The UN High Commissioner for Refugees is opening up its local relief stockpiles in Sri Lanka to deliver immediate emergency assistance to victims of Sunday's devastating tsunami, which left thousands of dead, injured and displaced on the island state.

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"The magnitude of this disaster is so enormous and shocking that we will do everything we can to join the international community in bringing help as rapidly as possible to the victims of these gigantic waves. Our supplies are usually for displaced people, but this is an emergency and the local population needs help right now," said UN High Commissioner for Refugees Ruud Lubbers.

UNHCR will provide plastic sheetings (18,000), plastic mats (17,000), ropes, and non-food relief packages for 2,000
families. Those packages include cooking sets, plastic jerry cans, mosquito nets and clothings.

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Stichting Vluchteling, a Dutch non-government organisation that works closely with UNHCR on refugee programmes, has told the agency that it would cover at least $ 200,000 of  approximately $ 280,000 cost of the relief items through its special fund-raising efforts for the disaster victims.

At an emergency meeting with the government and other United Nations agencies Monday morning in Colombo, it was decided that UNHCR would concentrate on delivering relief items to the former conflict-affected areas in the east of the
country, where it has offices and access.

Overall, UNHCR has seven offices in Sri Lanka, where it has worked for nearly two decades helping displaced populations as well as returning refugees.

Also see: How you can help tsunami victims