By Maheesha Mudugamuwa
The Joint Opposition (JO) yesterday said the government’s unpreparedness and slow response had aggravated the situation during the recent natural disasters which caused widespread destruction in eleven districts.
Declaring the recent flooding as the worst that hit the country after the boxing day tsunami of 2004, leader of the Mahajana Eksath Peramuna (MEP) and JO parliamentary group leader Dinesh Gunawardena stressed that the disasters had exposed lack of preparedness on the part of the government machinery to manage disasters.
He alleged that the government had remained clueless about the state of affairs in the affected areas in the immediate aftermath of the disaster.
“It is true that a natural disaster can’t be stopped but their impact can mitigated if there is a proper mechanism in place to meet such emergencies,” Gunawardena added.
Disaster Management Ministry Secretary S.S. Miyanawala had admitted that his institution was not prepared to face the disaster, Gunawardena said, addign that the government had not yet paid compensation to the victims of the massive landslide at Aranayake in Kegalle District, the explosion at Salawa Army Camp in Avissawella and the very recent disaster at Meethotamulla.
SLFP stalwart former Minister Kalutara District MP Kumara Welgama said the government response had been grossly inadequate, given the scale of destruction brought about by the floods and landslides.
Claiming that there had been no proper plan for the evacuation of people from the landslide prone areas, he said the government should provide the basic human needs for those who had been evacuated.
In the Kalutara District alone, there were 50 landslide prone areas and, therefore, the people who were evacuated should be given some relief, Welgama said.
He asked the Ministers who had been appointed by the President to expedite the disaster relief process by visiting the districts which they had been assigned and work with the people who were affected by the disaster.
MP Welgama urged the ministers not to hold vehicle parades but to help the people who had been affected by the disaster.
Ratnapura District MP Ranjith Zoysa stressed that his district was the worst affected with over 179,318 people from to 45,570 families being hit by floods and other extreme weather events.
The total deaths which the District Secretariat mentioned was 85 but the true statistics would exceed over 200, Zoysa said.
Courtesy:The Island