News
Four months after floods, Kaduwela victims still languish in tents
Pix by M.A. Pushpa Kumara and Athula Devapriya
Four months on, survivors of the flash floods in the suburbs of Colombo are yet to recover from the calamity.
The floods led to many deaths and widespread destruction to property, crops and infrastructure but despite overwhelming support for the victims in the aftermath, their plight has gone largely ignored since then.
Kaduwela residence complain that government officials visited them in the aftermath of the floods but since then there has been little follow up.
Harshani Kumari (21) a mother of one, said her entire house was washed off into the river and she remained destitute.
“The government should look into it. Officials are making fancy promises about giving relief but they are mere fairy tales. We have no trust in them,” she said.
“At present we are temporarily surviving in large tents received through the Disaster Management Centre (DMC) as part of foreign aid contributions. But how can we spend our entire life inside tents,” Ms. Kumari asked
Mason, Veeran Wijeyasekera (39) said, “There are seven members in our family, our whole house has collapsed. The government promised to resettle us in safe areas. Until then, we have to remain in these tents. If anyone could help us repair these houses that would be a great help.”
Six women lost their husbands and one of them was S. Pushparani (35) a housewife whose husband has gone missing.She grieved for her husband, “He was a construction worker in Kaduwela town.”
Besides living in abject poverty, the women in the village look after their children and in some cases, aged parents and in-laws as well.
“When I have lost everything, what do I do? The government has not been helpful,” said S. Selvarani a mother of five.
In response, the Colombo District Secretary, Sunil Kannangara said the government was looking for places to resettle the displaced. He said the Kaduwela Bund area people were residing there illegally.
He said there were no state lands within the Kaduwela division and attempts by the Disaster Management Ministry to find vacant residential lands in the Colombo district had failed.
