Abstract:
Several thousand people had displaced in some “Conflict-locked” areas while
a large number of human settlements have become vulnerable for the
negative consequences of the prolonged armed conflict, particularly in the
Northern and North Central Provinces of Sri Lanka. Hence, the human,
social, and livelihood security issue of the families in these armed conflict
induced areas of Sri Lanka had become a serious socio-political concern
during the past three decades. Accordingly, the objective of this research
paper was to examine the different vulnerabilities faced by communities as
well as to measure the survival strategies adopted by them. The study area
was the village of Yakawewa in Kebithigollewa Division of North Central
Province of Sri Lanka. A large number of villagers from Yakawewa were
killed and maimed by the roadside claymore attack of Tamil terrorists in
2006. This single event marked a turning point in the decade‟s long conflict
of the country as it considered to have significantly swayed the government
of Sri Lanka stance towards seeking a military solution to the conflict. The
field work for this was done in 2010-2018 which used a rich array of
qualitative techniques such as in-depth interviews and focus group
discussions, particularly in a longitudinal manner. Research results revealed
that multi-faceted coping strategies are being adopted by resettled Sinhalese
in Yakawewa village in the phase of transforming from conflict-locked to a
normal situation. The nature and sequence of their restoring process were
depended on individuals‟ economic, social and political capabilities and
attitudes. Household level coping strategies are strong in adapting to the new
situation because in many cases individual rationality has come to the fore
instead of collective rationality. In addition, many resettlement issues are
being faced by the returnees as a result of emerging property issues,
competition over the resources, physical and social isolation, subsistent
attitudes and lack of self-esteem etc. It can be concluded that most of the
survival strategies are onsite practices but preparedness mechanism.
