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Somaliawatte’s
Christmas: From cattle shed to cauldron One hundred and fifty three families who were affected by the unexpected fire are staying at St.Anthony’s Tamil College and at Sri Sangabodhi School at Madampititya. Ninety three shanties were completely destroyed by the fire. One victim S.D.Dudley D.P. Dias said, “We were residing at Modera for 11 years before we came to ‘Somalia’. At that time the government evicted us from there for security reasons promising to give us houses with facilities in place of the shanties we lived in. But it appears to be one of the bogus promises politicians give.” “I am a labourer in the Colombo Municipal Council. There are four members in my family with two sons aged 21 and 18.We were planning to celebrate Christmas. Unfortunately our hopes were dashed with this fire. But we are very grateful to the President for taking immediate action through the Presidential Disaster Management Commission. It has done a great job since this disaster and we are pleased with the facilities provided up to date,” he said.The fire had not spared anything. School children are searching for their books and school items in the remains. This time the affected children are praying for a house from Santa instead of presents from him. Navad Mohammed (12) said, “We need a home and we are hoping to go to school as soon as we have the essential school items. So we would like to ask everyone to help us in this hour of need.” Most of the residents of ‘Somalia’ lead poverty stricken lives. However, their wishes are not different from others and they have their dreams. Some go abroad, especially to West Asian countries hoping to earn money to give a better life to their children. A victim of the fire, E.A.Nilanthi who was employed abroad said, “I arrived from Lebanon on December 17.Everything I bought from what I earned for the past few years was destroyed in the fire. We have nothing to lose now. There are 8 members in my family who depend on my income. My husband is a labourer.” Another victim, J.Gamini Silva who works in the Railway Department said, “I was living here with my wife and 4 year old son. Our house was completely destroyed by fire and we have only what we are wearing right now. We are hoping to reside again in a house soon. We expect utmost cooperation from the government as money has been allocated in the Budget to rebuild houses to replace of the shanties in Colombo District.” A woman, H.A. Winnie, who was affected by the fire said, “My husband was remanded for using drugs. I sell imitation jewellery to earn a living. There are seven members in my family who depend on my income. We humbly ask the authorities to take necessary action to provide facilities for us to resettle in the area soon.” Another
victim, Chamila Niranjani said she could not believe her eyes as
it happened so quickly with her house reduced to charcoal in a few
minutes. A
trader, M.C.F.Mubarak who was affected by the fire said, “I
have two sons and a daughter and I lost Rs.200,000 cash which was
kept to buy a new house. I was unable to save even Rs.1000 of it.
Now I am in a hopeless position. I am hoping that justice will be
done for what I have lost.” “There are 9 members in my family. Some of my children are still attending school. They have lost their books in the fire”, she said. Another victim, Y.Sudharma said all her family had was destroyed in the fire. “My husband is a fisherman. We worked hard to build this house. Once we were affected by the tsunami. This time the fire broke out. We are in a hopeless position,” she said. Most of the victims have no regular income. They do odd jobs to earn their living. Some shanties were shared between two or three families. Social
Services and Social Welfare Ministry Media Secretary Nelson Edirisinghe
said his Ministry provided Rs.600,000 worth of items to the victims.
District Social Service Office B.K. Nayana Chandra said, “On
Minister Douglas Devananda’s orders we have distributed welfare
goods and materials worth Rs.600,000 to the victims. The Red Cross
is too giving its fullest support at this moment. There are about
400 children, including infants, in the camps.” Presidential Disaster Management Commission coordinator Chintaka C.Gunadasa said, “The Presidential Disaster Management Commission was set up after the floods in Ratnapura in late November soon after President Mahinda Rajapakse was elected. We were tasked to keep an eye on every activity in the camps and provide essential support to the destitute victims. We are bound to forward a daily report on the camps to the President.” |
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