Victims of Aranayaka landslide move out:
Army in rebuilding effort
By Isuri Yasasmin Kaviratne
Landslide- affected victims in Aranayaka in the Kegalle district
yesterday(June 4) began moving out from schools and government buildings
making room for schools to function on Monday, while troops engaged in
search operations were focussing on building shelters for affected
people.
The number of temporary camps set up in Aranayaka has been reduced to
16 with people moving out, and with schools opening from next Monday,
the number of camps will reduce to 13.
Divisional Secretary of Aranayaka, Z.A.M. Faisal said three out of
the four schools used as camps in the area will be reopened on Monday
June 6. The remaining school, a Muslim school, will be closed for
Ramazan, hence the school will continue as a camp.
People are being transferred from camps to be resettled in separate
tents to make room in schools. Many schools continued with classes for
grade 5 and 11, while they were being used as camps. He said the
National Building and Research Organisation was conducting land
evaluation to determine whether the area was still hazard-prone, and if
proved otherwise, people will be permitted to return to these areas.
"People have been requested to identify their plots of land in the
cleared areas, and todemarcate the boundaries so that they could be
gradually settled," he said.
The search operations were discontinued since last week. Major
General Sudantha Ranasinghe told the Sunday Observer that the Army has
was now involved in building shelters in the affected areas.
The National Child Protection Authority(NCPA), other state
authorities and NGOs were conducting support programmes for children.
Chairperson of NCPA, Natasha Balendra said there were
education-related classes in the mornings and recreational activities
coupled with psychosocial and protection awareness activities in the
afternoons for children in camps.
May was a month that caused many disasters, killing 87 people while
102 were missing and displacing 286,886 from 70,715 families.
People living near river banks are assured of safety as water levels
of the rivers that overflowed have receded. Water levels of the Kalu
Ganga Millakanda section is dropping.
However, the Meteorology Department said strong winds and
thundershowers can be expected in the Western, Central, Sabaragamuwa,
North-Western Provinces and Galle and Matara Districts. |