Landslide threat: Research in many areas

by Mohammed Naalir

The National Building Research Organisation (NBRO) is conducting thorough studies in the Kandy, Kurunegala, Matale and Kegalle districts to identify new landslide prone locations, at risk due to the prevailing adverse weather, Head of Landslide Studies and Services Division of NBRO R.M.S. Bandara, told the Sunday Observer.

He also denied news reports that 19 villages in Matale face the threat of subsiding.

Divisional Secretaries and District Secretaries in these areas have also been kept on alert to inform authorities of any new incidents which may occur as a result of heavy rains, according to Bandara.

NBRO officers remain alert in the landslide prone districts and locations.

A single subsiding location has been identified in Thotagamuwa junction, Matale. New constructions in this location and its surrounding areas cannot be carried out without the approval of the NBRO, Bandara said.The NBRO is conducting thorough studies in an area in Nawula where a land had subsided. The NBRO declined to reveal further information in this regard until the survey is over. The NBRO is yet to come to a conclusion about this area, he said.

The NBRO has drafted plans to conduct a thorough study in the Matale district on landslide and subsiding following certain incidents reported in the district. It has identified 19 locations in the Matale district to conduct landslide and subsiding studies. There are only 19 locations, not 19 villages.” On the basis of our surveys, if and when the threat is proved, the people from those locations will be safely evacuated”, he said.