Two to three miles outside of the town of Hambantota, where 4,500 people died in the tsunami, hundreds of two bedroom one-story brick houses with a veranda and gardens are being built for tsunami survivors.

The home district of Sri Lanka's new president, Mahinda Rajapakse, 4,591 new homes are being built in Hambantota although only 1,057 homes were damaged there, according to government data.

Some of the new residents, like 55-year-old Seiadu Mohamed Marook, said the new housing has been a big help for his wife and two children. Prior to the tsunami, he had been sharing a small house with two other families, now each family has their own home.

But for others, like Chandrika Preethi, the location of her home may be different, but the sadness is the same.

"This is too much," she said. "I'm fed up with life."

In the run-up to the Nov. 17 election, opposition leaders routinely criticized Rajapakse, then prime minister, for attracting donors to help Hambantota after the tsunami, while neglecting other areas.

Police launched an investigation into allegations of misappropriating tsunami funds to his constituents in Hambantota, before the Supreme Court eventually halted their inquiry.

Ramesh Selliah, director of housing, urban development and the environment for the Task Force for Rebuilding the Nation, defended the disproportionate number of new houses under construction in

Hambantota, contending that multiple aid agencies began working independently on new housing there shortly after the tsunami.