President directs Treasury to release funds:

Flood relief operations to cost Govt Rs. 33 billion

by Manjula FERNANDO

Relief operations to restore infrastructure and rebuild the livelihoods of 1.2 million people affected by floods in the second wave of the disaster will cost the Government Rs. 33 billion, it was revealed yesterday.

This is in addition to the Rs.13 billion loss incurred on paddy cultivation.

Disaster Management Minister Mahinda Amaraweera said that President Mahinda Rajapaksa has already instructed the Treasury to take steps to release the funds following a Cabinet decision last Wednesday to continue relief operations initially and other restoration activities later.

The Rs.33 billion covers expenses incurred on food relief, restoration of damaged water tanks, buildings, roads, bridges and houses.

This does not include the damage to private businesses such as destroyed rice mills and warehouses, the Minister said adding that nearly 300,000 acres of paddy land are estimated to have been destroyed due to floods.

A final count of the total damage to agriculture, infrastructure, houses and irrigation is yet to be made.

Flood waters in the worst affected areas were receding and the numbers in the welfare camps were dwindling. However, the Ministry is still on alert for any eventuality since the Meterological Department has predicted more rains in the coming days in these areas.

As of yesterday the number of families in IDP camps is - Badulla 869, Ampara 659, Trincomalee 441, Batticaloa 316, Kandy 119, Matale 92, Kilinochchi 88 and Polonnaruwa 87. The total number of people affected stood at 974,017 - slightly less than nearly 1.2 million people affected initially. The Government launched a survey last week to estimate the damage to houses and infrastructure. According to Minister Amaraweera, over 15,000 houses have been completely destroyed due to heavy rains, floods and landslides since December last year.

The number of partially damaged houses stands at 60,000.

The houses completely and partially damaged due to the second wave of floods and heavy rains are 4,209 and 21,974.

The Government will grant Rs.50,000 as compensation for a completely destroyed house with the Economic Development Ministry providing roofing sheets as further relief.

Owners of partially damaged houses will be granted Rs.20,000 each. Appeals for compensation should be channelled through District Secretaries.

The President has advised the Treasury to get the people’s participation in the restoration work and grant them a payment of Rs.500 a day until the livelihoods of the affected families are restored,

The Treasury has allocated Rs.100 million as an initial disbursement to provide distress loans to State workers. A three-month salary can be obtained by government servants as an instant interest-free loan to be paid back in 10 months under the scheme.

The Health Ministry said there have been no reports of outbreaks of water-borne or vector-borne diseases from any of the areas affected by the recent floods. The Ministry has despatched 100,000 vials of Typhoid vaccine to the areas where clean drinking water has become an issue. The Medical Officer of Health in each area will be in charge of dispensing the vaccines. Additional stocks of drugs to treat possible outbreaks of epidemics have also been stockpiled, he said.

“We are collecting reports on a daily basis of the health situation in these areas. Our main priority is pregnant women and children. The emergency disaster response unit of the Health Ministry has been activated since the floods were reported and is still operational round the clock,” W.D.M. Wanninayake, a spokesperson for the Ministry said.