GAs to ensure uninterrupted relief:

Floods hit over 836,000 people in 17 districts

by L.S. Ananda WEDAARACHCHI, Mohammed NAALLIR and P. Rajaratnam

Over 836,000 people in 17 districts were affected by the floods in different parts of the country said Disaster Management Minister Mahinda Amaraweera.

Dry rations and other supplies have been made available to the flood victims through the Government Agents in the districts. Rs. 80 million was released to Government Agents yesterday to ensure uninterrupted relief to those hit by the floods, he said.

The ministry staff whose leave has been cancelled is working round the clock. Minister Amaraweera said he would visit the Badulla, Matale and Kandy districts today to inspect the flood relief operations. The Government together with the World Food Programme has launched a six-month relief project to help flood victims in the country.

The flood relief received from friendly countries have already been sent to the affected districts. The relief items from Italy, Korea and China were sent yesterday to Badulla, Bandarawela and Kandy, he said.

The six sluice gates of the Nachchaduwa tank have been opened, according to Anuradhapura District Secretary K. Herath. Both sides of Malwathu Oya and Anuradhapura town have gone under water.

The A-9 road which links the Jaffna peninsula has also been adversely affected due to heavy flood. The Anuradhapura District Secretary has instructed motorists to use the Puttalam-Anuradhapura road and the road via Wariyapola to reach Anuradhapura.

The sluice gates of Maha-Diwulwewa, Kantale, Galmitiyawa and Kuda Galmitiyawa tanks in the Trincomalee district have also been opened.

A spokesman for Meteorology Department said that the prevailing adverse weather conditions will continue for another two days.

The Eastern, North Central, Central and Uva provinces will experience heavy rains in the coming days. The highest rainfall of 77.4 millimetres was recorded in the Batticaloa district during the past 24 hours which ended yesterday morning. The prevailing weather conditions would continue till the middle of March, the official said.

Meanwhile, the two-week long heavy rains accompanied by strong gales have destroyed large extents of vegetation, tea cultivation and particularly the spuds in the Nuwara Eliya district. Landslides occurred in and around Nuwara Eliya where a number of newly constructed buildings have collapsed or are on the verge of sliding along the Gemunu Mawatha zones, in which a number of police buildings are under construction. Some buildings have been almost completed.

Over 239 families have been housed in safe places including the Thondaman Foundation at Holy Trinity College, and other buildings due to fear of landslides in a number of areas, at Lovers’ Leap division in the Pedro group. A number of workers whose residential lines have come down and the families living in those lines have been evacuated to safe places along with their children and elders.

Minister Arumugan Thondaman and several Members of Parliament representing the Nuwara Eliya district along with the Government Agent D. P. G. Kumarasiri, visited the affected areas and alerted the families in such danger zones to move to safer buildings.