More than 600 landslides or earth slips were reported to the National Building Research Organisation (NBRO) during the past week, mostly from the Central Province, an official of the organisation told the Sunday Times yesterday.
Landslide and Services Division Studies head R.M.S.Bandara told the Sunday Times the NBRO was in the process of identifying the nature of these incidents while some areas have already been identified as vulnerable.
He said in 90 per cent of the cases of landslides the causes have been identified as being created by people themselves, adding that this includes ill-planned construction or building of roads without proper planning.
Mr. Bandara said that in some of the cases reported, between 20 to 25 houses located in the area were vulnerable. He said in Kotmale there were 20 such houses, 16 houses in Badulla and 25 houses in Panawatta of the Gangawata Korale in Kandy.
He said NBRO teams have gone out to investigate the reports they have received about the landslides and earthslips and determine the gravity of the danger of people living in such locations.
“In some cases it may not be dangerous, but in other cases we may need to take precautions,” he said.
Earlier this week the Government decided that building construction plans need to have approval as to whether the proposed sites were vulnerable to landslides.
Meanwhile the landside at Deveni Rajasinghe Mawatha in Kandy where eight persons were killed was caused by a layer of rocks in a quarry breaking loose and crashing on to a row of houses located below.
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