Sri Lankan landslide: villagers defy police to claw through mud for missing people
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Version 0 of 1. Hundreds of desperate Sri Lankan villagers clawed through the wreckage of a landslide on Thursday, defying police orders after a senior disaster official said there was no chance of finding more survivors in the drenched and torn earth of the high-elevation tea plantation. There were conflicting reports of how many people were missing in the slide, which struck on Wednesday morning in the island nation’s central hills. Disaster management minister Mahinda Amaraweera said that the number of dead at the Koslanda tea plantation would be fewer than 100. But Sri Lanka’s Disaster Management Centre, which Amaraweera oversees, reported 190 people missing. Villagers, meanwhile, said the death toll could easily exceed 200. “I have visited the scene and I don’t think there will be any survivors,” Amaraweera said on Thursday. “But that number is less than 100.” Frustrated relatives who had watched the search from the sidelines tried to follow a politician into the site but were stopped by police. However, the politician argued with police and took villagers with him. They joined hundreds of soldiers who were searching through the mud for survivors. President Rajapaksa visited the disaster site on Thursday and spoke to residents sheltering in schools and temples. According to his website, Rajapaksa ordered officials to expedite rescue and relief for victims. Heavy monsoon rains caused the mudslide, which wiped out 120 tea workers’ homes in Badulla district, about 180km (110 miles) east of Colombo, said Lal Sarath Kumara, an official from the Disaster Management Centre. Raja, 48, a truck driver, said he lost all other members of his household – his wife, two sons, daughter-in-law and his six-month-old grandchild. “I left for work early morning and got a call asking me to rush back because there was an earth slip near my home,” Raja said, weeping. “I came back and there was no trace of my home, everyone was buried.” A local government officer familiar with the tea plantation said he believes 200-250 people may have been buried, based on the number of people usually in the area at the time. It included many houses, a big Hindu temple, a playground and two milk collection centres for farmers. The high altitude tea plantation is one of many in Sri Lanka, one of the world’s leading tea producers. Most of Sri Lanka has experienced heavy rain over the past few weeks, and the disaster centre had issued warnings of mudslides and falling rocks. The Sri Lankan monsoon season runs from October to December. Vettiyan Yogeswaran, who lives on an unaffected part of the plantation, said the authorities had warned people that the area was vulnerable to mudslides and that they should move. But he said no housing alternatives were offered. “There are 50-70 families living in my neighbourhood in the bottom of a mountain. If a mudslide happens we all will be buried,” Yogeswaran said. “We want to leave, but we have not been given a proper alternative.” |