IRIN
SRI LANKA: Over 120,000 affected by severe flooding in west
7 May 2007


COLOMBO, 7 May 2007 (IRIN) - "Weather Gods Show No Mercy!" That is how 
the headline of Saturday's edition of Colombo's "The Island" newspaper 
described the torrential rains on 3 and 4 May that flooded much of 
western Sri Lanka.

In Colombo, the capital city, routine commerce and most vehicular 
traffic, including some railway lines, came to a standstill and a large 
sinkhole developed in one of the city's main corridors, the Galle Road, 
causing massive traffic delays and diversions.

Voicing a common complaint, Sunil Lai Upali, one of the city's numerous 
three-wheel scooter taxi drivers said: "I just couldn't move with the 
water so deep." He bemoaned the fact he made little money during the two 
days of rain. "It was a metre-and-a-half-deep in so many places! It was 
just too dangerous for me to work," he said.

It was particularly dangerous in four districts in the south and west of 
the country - Colombo, Galle, Kaluthara and Gampha. Colombo received 
nearly 10 inches of rain and Galle over seven during the two-day period, 
according to Sri Lanka's Department of Meteorology.

The Inter Agency Standing Committee (IASC) reported that the 
government's Disaster Management Centre (DMC) under the direction of 
Maj-Gen Gamini Hetiarachi is leading efforts to assess, respond to, and 
mitigate the effects of, the floods. The immediate needs were for 
equipment to clear canals, water pumps and various non-food items.

Death toll 15

Hetiarachi told IRIN on 6 May: "Fifteen people have lost their lives in 
the floods and over 121,000 are affected." He said the deaths were due 
either to drowning, landslides, or electrocution. Seven died in Galle 
district, three in Colombo, three in Kaluthara and two in Gampaha. 
Another nine were reported injured.

Homes damaged, destroyed

The flooding, combined at times with high winds, resulted in 280 
destroyed homes and 1,266 damaged ones, according to initial assessments 
by the DMC. Galle district sustained the most destruction with 247 
houses destroyed and 813 damaged.

According to the Emergency Operations Centre of the DMC, of those 
affected or displaced 51,301 are in Colombo district, 40,088 in Gampaha 
and 17,486 in Galle. Some 16 camps and welfare centres in Colombo 
District and 14 in Gampha are being used temporarily to house displaced 
people, according to the DMC.

Hetiarachi said: "The government is currently assessing the situation 
and allocating money to government agents to provide food and other 
provisions to those in need." According to the acting director of the 
National Disaster Relief Service, Aarath Perera, 5 million rupees 
(US$50,000) are being sent to district authorities to assist flood 
victims.

UN aid

Hetiarchi said the humanitarian community is helping as well. "The UNDP 
[United Nations Development Programme] Emergency Fund has provided 
100,000 rupees ($1,000) to Kaluthara and 100,000 rupees to Gampha 
district for the hiring of backhoes to clear canals." He said sandbags 
were being placed along the Kelani river in Gampha district to keep it 
from flooding the town of Kelaniya.

Poor drainage

According to the DMC director, and now most news reports, the principal 
reason for the recent flooding is poor drainage. "The waterways and 
canals in urban areas are blocked by debris and garbage and not 
maintained," Hetiarachi said. "And many poor people build their small 
houses on low-lying areas that quickly get filled with water."

Sri Lanka occasionally experiences damaging floods, most recently in 
mid-January 2007, when heavy rains in south and central Sri Lanka caused 
numerous landslides and 18 deaths and temporarily displaced some 30,000 
to 40,000 people.

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