"Shelters fill up after deadly Sri Lanka mudslide" by Bharatha Mallawarachi | Associated Press November 01, 2014
KOSLANDA, Sri Lanka — Sri Lankan authorities had warned of more landslides at a tea plantation where a deadly torrent of mud swept away scores of homes this week, but residents said Friday there was no room left at the shelters and no alternative housing for them to move to.
Disaster relief officials estimate that at least 100 people were killed Wednesday when monsoon rains unleashed a cascade of muddy earth at the Koslanda plantation in Badulla district, about 140 miles east of Colombo. The death toll has yet to be confirmed, and many villagers believe the figure could exceed 200.
I think I know who is responsible and I think the Sri Lankans would agree.
Officials have been releasing conflicting numbers since Wednesday, with initial reports saying more than 250 people may have been buried.
Police on Friday reduced their estimate of the number of dead and missing to 37, saying the number was arrived at after interviewing the plantation management, local officials, and affected families.
Kannusamy Mahendran, 34, whose home was still standing but in the danger zone, said residents have been warned of mudslides several times since 2002. But he said alternative housing has always been the problem.
‘‘Officials come here and ask us to leave, but they don’t tell us where to go,’’ he said, adding that the families are at grave risk if another landslide barrels down the hills.
Mahendran said the government provided housing for only 25 of the 75 families in his neighborhood over the past years, and the rest are now being told to move into nearby schools and temples with the survivors of Wednesday’s slide.
‘‘But we can’t go, [those shelters] are overcrowded,’’ Mahendran said.
Some 1,600 people are currently in the shelters, most of them with homes still standing but vulnerable to more slides, said Rohana Keerthi Dissanayake, a top official in the region.
Local disaster relief official Udaya Kumara urged people in vulnerable areas to come to the camps, and promised to do his utmost to accommodate them.
‘‘We can’t give them the comforts of their homes, but we will give them whatever is possible. They must think that life comes first,’’ he said.
Those whose kin are missing waited in agony as rescue workers using heavy machinery and search dogs searched through the mud Friday.
Authorities said there was no hope of finding survivors, but many relatives say they want to give their loved ones a proper burial.
‘‘They died tragically, but at least I want to give them a dignified funeral,’’ said Sinniah Yogarajah, who lost all five other members of his household — his wife, two sons, daughter-in-law, and his 6-month-old grandchild.
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"Hundreds feared buried under Sri Lanka mudslide" by Eranga Jayawardena | Associated Press October 30, 2014
KOSLANDA, Sri Lanka — A mudslide triggered by monsoon rains buried scores of workers’ houses at a tea plantation in central Sri Lanka on Wednesday, raising fears that hundreds may have been killed.
In the chaos that followed, there was confusion about the number of dead and missing because government officials reported different figures and later reduced the number of missing by 100 without explanation.
The mudslide struck about 7:30 a.m. and wiped out 120 homes at the Koslanda tea plantation, said Lal Sarath Kumara, an official from the Disaster Management Center. The plantation is in the town of Koslanda in Badulla district about 140 miles east of Colombo.
He said at least 10 people were killed and more than 250 reported missing.
Later Disaster Management Minister Mahinda Amaraweera was quoted by media as saying that more than 100 people had been killed.
Moments later he said that less than 100 people were missing but that they could not be counted as dead.
By late Wednesday the Disaster Management Center’s official numbers were six dead and 150 missing.
Pradeep Kodipppily, a senior official at the center did not explain the changes but said the agency would be able to give the media a clearer picture by Thursday morning.
The scene of the mudslide and witness accounts however suggested the disaster was enormous.
The military mobilized troops to help with the rescue operation as rain continued to fall in the island nation’s central hills.
P. Arumugam, who works as a driver on the plantation, said he rushed there when he heard about the mudslide.
‘‘Everything that I saw yesterday I could not see today — buildings, the temple, and shops had all disappeared. I could only see mud everywhere,’’ he said.
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"Sri Lanka toll won’t be as high as thought, officials say" New York Times October 31, 2014
NEW DELHI — Disaster management officials said Thursday that fewer people than previously believed were dead or unaccounted for after a landslide at a tea plantation in central Sri Lanka, but that the death toll appeared certain to rise as recovery efforts continued.
Pradeep Kodippili, an official with the Disaster Management Center in Sri Lanka, said three bodies had been recovered so far, not six as officials had said Wednesday.
He also said 192 people were believed to be missing, not 300 as previously stated.
Recovery workers were still searching for the dead through thick mud at the Meeriyabedda tea plantation in the district of Badulla, where about 150 homes were buried Wednesday in a landslide set off by days of monsoon rains.
Udaya Kumara, a Disaster Management Center official in Badulla, said that the center had warned villagers Tuesday night that a landslide was possible, but that the disaster had struck before they were able to leave.
Kodippili said 800 people from neighboring areas had been evacuated to two nearby schools because of the risk that more landslides would occur.
He said hundreds of people had joined the recovery and relief efforts Thursday, including government personnel, aid workers, soldiers, and local volunteers.
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