By Charles Haviland BBC News, Colombo

	Miss Bragg says Sri Lanka needs to invest more on the people's daily needs

Catherine Bragg, who is the UN’s assistant secretary-general for humanitarian affairs, visited resettlement areas in the north and flood-affected parts of the east.

Independent media are largely excluded from most of the north.

Much of northern Sri Lanka was totally depopulated as the government and the Tamil Tigers waged their bitter fight to the finish.

Now, under strict military supervision, it is being re-populated.

'More attention needed'

The senior UN official, Catherine Bragg, met families in the most recently resettled area, near the final arena of the war.

These communities remain extremely vulnerable. The future for the north is about investing in the people. They need skills, livelihoods and social development to help them move on with their lives Catherine Bragg

She commended the government for its structural rebuilding work, and said the early opening of schools was encouraging.

But she said these mainly Tamil people’s everyday needs, such as medical care and help in rebuilding their houses, needed more attention.

"These communities remain extremely vulnerable. The future for the north is about investing in the people. They need skills, livelihoods and social development to help them move on with their lives," she said.

She also said the resettlement grants, supplied jointly by the government and the UN refugee agency, would only last families about three months, adding that people shrugged when asked what they would do next.

Catherine Bragg also visited a part of eastern Sri Lanka badly hit by this month’s torrential rains and floods.

People have gone home but houses are damaged; freshwater wells contaminated; and livestock killed in huge numbers.

The UN is appealing to donors to send 51 million dollars as flood relief.