Sri Lanka issues fresh landslide warnings as toll nears 500

AFP/APP

Colombo: Heavy rains triggered fresh landslide warnings in Sri Lanka’s worst-affected central hills on Friday, as the death toll from last week’s Cyclone Ditwah neared 500.

The National Building Research Organisation (NBRO), which monitors the stability of mountain slopes, said heavy rainfall within 24 hours could further saturate the hills and make them unstable.

“Since rainfall within the past 24 hours has exceeded 150 millimetres, if the rains continue, evacuate to a safe location to avoid the risk of landslides,” the NBRO said in a statement.

The latest downpour came with the onset of the northeast monsoon, although some of the earlier flooding that began last week has begun to subside.

The Disaster Management Centre (DMC) said 486 people had been confirmed dead, while another 341 remained unaccounted for. The number of people in state-run refugee camps has fallen to 170,000 from a peak of 225,000 as floodwaters receded in and around Colombo.

Record rainfall triggered the floods and deadly landslides, with President Anura Kumara Dissanayake calling it the most challenging natural disaster in the island’s history.

Residents evacuated from the landslide-prone central hills have been warned not to return immediately, even if their homes were not directly damaged.

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Friday’s new landslide alert covered areas not included in previous warnings.

In the central town of Gampola, residents worked to clear mud and repair water damage.

“We are getting volunteers from other areas to help with this clean-up,” Muslim cleric Faleeldeen Qadiri told AFP at the Gate Jumma Mosque.

“It takes 10 men a whole day to clean one house,” said a volunteer named Rinas. “No one can do this without help.”

Troops back clean-up

Sri Lanka’s military said thousands of troops had been deployed in flood-hit areas to assist with the clean-up.

Commissioner-General of Essential Services Prabath Chandrakeerthi said authorities were paying 25,000 rupees ($83) per home for cleaning, with reconstruction costs estimated at $6–7 billion. An additional 2.5 million rupees ($8,300) is being provided to begin rebuilding destroyed homes. As of Friday morning, more than 52,000 houses had been damaged.

Chandrakeerthi’s office said nearly three-quarters of the national electricity supply had been restored, although parts of the worst-affected Central Province remained without power and telephone services.

While the government appealed for donations to recover from massive losses to infrastructure, tourism authorities said the hotel sector was operational again. Nearly 300 tourists stranded by the disaster had been rescued by helicopter, according to the tourism ministry.

“We need tourism revenues to help rebuild,” Deputy Tourism Minister Ruwan Ranasinghe told reporters in Colombo.