Hayleys continues relief effort for IDPs in the north

Employees of the Hayleys Group are voluntarily donating a day’s salary towards the needs of the internally displaced in northern Sri Lanka, and their employer companies will double the funds thus raised, to support the continuation of initiatives begun more than a month ago to help these people.
In a speedy response to the humanitarian needs of thousands who fled the fighting in the north east, Hayleys launched its relief effort on April 25 to provide drinking water, sanitation facilities, food and clothing to the IDPs. The Group initially deployed containers, flexi-tanks and water pumps, which supplied the camps with 150,000 litres of water a day for a week, and has to date donated plastic storage tanks of 2000 litres each, materials for the construction of 100 temporary toilets, plastic barrels of 220 litre capacity, 50,000 pairs of examination gloves, 20,000 pairs of household gloves and bed sheets, as well as food, clothing and cleaning implements, a spokesman said.

Hayleys trucks carrying essential items at Manik Farm in Chettikulam.

“We have mobilized resources at our disposal for a coordinated relief effort similar to the one we mounted in the aftermath of the tsunami,” the spokesman said. “Drinking water, sanitation and food are the top priorities and speedy delivery is critical for an effective response to the humanitarian situation in the north.”
Managers and staff assigned by Hayleys to the relief effort made two visits to camps north of Vavuniya and a group-wide effort by employees helped collect food, clothing and utensils for dispatch to the camps. These efforts were supported by Group companies manufacturing products that would be useful to the displaced people and those capable of providing transport logistics to deliver these items to the camps, the spokesman said.
A multinational conglomerate whose Sri Lankan origins date back to 1878, Hayleys PLC has been thrice adjudged the country’s best corporate citizen. One of its most evocative recent contributions to the community was a new school built for 500 children in Kathaluwa, Ahangama, an area devastated by the tsunami of 2004.