Sri Lanka's IDP population down to under 19,000

The total number of people displaced during the intense stages of Sri Lanka's war between security forces and the separatist Tamil Tigers has dropped below 19,000, the government said.

According to the Ministry of Resettlement, the number of Internally Displaced Persons in the Vavuniya relief villages has dropped to 17, 641 as of Tuesday (Oct. 19). With an additional 1,158 IDPs remaining in Jaffna, the total has come down to 18, 799.
At the end of the war in May last year, over 280,000 displaced persons were sheltered in the relief villages.
The Sri Lankan government has resettled most of the displaced in their original homes in a relatively short time of 15 months, the government pointed out.
The official web site of the government citing the Ministry of Resettlement reported that only 4,058 IDPs remain in Kadirgamar relief center while 5,802 IDPs remain in Anandakumaraswami Zone 1 in Vavuniya welfare villages.
The government has resettled 430 IDPs last Monday in the Oddusudan area. On Saturday (23) another 380 IDPs will be resettled in Madhu area including Pullikulam, Out of the total, 11,236 IDPs are on free movement outside camps.
The government provides dry rations for a period of six months to families resettled until they find livelihood assistance in addition to an initial payment of Rs 25,000 at the time of resettlement.