Heavy floods due to monsoon rain caused extensive damages and created more IDPs in Vanni during November. The damages caused by the floods as estimated by the District Secretariats are summarized below. Aerial bombing and shelling also continued by Srilankan army. Arrests of Eelamtamils in GoSL parts of the island also increased.

The frightening levels of death squad style killing and white-van abductions shifted from Yaalppanam (Jaffna) to Mattakalappu (Batticaloa) in November as demonstrated by the November statistics. Families were murdered en-masse in Batticaloa during November. Four members of one family and three members of another family were shot and killed by paramilitary groups in Mattakalappu. Another nine members from two families were abducted in Mattakalappu in a single incident. One of those shot and killed and three of those abducted in Mattakalappu are children under 15.

Civilian toll for the month of November are: killed by SL army – 67; Enforced disappearances by SL army and paramilitary – 46; injured by the SL amry attacks – 73; sought protection at the Human Rights Commission (Yaalppanam) – 7; and arrested by Srilankan police and army- 733.

The total number of people displaced since 2006 in Vanni as at end of November is 230,000. This number temporarily increased further in November due to the floods as shown below in the table on flood damages.

(Note: The statistics given do not include all of the Eelamtamils casualties during the month due to limitations on the resources available to NESoHR which are caused by many factors including restrictions on fuel, restrictions on office equipment, and disruptions caused by large scale displacement.)

Eelamtamils who were killed by SL army in November 2008

Eelamtamils who were Enforced disappeared by SL army and paramilitary in November 2008

Flood damages – November 2008

Torrential rain in Vanni during the last week of November caused floods of a scale unseen for a decade. The flood disaster occurred at a time when more than half the population in Vanni had displaced over the few months prior to it. The flood disaster came when the needs of the already displaced IDPs have not been adequately met due to restrictions of many types. The havoc caused by the flood disaster was therefore many folds worse than otherwise. Both Mullaithivu and Kilinochchi District Secretariats had drawn up a list of damages and the cost of damages in their respective area. A summary of their list are given in the table below. According to these two Secretariats the total cost of damages due to the floods exceeds LKR 5 billion.