President directs Tri-Forces to supply flood relief

by P. Krishnaswamy, Ampara Group Cor, Ranjan Medegedera and Central Province Addl. Cor, S.A.M. Farook

President Mahinda Rajapaksa has directed the three service commanders and the other relevant authorities to focus on providing immediate relief to the affected people in the wake of the severe unseasonal weather that caused widespread disasters of various kinds and left hundreds of thousands of people displaced and homeless.

He has also requested all politicians in the affected districts to set aside election campaigns and give priority to providing relief assistance to the families.

Several millions of rupees have been disbursed to the Government Agents for providing relief and other assistance, according to reports.

About 272,820 families consisting of 989,214 persons have been displaced and 25,222 families consisting of 86,845 persons have been housed in 459 Welfare Centers in 18 districts of the Northern, Central, North Western, Eastern, North Central, Uva, Sabaragamuwa and the Western provinces. At least 17 people have been reported dead, 15 injured, 12 disappeared and over 200,000 acres of paddy and other crops have been destroyed, according to the reports. About 4,261 houses have been fully damaged while 13,253 houses have been partially damaged. The meteorology department forecasts that the severe weather would now improve .

Ampara district is the worst affected with over 73,000 families consisting of more than 280,000 persons displaced and Government Agent (GA) Neil de Alwis told the Sunday Observer that cooked food, dry rations and other requirements, including medical supplies are being provided to the families. Fund allocations for providing relief assistance are unrestricted, he said. Nineteen DS divisions are affected and several tragic incidents causing loss of lives have occurred, according to reports.

In the Anuradhapura district all 23 divisional secretary areas are affected , eleven of them very badly. The Anuradhapura city, Kahatagasdigiliyta, Nachchaduwa, Thanthrimalaya, Horowapothana, Galenbindunuwewa and Thirappane are among the badly affected DS divisions. Spill gates of all 12 major tanks and about 100 minor tanks have been opened while bunds of 20 tanks have breached.

Transport services to the Pooja City is completely disrupted. Damages cannot be estimated because most of the areas are under water and the heavy rains were continuing , according to reports received until this edition went to press. The nearly 1000 prisoners of the Anuradhapura prison have been moved to prisons in Wariyapola, Vavuniya, Trincomalee and Negombo.

In the Batticaloa district 5,978 families consisting of 20,742 persons are housed in 72 welfare centres. Over 43,265 families consisting of 153,021 persons are reported to have moved to safer places and living with their friends or relatives. People of the Wellaveli DS division have been evacuated consequent to threats that the area will be inundated due to overflowing water and opening of spill gates of the Navagiri and the Moraru Oya tanks. People of the Kiran and the Vagarai (Koralaipattu North) have also been evacuated to safer places, according to reports.

The Akurana town in Kandy district is under three feet water due to the overflowing Binga Oya river, a tributary to the Mahaveli Ganga and all families have been displaced, according to reports. Landslide warnings have been issued to several landslide-prone areas in the hill country, especially in Matale and Kandy in identified places like Hantana, Panwila and Kabaragala.

Five people have been buried with 07 house submerged and several other houses have badly damaged due to a landslide in Rilpola, Hali-ela. Of the total 12 buried in the landslide only bodies of 05 have been recovered so far. Earth slips have occurred at several places on the Badulla-Mahiyangana, Badulla-Passara and Badulla-Bandarawela roads and on the roads to the Diyatalawa and Bandarawela railway stations. Landslides have been reported on the Kandy-Nuwara Eliya road near Ramboda and the Walapane-Ragala road. Over 44 persons belonging to nine families have been evacuated and housed in a temporary welfare center at a school building at Brunswick Estate, Maskeliya consequent to a landslide, according to reports.

A landslide at Morogolla Estate, Ulapane has fully damaged a house and the inmates had a narrow escape.

All transport services to the Palliyaru and Ariyaru areas in the Mannar district remain completely disrupted and the Navy Lifeboat service rescued the marooned families, according to reports. All 10 spill gates of the Giant tank have been opened to release the overflowing water. Water level of the Malwathu Oya that was 19 ft until Thursday has now dropped to 14 ft. Only heavy vehicles are allowed to operate along the Mannar - Jaffna road because there is more than 2 ft of water at several places due to overflowing of the Palliyaru river. The A 14 highway also remains impassable, according to reports.