Flood victims deprived of relief by Colombo
[TamilNet, Monday, 18 February 2013, 23:35 GMT]
63,386 members of 13,903 families have been displaced in the Northern and Eastern provinces while two died and one hundred thousand and thirty four thousand persons have been affected in the whole island due to torrential rain with strong winds in recent days. Hundreds of acres of paddy crops ready for harvesting are under water and harvested paddy crops floating in flood water. But no action has been taken to provide any relief to affected families, civil officials say. Heavy torrential rains and floods have repeatedly affected the lives of the people struggling to resettle in their homeland subjected to structural genocide by the occupying Sinhala military and its administrative apparatus in the North and East.
Several villages Thirukkoayil in Ampaa'rai district and Ea'raavoor, Paddippazhai, Kaathaankudi, Vavu'natheevu, Vellaave'li and Ma'nmunaippattu in Batticaloa district have been badly affected by rain and flood. Tanks have breached and sluice gates of sixteen major tanks in the island have been opened to reduce the water level. In the Batticaloa district alone 162.0 mm rain was recorded, according to Mr.M.Sooriyakumar, officer in charge Meteorological Department in Batticaloa. In Ampaa'rai, 418 members of 153 families have been displaced in 16 villages in Thirukoail DS division, according to Thirukkoayil Divisional Secretary Mr. M. Gopalaratnam. Eight schools have been closed down due to heavy rains in Thirukkoayil division, according to Zonal Director of Education Mr. R. Sukirtharajan.
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