The Ministry of Defence has ordered officials to take immediate precautionary measures to protect the public from disasters arising out of the severe weather now affecting much of the country.
The directives were issued by K.G. Dharmathilaka, Additional Secretary of the Disaster Management Division, on behalf of the Secretary to the Ministry of Defence, Ada Derana reported. They follow the warnings and updates released on Monday (3) by the Department of Meteorology, the National Building Research Organisation (NBRO) and the Irrigation Department.
Officials have been told to activate village-level Disaster Management Committees and run programmes to safeguard people living in areas exposed to landslides, floods and other weather-related hazards. NewsFirst reported that the instruction was directed to District Secretaries; Ada Derana reported that Divisional Secretaries were told to activate the committees.
Contact with high-risk communities
The ministry instructed officials to stay in close contact with residents of areas the NBRO has identified as high-risk for landslides, and to make sure those households are told of any warning issued. Residents in vulnerable areas were urged to watch for changes in their surroundings, including early signs of landslide activity.
Officials were also told to identify vulnerable communities quickly and move them to designated safe centres where necessary. Arrangements are being made to supply food, drinking water and other essentials to people evacuated to safe locations or sheltering temporarily with relatives, the ministry said.
Issued into a live emergency
The directive lands in the middle of an unfolding emergency in the central hills. The NBRO has landslide early warnings in force for the Kandy, Kegalle, Nuwara Eliya and Ratnapura districts, and the Irrigation Department has issued a major flood warning for the Kelani River valley alongside a Red alert for ten Mahaweli divisions.
Two deaths have been reported from earth collapses — one at Solankanda in Nawalapitiya and one at Polpitiya in Hatton, where a search is under way for people still missing. Schools in the Kandy and Nuwara Eliya districts are closed, and main roads through the hill country have been cut by rockfalls and floodwater.
