President visits flood-affected areas

Monday, 29 December 2014 00:17 - - {{hitsCtrl.values.hits}}

President Mahinda Rajapaksa on Saturday visited areas affected by floods in Anuradhapura and inspected the relief measures provided for displaced people in the area. The President visited a shelter at the Anuradhapura Mahinda Junior School and inquired about the wellbeing of the displaced people there.

Cancelling all of his campaign activities on Saturday morning, President Mahinda Rajapaksa gave his complete attention to relief efforts in areas affected by flooding and landslides - Pix by Sudath Silva Presidential Spokesman Mohan Samaranayake said the president was scheduled to visit Polonnaruwa as well. According to the Disaster Management Center (DMC) floods and landslides caused by torrential rains with gale force winds have left 21 people dead, 10 missing and over 100,000 displaced from homes while over a million people are affected by the adverse weather. As of Saturday, 1,024,347 people belonging to 282,378 families have been affected by the floods and landslides. A total of 100,731 people from 28,756 families have been evacuated to 525 shelters set up in the Northern, North Central, North Western, Central, Eastern, Uva, Sabaragamuwa and Western Provinces. According to the DMC, 4,340 houses have been fully damaged and 13,617 houses are partially damaged. The floods have also destroyed several thousand acres of paddy lands in the Polonnaruwa, Anuradhapura and Batticaloa districts. The armed forces have been called in to assist the DMC and the police to rescue and evacuate affected people to shelters. The Health Ministry has deployed special teams to the shelters to meet the health needs of the displaced people and sufficient stocks of medicine have been sent to the affected areas. President Mahinda Rajapaksa has ordered the Treasury to release sufficient funds to provide relief to people affected by the adverse weather conditions. A special committee has also been appointed under the leadership of the Secretary to the President Lalith Weeratunga to expedite and streamline relief operations.