Displaced families in Hakgala struggle in tents without basic facilities

By Ranjith Rajapakse

Several families that have been confined to tents in the Hakgala area of Nuwara Eliya after they were displaced have been in a predicament for want of basic facilities.

They have been provided with temporary shelter in tents by the Nuwara Eliya District Disaster Management Centre, pending housing facilities. However, they said they have lived in tents amid hardship for more than three months in the hope of a permanent settlement in a safer location.

“We have been left without adequate basic facilities, including a supply of water, electricity and toilets. The power supply from solar panels lasts for about an hour, leaving us in the dark. We have been left to the mercy of the elements in the tents that fail to protect us from the changes in the weather. We have to go a long way on foot in search of drinking water,” they said. They requested the authorities to provide them with housing soon and to settle them in safer locations with basic facilities.