, especially long-term relief efforts,” says Dr. Ramanathan, whose parents and relatives living in other areas of Sri Lanka were not injured by the tsunamis.

However, much of the island nation off the tip of India has been devastated. More than 30,000 people were killed and an additional 1 million people left homeless. There are more than 4,000 homeless survivors in the Chinmaya Mission refugee camp where Dr. Ramanathan will work.

Meeting other needs
Most families in the Vakarai region were dependent on fishing or agriculture. Many have lost everything, not only the homes they lived in, but also the tools and equipment they needed for their livelihoods. “We are beginning now to move on to the next phase of recovery by rebuilding homes, roads, and the industries in which the residents worked,” says Dr. Ramanathan.

Few efforts have been made to address the emotional trauma suffered by those who have lost so much. “Counseling and psychiatric service were nonexistent even before this tragedy. The language barrier is another problem. There are few health care professionals who speak Tamil, the native language. Fortunately, I speak it,” says Dr. Ramanathan.

UPMC's tsunami disaster relief efforts

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