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Aranayaka’s deadly landslide: A survivor’s tale
View(s):Out of the depths of the tragedy that struck Aranayaka where in a flash many lives were buried in the mud, there have also been stories of survival. One such survivor is 16-year-old Sayumya Dilkie, a grade ten student who was preparing to sit for her Ordinary Level examination in December when tragedy struck her family.
Sayumya Dilkie
Sayumya’s long hair was cut to pull her out as she lay trapped under a fallen cupboard. A chainsaw that was used to cut the cupboard grazed her and she sustained an injury to her arm as well. Today she, her mother and a younger brother are housed in a welfare centre. Her father and another brother were killed in the incident. She recounted the incident on that tragic day from where she is now temporarily housed.
“I was sitting with my brother watching TV around 5.15 p.m. when he asked me whether I could hear the sound of a helicopter and started running out,” Sayumya said. At the same time there was a loud sound and the television exploded. The house started vibrating and the walls began to collapse and I got trapped between a wall and a cupboard in the ensuing chaotic situation,” she said.
Later her uncle had called out to them and hearing his voice she had cried out for help. “Initially they tried to move the cupboard but it was impossible; so they brought a chainsaw and cut through the cupboard. My left arm was hurt and some of my hair was cut to rescue me,” she said.
Sayumya’s mother, Thanuja Kumari (36) said the roof of her house had blown away as if it was a piece of paper as the earth began to shake. “I did not know what was happening. The walls began to collapse and I was thrown to the floor and trapped under some rubble. Some of our relatives came and rescued me along with my son and daughter. My husband and younger son were buried in the mud and died,” she said.
The three now await an uncertain future hoping for government assistance to help them get back on their feet.