Report on the Hambantota symposium: sharing and elaborating post-tsunami recovery research outcomes

In May 2010, over 50 people attended a symposium at the Peacock Beach Hotel in Hambantota, Sri Lanka, to discuss the findings of the post-tsunami research conducted by Judith Shaw, Martin Mulligan, Yaso Nadarajah, Dave Mercer and Iftekhar Ahmed, and to share experiences of post-tsunami recovery across a range of local areas in Sri Lanka and in Chennai. The event was jointly organised by the Hambantota District Chamber of Commerce and it brought together representatives from community organisations, nongovernment organisations and local government bodies in Hambantota, Saithamaruthu, Seenigama, and Thirukkovil in Sri Lanka. Also present was Dr Radhakrishnan Gunaselvam from the University of Madras who worked with Yaso Nadarajah on the post-tsunami study of people relocated away from coastal villages in northern Chennai, two representatives of the Social Policy Analysis and Research Centre at the University of Colombo and an independent Colombo-based community development worker Myrna Setunga. The symposium adopted an open discursive format so that those present could speak from their own experiences in reflecting on, and elaborating, key research findings.