Authorities said 16 deaths have been reported due to accidents associated with the inclement weather.
Deaths have been reported from the Southern, Sabaragamuwa and Western Provinces. Currently, 119 relief centres are operating across the country. A total of 23,706 people from 2,313 families are in these centres.
Meanwhile, State Minister of Defence Premitha Bandara Tennakoon, speaking at a press conference yesterday (3), said that Rs. 122 million has been given to the District Secretariats to provide relief to the affected people.
The State Minister said that 87,379 people from 23,723 families in 251 Divisional Secretariat divisions of 23 districts have been affected due to the heavy rains.
Army and Navy personnel have been stationed in Kalutara, Ratnapura, Galle, Colombo, Matara and Gampaha districts.
“The Navy is providing support to take the affected personnel to safe places. The Air Force has deployed three helicopters to provide support to the affected personnel.
“Also, special instructions have been received from the President to the Finance Ministry, the Treasury, and the District and Divisional Secretaries to allocate special funds for the victims and provide necessary relief.
“At present, arrangements are being made to provide all three meals to the people in the relief centres. Also, food is being provided by boats to the people who are staying in their homes for the protection of the houses affected by the disaster. Some 15,000 people are staying in the upper floors of their houses in Kolonnawa. A special arrangement is being made to provide cooked food to this group as well.
“In case of death, money is given to the concerned families for the last rites. Assistance will to rebuild destroyed houses. Most of the houses, especially some houses in the hilly areas, have not been approved. Therefore, for the safety of the people, a programme is being implemented to strictly implement the relevant laws in the construction of houses. We have identified a good project for Ratnapura, which frequently gets flooded.
“We have started a project to modernise the Department of Meteorology. Even though there was an economic crisis, this did not stop. We hope to install a Doppler radar with the support of Japan. Its primary work will begin in August. It is a very important matter for this country. A system is being brought about tree planting. There are one lakh trees on both sides of the roads of the Colombo Municipality. Out of these, about 300 trees have been handled as high risk trees.”
Director General of the National Building Research Organization Asiri Karunawardena said that with the ongoing heavy rains, the National Building Research Organization is issuing landslide warning notices to the people. People are requested not to come to the places where the red notices have been issued, even if the rain has lessened, until the warnings are removed.
Army Media Spokesman Major General Rasika Kumara said 20 teams with 17 boats to rescue the distressed people have been deployed. Twenty-five brigades with more than 8,000 troops are ready in the disaster-prone districts. Air Force Media Spokesperson Group Captain Dushan Wijesinghe said that the Air Force has now taken positions in Ratmalana, Katukurunda and Koggala camps to rescue the affected people. In addition, an airplane has been deployed to monitor the flooded areas.
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