Resettlement Of The 2004-Tsunami Disaster Survivors In The Eastern Province Of Sri Lanka

The 2004-Tsunami disaster in Sri Lanka is one of the most significant landmarks in the history of the country. Restoration of the normal life of the disaster survivors is the upper most concern among the other post-disaster needs. The government's country wide post-tsunami declaration of a lengthy buffer zone as No-Living Zone has added further more to the challenges of bringing the affected people to their normal life.Following the declaration, the literatures and the arguments on it have illustrated the confusion and hardship in the implementation of the declaration in the coast line of Sri Lanka in general. They argue that the declaration limits the social and spatial scope of the survivors' residency. It has banned the people to resettle in their former places within 200m from the seashore. Here the main issue is that either relocating the survivors miles away from their former places or resettling them in the same place where they lived before Tsunami.The main aim of our studies is to confirm the resettlement location for the survivors of the eastern coast line of Sri Lanka as this province has sustained the highest devastation in the disaster. By carefully investigating the geographical aspects such as socio-economy, politics, land, culture and environment of the Eastern Province, our studies justify the resettlement of the survivors rather than relocating them miles away from their former places. And in our studies, suggestions and recommendations are made with the view to utilizing the coastal zone in more sustainable ways in the future.