News
Hit by floods, now by official apathy
More than a week after devastating floods affected thousands of people in the suburbs of Colombo, many are still awaiting some relief from the state to rebuild their lives. Residents in Wellampitiya, Kohilawatte and Angoda complained that neither the Grama Niladharis nor any other government officials had visited them.
Long wait: The queue to register with the Grama Niladhari. Pix by Indika Handuwala
Hundreds of residents from the Kittampokuna area gathered at the Sedawatte Vidyarta Vidyalaya to register themselves with the Wellampitiya Grama Niladhari to avail themselves of some relief Many were fed up of standing in long queues which extended from the gate to the main building.
H.M, Ananada (53) a lorry driver, said he received food, water and clothes from a civil society organisation, but they got nothing from the Government during the four days he and his family sought shelter on the second floor of neighbour’s house.
H.M. Ananda
G. Anusha Nishanthi, from the same area, said, her husband and children stayed a week in a temple and then returned home but the Government had still not given them any assistance nor compensation to repair their house. “It’s 12 o clock now and I have been here since seven in the morning. There are about 50 people ahead of me and I may have to wait for many more hours,” she lamented. “The government is wasting our time when we need aid desperately,” she said, adding that the registration process was inefficient.
Rita Witharana points to her house
J.V Maduka, an owner of two wayside boutiques in Lansiyawatta, Wellampitiya said both her shops and house built of wood were demolished by flood waters and she had no place to go to. “I have no place to stay but all we are given is a piece of paper with a registration number. Everything I owned is lost but no government official came forward to help us,” she said.
Pointing to the dress she was wearing she said it was given by the mosque where she was staying and food from a civil organisation. “I have two daughters, one is sitting for her O/L’s and she has lost all her notebooks while the other studying in grade nine lost all of her clothes,” she lamented.
G. Anusha Nishanthi
A resident, S.M Nimal of Donald Perera Road, Kohilawatte said his house was inundated and he spent the past week at a neighbour’s house while his brother had sought refuge inside a tipper.
“My brother and sister have no place to stay, but neither the Grama Niladhari nor Assistant Government Agent have visited the area,” he said, however adding that he had heard that the Grama Niladhari’s office had also been affected by the floods. “But we need government aid, we need a place to live. I kindly request them to look into our matter. There are so many like us who need urgent help,” he said.
Rita Witharana a mosquito net manufacturer said her sewing machines including the juki machine were damaged beyond repair. She said the Navy provided them with food but other than that no support arrived. Her husband had fallen sick sometime back and she was the one who provided for the family by manufacturing locally made mosquito nets, she said adding that dangerous cracks had appeared in her house and she had no place to return to.