year-old matriarch of a fishing family that had a house near the beach until the tsunami, which left nearly 39,000 dead or missing in Sri Lanka alone. Eleven people in her 17-member family were killed on Dec. 26, and the head of the house -- or rather "tent" erected where their home used to be -- is now her 23-year-old grandson. They have been put on a waiting list for a house in "new" Hambantota, against their will. "We want to stay and rebuild here," she says. "Why would we move? There is no sea there. How can we go fishing?" Her family's plight sums up the inadequacies of hastily drawn-up reconstruction plans that in many cases appear to have failed to take into account the needs of local people affected. Traditionally, Sri Lanka's towns and villages are close-knit affairs. Families of different ethnic communities have lived side by side for generations, but this finely woven social tapestry has been ripped apart by the tsunami and the model town is unlikely to repair the damage. --More 1327 Local Time 1027 GMT
