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Landslide calamity: Missing toll revised down to 34
View(s):The search for bodies at the landslide site at Meeriyabedda estate in Haldummulla continued yesterday with 78 people who have been reported missing yet to be accounted for, officials said. Disaster Management Centre Spokesperson Sarath Lal Kumara said that of the 78 people, 34 had been listed as missing while 44 others are believed to have moved to other areas.
Initial reports said that 330 people were on the estate at the time of the landslide on Wednesday and nearly 200 were missing, but on Friday the figure was revised to 100. Some 800 Army, Navy, Air Force and STF personnel have been deployed to search for the bodies along with three sniffer dogs. Major General Mano Perera, Central Province Security Commander, said they would continue the operations until the bodies were found.
“We resumed the search operation today as the weather was good. We were able to reach places which we could not reach earlier due to the adverse weather. These are the areas where the residents are believed to have stayed when the mudslide washed them away with their line rooms,” he said. “We will continue this operation until the last body is found. Every body that was buried here will be dug up,” the Major General said. The body of a 50-year-old woman was recovered from the site yesterday, raising the number of bodies recovered so far to six.
Major General Perera said the six victims were members of three families. He also said that they were able to recover valuables belonging to the victims.
Disaster Management Minister Mahinda Amaraweera said the search operations were not easy. “The operation will continue but the area is still dangerous,” he said.
Meanwhile, more than 2,500 people including those from landslide-prone areas in the Badulla district are sheltered in three main centres — Sri Ganesha Tamil Maha Vidyalaya in Koslanda and Poonagala Tamil Maha Vidyalaya and its primary section in Bandarawela. The Disaster Management Ministry has made an initial allocation of Rs. 5 million for those in the relief centres while lorry loads of relief packages are coming in from all parts of the country, including the North and East.
A ministry official said some Rs. 15 million had been allocated for landslide relief measures in other parts of the country also. Residents of Kegalle, Ratnapura, Matale, Kandy, Badulla, Nuwara Eliya and Kalutara districts were warned of landslides, rock falls and cut slope failures by the National Building Research Organization (NBRO) yesterday.
Minister Amaraweera said aid, dry rations and other necessities would be provided to the affected people until weather conditions improve. He said evacuation centres had been set up in all districts to accommodate people from areas which were thought to be unsafe.