Tragedy strikes Kajeemawatta for the Third Time

 Kajeemawatta: Aftermath of the Tuesday’s fire, left chard houses, broken windows and burned rubble Thotalanga in the Grandpass Police area.

People were waiting in despair last afternoon with frail faces looking at the still smoking piles of rubble, while some of the inhabitants were searching for anything that could have been salvaged.

Some people wailed after they found partially important documents, school books of their sons and daughters.

Meanwhile police restricted people from entering areas believed as the point where the fire started as the government analyst and magistrate inquiries are done.

A laborer, Mohomad Anaas (45) said that he was unfortunate for the third time as he once more experienced his neighborhood going up in flames.

Staying several feet away from chard planks of neighboring house he said that even though he managed to save his house from Tuesday fire he lost many household items.

“It was around 7.30 pm when I learned that the fire which erupted several blocks away was reaching towards our house. There was nothing to do but to dismantle wooden plank and sheets of the house to stop the fire from spreading to other houses” he said

He said while he was removing the wooden planks and sheets, the electrical equipment, school books of children, cloths as well as jewelry of the wife was stolen.

 “Two years back also there was fire, that time my house too was destroyed. Even before that there was another fire then too I faced a similar scenario as this time” he said.

He said that as a father of five children two sons and three daughters it is hard to manage the daily cost of living, therefore he is unable to afford new items for his house.

The children in the area were looking through the rubble to search for their books, missing toys. Among them were group of boys who were trying to save some fish struggling in a party shattered fish tank.

 Meanwhile another daily wage earner, Asath Kahan (42) who aided the neighbors and fire fighters to douse the fire said that the fire was spreading fast around 6.30pm to 7.30pm.

He said that during the ordeal he even suffered injuries to his legs as he quickly tried to dismantle wooden houses to stop the fire spreading.

“It took over two hours to stop the fire, however when I returned home someone had stolen the gas cylinder at my house. Now we are unable to prepare meals”, he said.

He said that his son too is suffering from an illness and could get complications as he was forced to inhale smoke; therefore he called the authorities to give them better living conditions.

Mr Kahan elaborated that during the previous fires partially people were re located but soon another group of people take up residences left by them.

Meanwhile mother of two Thuunichini Nurajini (48) lamented that her house was burned down to the ground when she returned from work.

“I am house hold helper and my eldest son is a laborer we manage by what we earn daily. Everything we earned was in our house, everything including my seven year old son’s school books and cloths” she said.

 She said that when she returned home his seven year old son was in tears and was crying that our house was destroyed.

“I could not send him school as he has no clothes to wear and books to write. We stayed a night at nearby Nadee viharaya and ate what the neighbors prepared for us” she said.