1 June 2017 02:15 am
The Minister said he would immediately take up the matter in the cabinet as more disasters were bound to happen, taking into consideration the global environmental situation.
“The attitudes of the Sri Lankan people are such that they do not adhere to the warnings of impending disasters and refuse to leave their dwelling places in such situations. In such a situation eviction laws are essential,” the Minister said.
“It is also essential to bring in laws to ban cultivation of crops along the mountain slopes, in order to prevent landslides,” he added.
The Minister said the recent disaster could be claimed as a man made one, considering the attitude of the people.
Meanwhile the latest data from the Disaster Management Centre (DMC) said the death toll from floods have risen to 203 while 89 people were still missing. Some 631,346 people belonging to 164,264 families were affected by adverse weather, by last afternoon. The highest death toll of 84 was recorded from Ratnapura, while 63 have died in the Kalutara District, 28 from Matara, 15 from Galle, five from Hambantota and four each from Gampaha and Kegalle. At least 1537 houses were totally destroyed while 7791 were partly damaged.
The government claimed that the affected areas were returning to normal. Buses were said to be plying in most of the affected areas. However, the bus service is still to commence along the Embilipitiya-Matara Road as of yesterday. Several damaged roads have been restored by the security forces. Only the Matara-Godagama entrance of the Southern Highway was still closed.
Around 276 contaminated wells have also been restored. All district secretariat offices in the affected areas were converted into disaster management co-ordination centres and are expected to remain open 24 hours. District Secretariat offices are considered as essential services.
Meanwhile the Department of Meteorology predicted strong winds along the sea areas of Puttalam via Potuvil, Colombo, Hambantota, Batticaloa and Mulaithivu. Winds were expected to travel at 70 kmph. Landslide warnings continue in Ratnapura, Kegalle, Galle, Kalutara, Matara, Hambantota and Nuwara Eliya districts.
Showers or thundershowers may occur in the Uva Province, Batticaloa and Ampara districts, particularly in the afternoon. Rains would exceed 70mm occasionally. (Reports from Yohan Perera , Sandun Jayasekera, Thilanka Kankaratne and Chathuranga Pradeep)
Video by Isuru
Pix by Kushan Pathiraja