A WINTERBOURNE man has flown to the aid of disaster-torn Sri Lanka to provide life-saving support.

Oxfam worker Paul Sherlock left for Sri Lanka on Wednesday evening following a request from the World Health Organisation and the UN to help oversee and co-ordinate water supplies in the country.

He will be working alongside the UN and the country's Government to secure clean water supplies and sanitation to prevent more deaths in villages and towns ravaged by the tsunami.

Mr Sherlock told the Gazette: "At the moment it is raining out there which will increase the risk of diseases such as typhoid and malaria so it is important to act quickly. It is a huge public health problem and we are not sure how long it will take to be resolved."

Although Mr Sherlock admits it will be difficult he has no reservations about undertaking such a huge relief project. He said: "This is a very bad crisis but this is my work and I have been doing it for years. As this was a natural disaster and is not a war zone I do not feel there will be any danger to myself or my team and so I do not have any reservations about going out there to help."

Wife Jackie added : "Although I am so used to him going away with his job when it comes to something like this and the scale of it I know he will be doing a lot of good and so I am very proud."

Mr Sherlock, a senior humanitarian representative for Oxfam, has worked for the charity for 30 years in some of the world's most volatile countries. He recently returned from a project in Western Sudan working with the UN assessing the quality of aid work and the co-ordination of water supplies to refugee camps. Mr Sherlock will have something to look forward to when he returns however, his son Andrew's wedding in mid February.