26 September 2019 12:10 am
While predicting that the incessant rains experienced in the last few days in many parts of the country would cease by this morning, Public Administration and Disaster Management Minister Ranjith Madduma Bandara said the floods and land slides had left 80,007 people in 20,815 families displaced with one death by 12.00 noon yesterday.
He added that most affected districts were Colombo, Gampaha, Kalutara, Galle and Matara where 30 houses have been fully destroyed and 819 houses partly damaged. Addressing the media at the Disaster Management Centre (DMC) yesterday, Minister Madduma bandara further said that 14,394 displaced persons belonging to 3,698 families have been relocated at 42 camps in the five districts. Water level of Nilwala, Kalu, Gin, Kelani and Attanagalu Oya has risen to flood level and people living on low level areas have been asked to be vigilant on possible floods. People living at land slide areas have also been asked to keep a close watch on possible land slides with red alert notices. Armed forces and Police have been deployed to affected areas for life saving operations and welfare work.
We provide displaced persons with cooked food, drinking water, medicine, health assistance and other welfare facilities. All District Secretaries have been released with necessary funds by the Ministry of Disaster Management for these purposes,” he stressed.
In case of a death, Rs. 250,000 of compensation in addition to funeral expenses is paid to the next of kin of the dead. Rs. 2.5 million is paid to rebuild a fully destroyed house and a proportionate amount of compensation is paid for partly damaged houses. The government has insured the entire population for life insurance and Rs. 1,500 million of premium is being paid annually as insurance cover. The Minister said the government had identified 9,000 fully damaged houses for compensation after land slides and floods in the last couple of years and 2,700 houses out of 9,000 have been completed and handed over to flood and land slide victims. Construction of remaining houses is in progress. If the state lands are not available to rebuild a fully destroyed house, Rs. 400,000 are paid to the victimized family to purchase a suitable land and Rs.1.2 million to rebuild the house. The assessment of damage to private and state properties would be started soon after the flood levels were receded and roads cleared.