Enough lands to give Chinese but none for Sri Lankans threatened with imminent landslides – Biggest landslide ever devastates hundreds

(Lanka-e-News-29.Oct.2014, 11.55PM) The Rajapakse regime that is only eager to provide countless acres of lands to the Chinese had uncaringly and ruthlessly ignored the many warnings issued to it since 2005 , that its own people living in the unsafe hills of Miriyabedda -Koslanda , Haldamulla are facing imminent danger to their lives , and had not taken any steps to provide alternative safe lands and protect their lives . Consequently , many hundreds of these helpless and hapless people had to face a catastrophe of epic proportions today (29) unprecedented in Sri Lanka ‘s history claiming many lives and causing untold sufferings to hundreds of others.

This morning at about 7.45 owing to this neglect hundreds of those people of Miriyabedde line village were buried alive by landslide . The government which is the architect of this misfortune had still not been able to give officially the correct statistics of the number who have died.

Mahinda Aamaraweera , the Minister of disaster management (or rather mismanagement) revealed , about 300 people are buried alive and bodies of 8 others have been discovered. An officer of Koslanda police answering our queries a little while ago said , it is not possible for any officer to say how many people were there in that area of disaster. Those who could give the figures have also been buried following the landslide. So far only three bodies have been recovered , police added.

The forces engaged in the rescue operations issuing an official communiqué stated , they could only say there were about 150 houses along the 7 rows (lines) , but the number dead cannot be said for sure. Until 3.00 p.m. the forces had been able to recover only 9 bodies . The communiqué states that 300 members of the forces were dispatched by the 11 th division of the headquarters to the venue of the disaster within 45 mins . of its occurrence .

In SL , there is no Institution to avert natural disasters, rather there is only a disaster management center which has often incurred the displeasure of the people in general and wrath of the victims of disaster in particular due to mismanagement going by history.

Minister Samaraweera following the disaster addressing the people made a statement which implicated the people as responsible for this natural disaster. He blamed that the residents did not take measures to evacuate those disaster prone areas despite warnings issued in 2005 and 2011 that those areas are landslide danger prone. This Minster whose mind is so warped could not answer the question , where are these people to find alternative locations ? Is it not the responsibility of his to evacuate them and provide safer areas to live ?

The government that forcibly evicted the estate population from Colombo to sell their lands to the Chinese , also was fully aware of the perils faced by the Tamil estate population since 2005. Yet why didn’t it use those same powers to safeguard the lives of that population ? Why couldn’t this same government that is supposedly building towns after converting sea territories into lands with great fanfare , could not provide alternative lands to these Tamil people in safe areas to build a shelter since 2005 even after being fully aware of the grave risks they were facing for nearly 10 long years?

In this connection , when the opposition leader posed a special question in Parliament this morning , the government could not give a satisfactory answer. The opposition leader Ranil Wickremesinghe who issued a communiqué thereafter stated thus :

Details in regard to the disaster this morning that devastated Haldammulla Meeriyabedde , have still not been made available. When I inquired about this in Parliament this morning, its was revealed so far no detailed report is out. At that time when this revelation was made , there were no detailed report on the losses resulting from the catastrophe.

Based on the information of unconfirmed sources , many lives may have been subjected to this tragedy . This is a matter for great sorrow. It is our duty at this juncture to render maximum help to the victims of this devastation who are our brothers and sisters ,casting away differences of religion , race, party etc. We invite every Sri Lankan to be a part of this effort .

According to reports reaching Lanka e news from London that made some inquiries about this tragedy , many hundreds of people have been buried alive , yet the officials of the divisions connected with this tragedy are indifferent and are apathetic . Perhaps this attitude can be stemming from the mentality developing out of the 30 year old cruel war. The value of lives do not seem to be of much concern of the officials and authorities of the country. If a repeat of history is to be averted , they must develop true human feelings and sufficient sincere compassion .